Eric Jones | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1936 (age 87–88) [1] |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Known for | solo climbing, skydiving, BASE jumping. |
Eric Jones is a Welsh solo climber, skydiver and BASE jumper.
He is best known for the first British solo ascent of the north face of the Eiger in 1981, and for his climbs on the Matterhorn and South Col on Mount Everest. [2] In 1986, he became the first person to BASE jump from the Eiger.
Raised on a farm near Ruthin in north Wales, he attended Ysgol Brynhyfryd and as a boy was interested in parachuting and skydiving, and later wanted to sign up with the Parachute Regiment. However, an earlier injury - a result of a motorbike accident - led to his joining the Military Police whilst on his two-year National Service. [3]
Jones took up skydiving in 1961 and a year later, at the age of 26, began climbing. [4] He climbed extensively in Snowdonia and the Lake District, followed by climbs in Italy. He took up solo climbing when his climbing partner became less available, and found that it gave him the freedom to move quicker, though also brought greater risks. [5]
In 1969, Jones ascended the Bonatti Pillar on the Dru solo, [6] and in 1971, he was the first person to climb the Central Pillar of Brouillard on the south ridge of Mont Blanc. [7]
Many of his exploits, such as the Eiger ascent [8] and the Matterhorn ascent, [8] have been filmed by award-winning cameraman Leo Dickinson. Jones and Dickinson, with two other climbers, made the first complete film of the Eiger climb in 1970, with Jones' first British solo ascent following in 1981, resulting in the acclaimed film Eiger Solo.
Dickinson who wrote a book called Filming the Impossible also worked with Jones when he filmed Ice Climbing with Eric Jones in Switzerland. [9]
Jones was filming Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler when they made the first ascent of Everest without oxygen in 1978. He reached the South Col at 7,900m but did not continue to the summit because of concerns about frostbite. [10] [11]
Jones worked side by side with Sean Connery on the film Five Days One Summer , [12] where fellow climber Paul Nunn worked as a stunt double for Connery. [3]
He has been involved in a number of other film productions, from both sides of the camera. [13]
As a skydiver, Jones jumped onto the North Pole and down the east face of Cerro Torre in Patagonia. In 1991, as a member of a four-man team, he flew two hot air balloons over Mount Everest, an exploit which gained three entries in the Guinness Book of Records . [6]
Having jumped from balloons as a skydiver, Jones started BASE jumping (jumping from a fixed object - natural or man-made) at the age of 50, having met renowned jumper Moe Villetto. [5] Combining jumping with his other interests, his first BASE jump was off the Eiger, the first person to do this. [6] He made a number of spectacular jumps from buildings and bridges in the United States, but is renowned for his jump off the Angel Falls in Venezuela, shown in the documentary film The Man Who Jumped To Earth (UK, 1998) directed by Steve Robinson. At the age of 61, he is the oldest person to have done this. [14] His jump into the Cave of Swallows in Mexico, directed by Llion Iwan, was shown in the documentary The Man Who Jumped Beneath The Earth (2003).
His self-proclaimed motto is "Life is adventure or nothing at all". [15]
He is married to Ann, and has two children. Featured in the Lifestyle section of The Independent in January 2008, [5] he said :
For three decades he has owned and run a small cafe (Eric Jones' Cafe) and campsite at Tremadog, near Porthmadog, which is popular with climbers and bikers alike. Some of his exploits can be seen in photos on the walls. [2] In 2016 he put these properties up for sale. [16] [17]
Jones is regarded by many of his peers as Britain's most successful solo climber. [18] An unassuming man, he still walks, climbs, skis and jumps, [19] and a recent documentary by S4C screened in 2007/8 called Alpau Eric Jones saw him revisiting the Alps. [20] He also still gives occasional lectures on his experiences, and has in the past co-presented with Dickinson.
In 2015 he published his autobiography, entitled A Life on the Edge. [21]
In August 2019 a BBC2 documentary entitled The Last Climb: Eric Jones, recounted much of his life, and featured his dreams, aged 82, of one final solo climb, namely the Delago Tower, part of the Italian Dolomites, which he had first climbed in the 1960s. [22]
Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.
Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516 metres (27,940 ft), after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. The main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu region of Nepal.
Reinhold Andreas Messner is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, doing so without supplementary oxygen. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. He is widely considered to be the greatest mountaineer of all time.
In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent, is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers focused on reaching the tops of iconic mountains and climbing routes by whatever means possible, often using considerable amounts of aid climbing, and/or with large expedition style support teams that laid "siege" to the climb.
