Cameron Una May

(Bearbeiten)

Biografie:
Cameron Una, * West Linton (Schottland), später Montreux (Schweiz), Rom, London,Courmayeur (Italien)
+ in Buckingham (England)

Una May Cameron war eine schottische Bergsteigerin, die durch ihre Besteigungen in den Alpen, im Kaukasus und in Kenia bekannt wurde.
Im Sommer 1914, als der Krieg ausbrach, zog Una Cameron mit ihrer Mutter und ihrer Zwillingsschwester Bertha in die Schweiz. Sie blieben zwei Jahre in Montreux. Dort hat Una das Kletterfieber gepackt und es hat sie nie mehr losgelassen. An der Kunstschule in Rom lernte sie Hazel Jackson, eine amerikanische Bildhauerin, kennen. Auch sie war eine begeisterte Kletterin. Mit Hazel nahm sie an CAI-Expeditionen in die Julischen Alpen und die Dolomiten teil und verbrachte mehrere Saisonen in den Westalpen. Ihr Tourenbuch enthielt bis 1929 eine lange Liste klassischer Klettertouren, darunter die Dent Blanche über den Viereselgrat, die Überquerung des Matterhorns über den Zmutt- und den italienischen Grat, die Via Miriam auf dem Torre Grande, die Via Dimai auf der Punta Fiammes und die Guglia de Amicis. In den Dolomiten kletterte sie mit einheimischen Führern.
In den 1930er Jahren unternahm sie viele Erstbesteigungen in den Alpen und im Kaukasus, die sie in „A Good Line“ (1932) beschrieb. Ab etwa 1930 kletterte sie fast ausschließlich mit den Courmayeur Führern Edouard Bareux und Elisee Croux, die sie immer als Freunde und Partner betrachteten. Courmayeur wurde ihr Berghauptquartier und die Südseite des Montblanc ihr Klettergebiet. Zwischen 1933 und 1939 hat sie sehr viele Touren unternommen: vom Col du Géant über den Mont Maudit und hinunter zur Dome-Hütte, vom Brenvasporn hinunter zu den Grands Mulets, vom Peuterey-Grat (zwei Biwaks) zur Dome-Hütte – dann wieder hinauf zum Gipfel über die Quintino-Sella-Hütte, Montblanc-Innominata und hinunter über die Aiguilles Grises, Brouillardgrat zur Tête Rousse, Besteigung Rochers und zum Col du Géant. Sie kletterte zwei der von Graham Brown und F. S. Smythe erschlossenen Routen – den Sentinel Rouge 1935, die Route Major 1938 mit Abstieg über den Bionnassay-Grat! Auf der Südflanke bestieg sie die Dames Anglaises und überschritt die Aiguille Noire de Peuterey mit einem ersten Abstieg zum Brenva-Gletscher im Sturm, als sie zweimal biwakieren mussten. Eine Besteigung des gesamten Peuterey-Grats gelang ihr im Jahr 1935 mit den Führern Edouard Bareux und Elisee Croux und Dora de Beer. Dora de Beer, die hauptsächlich in Neuseeland Bergerfahrungen gesammelt hatte, war von Una zu der Annahme verleitet worden, dass „es nur eine der üblichen Routen“ sei, und hatte bis zum Ende keine Ahnung, dass sie die ersten Frauen waren, die den Peutereygrat bestiegen hatten.
Mit Edouard Bareux und Elisee Croux ging Una 1932 in den Kaukasus. Hazel Jackson schloss sich ihnen an. Sie bestiegen in den sechs schönen Tagen, die ihnen während der Regenzeit zuteil wurden, sieben Gipfel im Kasbek-Gebiet (so weit man feststellen kann, alles Erstbesteigungen). Im Frühjahr 1933 machte sie Skitouren in den kanadischen Rocky Mountains rund um das Yoho Valley und Lake Louise. 1938 ging es nach Ostafrika, mit Besteigungen des Mount Speke und des Mount Baker im Ruwenzori-Gebirge, des Kilimandscharo und den Mount Kenya. Von Nelion aus stiegen sie im März mit Edouard und Elisee auf den Batian, wo Una die erste Frau war und wo sie der Route der früheren Courmayeur-Führern Brocherel und Oilier folgten, die 1899 mit Halford Mackinder die Erstbesteigung geschafft hatten.
1929 trat sie in den „Ladies' Alpine Club“ ein und war von 1956 bis 1958 dessen Präsidentin.
Sie lebte viele Jahre in Courmayeur, Italien , und unternahm viele Besteigungen im
Montblancmassiv. 1929 erwarb sie die Mitgliedschaft im Ladies' Alpine Club. Sie starb in Buckingham in England. Das Haus der „Montagna Sicura Foundation-Stiftung“ wurde nach ihr benannt.
Beg.Dent Blanche-Viereselgrat,D,1200 KM,4357m, (Walliser Alpen)
Überschr.Matterhorn-Nordwestgrat „Zmuttgrat“IV,-Südwestgrat „Lionsgrat“,III+,4478m, (Walliser Alpen)
1928 Beg.Torre Grande-Südwand „Via Miriam“,V,190 KM,2361m, (Cinque Torri,Dolomiten)
1929 Beg.Punta Fiammes-Südwand „Via Dimai“,IV+,500 KM, (Pomagagnon Bergkette,Dolomiten)
1929 Best.Guglia Edmondo de Amicis,IV+/A0,2150m, (Cristallogruppe,Ampezzaner Dolomiten)
1931 1.Beg.Große Cirspitze -Südwestwand „Via Camerun",V,2592m, (Puezgruppe)
1933 1.Beg.Cima Tosa-Torrione Gottstein-Ostpfeiler, (Brenta) (13.08.1933)
1933 Beg.Überschr.Col du Géant-Mont Maudit-Dome-Hütte,4465m,(Montblancgebiet)
1933 Beg.Montblanc-Brenvaflanke „Mooresporn“,III-IV,bis 65°,1500 HM,Abstieg zu den Grands Mulets,4807m, (Montblancgebiet)
1933 Überschr.Aiguille Noire de Peuterey,Abstieg zum Brenva-Gletscher,3773m, (Montblancgebiet)
1933 Beg.Montblanc Peuterey-Grat (zwei Biwaks) zur Dome-Hütte–Quintino-Sella-Hütte-Montblanc,4807m, (Montblancgebiet)
1934 Beg.Montblanc-Innominata,Abstieg über die Aiguilles Grises,4807m, (Montblancgebiet)
1935 Beg.Montblanc-Brouillardgrat,Abstieg zur Tête Rousse,4807m, (Montblancgebiet)
1935 Beg.Best.Rochers und zum Col du Géant. (Montblancgebiet)
1935 Beg. Gesamten Peuterey-Grat mit den Führern Edouard Bareux,Elisee Croux u.Dora de Beer
1935 Beg.Montblanc-Brenvaflanke „Sentinelle Rouge”,III,bis 55°,1300 HM,4810 m, (Montblancgebiet)
1936 Beg.Dames Anglaises-Südflanke,3601m, (Montblancgebiet)
1938 Beg.Beg.Montblanc-Brenvaflanke „Major Route“,V-,57°,1300 HM,mit Abstieg über denBionnassay-Grat,4810 m, (Montblancgebiet)
1938 Best.Mount Speke,4890 (Ruwenzori-Gebirge,Ostafrika)
1938 Best.Mount Baker,4844m, (Ruwenzori-Gebirge,Ostafrika)
1938 Best.Kilimandscharo,5895m, (Tansania,Afrika)
1938 Best.Mount Kenia-Batian,5199m, (Kenia,Ostafrika)

