“I saw the avalanche coming.” Not only does Barry Blanchard hold a wealth of knowledge about the world of mountaineering, he knows how to hook a reader from page one. With more than 40 years of experience climbing, he’s one of the most respected alpinists in the world. The mountain guide has more than 3,000 days of climbing under his belt and is known for pushing the limits of high-risk alpine climbing in the Canadian Rockies and Himalayas. Now, he’s compiled the best of his almost endless list of stories gathered from years spent climbing into a memoir, The Calling: A Life Rocked by Mountains.

It was at age 13 when Blanchard was introduced to climbing, learning to rappel as a member of the 1292 Lord Strathcone’s Horse Army Cadets. Although he was soon kicked out for insubordination, his attraction to climbing didn’t fade. Described as the kid “from the wrong side of the tracks,” he looked to climbing as a way to make a name for himself—he definitely did.

Some of his most impressive climbs include the first ascent of Infinite Patience on the Emperor Face of Mt. Robson, the first ascent of the North Pillar of North Twin, and the first ascent on the north face of Les Droites. The UIAGM-certified international mountain guide and father of two serves as the Associate Director of Yamnuska Mountain Adventures. He’s also a member of the Canadian Avalanche Association, is sponsored by Patagonia and Black Diamond Equipment, and currently lives in Canmore, Canada.

Blanchard’s book details a number of those ascents with renowned climbers such as Kevin Doyle, Mark Twight, David Cheesmond, and Ward Robinson. “This is the story of the culture of climbing in the days of punk rock, spurred on by the rhythm of adrenaline and the arrogance of youth,” the book’s description reads. “It is also a portrait of the power of the mountains to lift us—physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually—and the depths of relationships based on total trust in the person at the other end of a rope.”

Traversing the Tent Arête on the Cassin Ridge of Mount McKinley, Alaska, 1982.
Photo by Kevin Doyle.

When Blanchard began climbing in Calgary, Alberta in 1976, climbers numbered in the hundreds. Now, there are thousands, and he said most of them have experience rooted solely in a climbing gym.

“Expansion bolts drilled into the rock with portable rotary hammers and the ‘sport’ climbing that the bolts allow has taken much of the risk out of increasingly more mountain terrain,” he explained. “Risk and fear were an integral part of my climbing education and I value risk and have learned to use much of my fear to focus and advance (fear is not necessarily a four letter word for me). Having said all that, there is still a rich abundance of risk in the high mountains.”

It was those experiences in the mountains that led him to consider compiling his stories into a memoir.

“In 1980, with my back against a huge pine tree in Chamonix, I decided that I would answer the call that I heard from the mountains and dedicate my life to climbing them. Much of that call came through words written by great climbers and their words led me to some of the great writers. I decided then that I wanted to be a climber and a writer,” he recalled. “My initial attempts to write The Calling were in the late 1980s and it took me [until] this year to bring [it] to fruition. I wrote in earnest for the last several years.”

While Blanchard said the process of writing is one he finds enjoyable, it’s in no way easy. Rather, the challenge was present throughout compiling the memoir—fortunately, he found it to be hugely gratifying at the end, as many writers do. “I think that I’m getting better at it, and I find reward in that,” he said.

Blanchard at Les Calanques on the south coast of France, where Wally and Blanchard went to
rock climb and get their heads together before attempting Les Droites. Photo by Kevin
Doyle.

As someone who has climbed hundreds of mountains, he said it becomes difficult to name just one that fits the bill of “most challenging” or “most memorable.” Looking back, it’s not so much the climbs Blanchard considers memorable, but the people he was able to share them with.

“What is more interesting is that I remember the men—and some of them are no longer alive—that I climbed these mountains with with more value than the routes themselves, yet it was the act of climbing the routes with those men that led me to love those men,” he recalled. “I climbed a novice rock route, Mother’s Day Buttress, on Cascade Mountain here in the Canadian Rockies the other day with one of those men, and he has Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS). It will be his last climb. He and I shared dozens of great days in the mountains and this last climb together will be one of my most memorable.”

Blanchard’s return to mountains time and time again related to the effect the environments had on his soul—the ability to soothe it. “Many of the climbs in The Calling are like the packaging of the intensity, beauty, and fret of a lifetime into three or four days, or 23 days, as on Rakaposhi,” he said. “Climbing delivers a lot of bang for your day. Further, the mountains can be a fountainhead to keep you ascending, in all senses of the word. In time you begin to feel at home in them, part of them, yet you never really get to understand them completely. I have a magical attraction to the mysterious.”

As for what he hopes readers take away from his memoir, Blanchard said, “Encouragement to ‘follow your bliss,’ as Joseph Campbell said so well, or as REM sang, ‘Trust in your calling, make sure your calling’s true.'”

To learn more about Blanchard, visit his website and read his book, The Calling: A Life Rocked by Mountains, which will be released on October 7. Patagonia Books will be hosting a tour for the author at stores in Austin, Seattle, Ventura, New York City, Boston, Toronto, Victoria, Whistler, Portland, and Boulder. Check back with Blanchard’s website for exact dates.