The Eiger is a 3,967-metre (13,015 ft) mountain of the Bernese Alps, overlooking Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen in the Bernese Oberland of Switzerland, just north of the main watershed and border with Valais. It is the easternmost peak of a ridge crest that extends across the Mönch to the Jungfrau at 4,158 m (13,642 ft), constituting one of the most emblematic sights of the Swiss Alps. While the northern side of the mountain rises more than 3,000 m (10,000 ft) above the two valleys of Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, the southern side faces the large glaciers of the Jungfrau-Aletsch area, the most glaciated region in the Alps. The most notable feature of the Eiger is its nearly 1,800-metre-high (5,900 ft) north face of rock and ice, named Eiger-Nordwand, Eigerwand or just Nordwand, which is the biggest north face in the Alps. This huge face towers over the resort of Kleine Scheidegg at its base, on the eponymous pass connecting the two valleys.
The Grandes Jorasses is a mountain in the Mont Blanc massif, on the boundary between Haute-Savoie in France and Aosta Valley in Italy.
Peter Habeler is an Austrian mountaineer. He was born in Mayrhofen, Austria. He developed an interest in mountain climbing at age six.
Free solo climbing, or free soloing, is a form of rock climbing where the climbers climb solo without ropes or other protective equipment, using only their climbing shoes and their climbing chalk. Free soloing is the most dangerous form of climbing, and, unlike bouldering, free soloists climb above safe heights, where a fall can be fatal. Though many climbers have free soloed climbing grades they are very comfortable on, only a tiny group free solo regularly, and at grades closer to the limit of their abilities.
The six great north faces of the Alps are a group of vertical faces in the Swiss, French, and Italian Alps known in mountaineering for their difficulty, danger, and great height. The "Trilogy" is the three hardest of these north faces, being the Eiger, the Grandes Jorasses, and the Matterhorn.
Constantin “Ticu” Lăcătușu is a Romanian mountain climber, geologist, and camera operator. He is the first Romanian to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Broad Peak, and Cho Oyu.
Michael Dacher was a German mountain climber. In 1979 he and Reinhold Messner climbed the K2 in record time and without oxygen equipment.
Ivano Ghirardini is a French mountaineer.
Catherine Destivelle is a French rock climber and mountaineer who is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of the sport. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s for sport climbing by winning the first major female climbing competitions, and by being the first-ever female to redpoint a 7c+/8a sport climbing route with Fleur de Rocaille in 1985, and an 8a+ (5.13c) route with Choucas in 1988. During this period, she was considered the strongest female sport climber in the world along with Lynn Hill, however, in 1990 she retired to focus on alpine climbing.
Ueli Steck was a Swiss rock climber and alpinist. He was the first to climb Annapurna solo via its South Face, and set speed records on the North Face trilogy in the Alps. He won two Piolet d'Or awards, in 2009 and 2014. Having previously summitted Mount Everest, Steck died on 30 April 2017, after a fall during an acclimatizing climb for an attempt on the Hornbein route on the West Ridge of Everest without supplemental oxygen.
Stipe Božić is a Croatian mountaineer, documentary filmmaker, photographer and writer. He is the most successful Croatian Himalayan climber. Božić completed the Seven Summits and is the second European, after Reinhold Messner, to climb the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest, twice. He has directed more than 60 documentary films, mostly related to mountains and climbing.
Leo Dickinson is a British cameraman, director and adventurer. He has made 68 films, winning every major mountain and adventure film award. Dickinson specialises in mountain, ballooning, skydiving and underwater films. During his mountaineering career, Dickinson has filmed climbs on a number of mountains including Mount Everest, Cima Grande di Laveredo, Civetta, Piz Badille, Matterhorn North Face, Eiger North Face, Cerro Torre, Torre Egger, and in 1991 filmed the first ever hot air balloon ascent over Everest. Dickinson has authored three books detailing stories of his career: Filming the Impossible, Anything is Possible and Ballooning over Everest. Dickinson is renowned for his use of unique camera angles and holds several world records, including as skydiving into the world's highest platform. Dickinson is a keen skydiver, with over 3500 skydives completed, and holds numerous records, including skydiving with the largest single number of naked women at one time.
The recorded history of climbing of the Eiger mountain in Switzerland starts in the 1800s. It is split between the pre-north face era, when the main summits and easier ridges and faces were climbed, and the post-north face era, when it became one of the greatest prizes in mountaineering. At least sixty-four climbers have died while attempting the ascent.
Franz Oppurg was an Austrian mountain climber. Having climbed from a young age, he became a mountain guide and rescuer, and did a number of first ascents in the winter of mountains in his native Karwendel. He was also the first climber to achieve a solo ascent of Mount Everest.
