Stewart Fulton was a mountaineer from Scotland who climbed in the heyday of the "wild ones" in the sixties. This group was credited with putting up many new routes in the Alps during that time, most significantly the first ascent of the south face of the Aiguille Du Fou (with John Harlin, Tom Frost and Gary Hemming) a smooth wall of sheer rock long deemed to be unclimbable.
Stewart Fulton grew up on the tough streets of Glasgow in the fifties and sixties, an upbringing that gave him the toughness necessary for climbing and a reputation as a formidable wrestler.
"One day on the main street in Leysin, I caught sight of Stewart. He was headed for a local café. I came up from behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned on me with incredible alacrity and violence. His fist literally whistled over my head as I instinctively ducked. Fortunately, he recognized me and reprimanded me for coming upon him like that as his reflexes had been sharpened in the streets of Glasgow and I could have been badly hurt". - Fellow climber Larry Ware
Fulton worked for a time at the Leysin American School in Leysin, Switzerland as a dorm attendant and sports instructor. He also guided at the International School of Mountaineering, founded by John Harlin II. Along with climbing he enjoyed trail running, "I used to take off with Stewart, John and a great Scot runner called Jimmy Ferguson. We ran most of the surrounding hills. In the evening we would gather at the Vagabond Club where after a few well-earned beers we would proceed to start singing - Stewart played a mean banjo if I recall correctly and like to play a few Irish rebel songs" - Larry Ware
"He was a fantastic climber. Once, in Grenoble, while visiting with Gary Hemming, he climbed on sight a 15 meter boulder problem - an overhanging and polished crack - which most of the climbers around there were proud to be able to even top rope. I have since climbed it many a time; I would never do it solo. He did and on sight. Amazing. And, apparently, he was in no way fazed by his accomplishment - he was a rare example of a totally natural climber. That does not mean that he took foolish risks. In the mountains, I have rarely been with a more cautious and responsible companion". - Larry Ware
Stewart Fulton died in an accident while working as an electrical lineman in northern Canada in 1971. Stewart is survived by his daughter, Rebecca, and two grandchildren, Danielle and Jordan.
The Aiguille du Fou was first summited in 1901 but is best known for its south face, a 300-metre sheer rock wall which overlooks the town of Chamonix in the valley below. It was this face that was climbed by the team of Harlin, Frost, Hemming and Fulton in the summer of 1963.
In his book "The Climbers" Chris Bonington described the route as "impressively steep" but unfortunately referred to Stewart Fulton as Steve Fulton. [1]
John Harlin III, whose father was one of the preeminent American climbers of the sixties who died attempting a direct ascent of the Eiger, describes the ascent of the Aiguille du Fou (lunatic's needle) in his book "The Eiger Obsession":
"[Harlin] had first noticed the face two years earlier when he and Gary looked across the Mer de Glace and were stunned by 'one of the smoothest, most beautiful granite faces we had even seen. At that moment we both resolved to climb it." [2]
And further:
"On still another attempt the rain came as they were ascending their fixed ropes in the crack, but they decided to push the route anyway. Stewart was leading a long, unprotected layback in the diagonal crack when he slipped, arching down hard on the one good piton he had managed to place. The rain and Stewart's bruised hand forced a retreat." [3]
The climbers would go on to complete the route, along the way spending a night wet and exposed in an electrical storm on the south face of the mountain. Fulton would later reconnoiter the direttissima route of the Eiger with John Harlin II, but was not on the climb when Harlin fell.
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.
Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL is a British mountaineer.
Peter Boardman was an English mountaineer and author. He is best known for a series of bold and lightweight expeditions to the Himalayas, often in partnership with Joe Tasker, and for his contribution to mountain literature. Boardman and Tasker died on the North East Ridge of Mount Everest in 1982. The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature was established in their memory.
Duncan "Dougal" Curdy MacSporran Haston was a Scottish mountaineer noted for his exploits in the British Isles, Alps, and the Himalayas. From 1967 he was the director of the International School of Mountaineering at Leysin, Switzerland, a role he held until his death in an avalanche while skiing above Leysin.
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Gary Hemming was a noted American mountaineer. Together with Royal Robbins he made the first ascent of the American Direct route on the Aiguille du Dru in Chamonix in 1962, and was widely known in France for his role as a rescuer of a party on the same mountain in 1966, earning him the moniker "le beatnik des cimes".
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Jan Długosz was a Polish mountaineer and writer. He lived in Kraków. In 1961 he participated in the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Frêney on Mont Blanc by a British-Polish team.
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Jean-Marc Boivin was a French mountaineer, extreme skier, hang glider and paraglider pilot, speleologist, BASE jumper, film maker and author. The holder of several altitude records for hang gliding and paragliding, the creator of numerous first ascents and first ski descents in the Alps, a member of the team that broke the record for a sub-glacial dive and the first person to paraglide from the summit of Mount Everest, Boivin was a pioneer of extreme sports. He died from injuries incurred after BASE jumping off Angel Falls in Venezuela, the highest waterfall in the world.
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