Gerd Schauer, isny im Allgäu

Una May Cameron 1904-1987
In the summer of 1914 Una Cameron, with her mother and twin sister Bertha, were caught in Switzerland by the outbreak of war. They stayed on for two years in Montreux, where the girls went to school; and during holidays in the mountains (as her uninfected twin recalls) “the climbing bug got Una! and it never left her.”
Una was born at West Linton in Peebles-shire in 1904; she was Scottish in family, Scottish in speech, and firmly Scottish in drink - the family fortune was based on whisky, as she liked to tell her friends. From school in Switzerland she went to Cheltenham Ladies' College, then on to the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. There she specialized in woodcuts, and she pursued this line further at art school in Rome, where she met Hazel Jackson, an American sculptor whose enthusiasm for climbing matched her own. Una had climbed a bit in her school and college days, but with this congenial spirit it became a real dedication. With Hazel she joined CAI expeditions to the Julian Alps and the Dolomites, and spent several seasons in the Western Alps. Her application to join the Ladies' Alpine Club in 1929 had a strong list of classic climbs, which included the Dent Blanche by the Viereselgrat, the traverse of the Matterhorn by the Zmutt and Italian ridges, the Via Miriam on the Torre Grande, the Via Dimai on the Punta Fiammes, the Guglia de Amicis.
In the Dolomites she climbed with local guides; from about 1930 she climbed almost exclusively with the Courmayeur guides Edouard Bareux and Elisee Croux (affectionately referred to as The Monster) - always regarded as friends and partners rather than employees. Courmayeur became her mountain headquarters, and the south side of Mont Blanc her climbing-ground. I don't think her record on the mountain has been equalled by any Briton. Between 1933 and 1939 she had traversed ir in most of the possible ways: from the Col du Geant over Mont Maudit and down to the Dome hut; from the Brenva Ridge and down to the Grands Mulets; from the Peuterey Ridge (two bivouacs) down to the Dome hut - then up to the top again via the Quintino Sella hut; tip the Innominata and down by the Aiguilles Grises; up the Brouillard and down by Tete Rousse; up the Rochers and down to the Col du Geant. She climbed two of the routes pioneered by Graham Brown and F S Smythe - the Red Sentinel in 1935, the Route Major in 1938 with descent by the Bionnassay Ridge! On the S-face, too, there were ascents of the Dames Anglaises, and a traverse of the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey, with a first descent to the Brenva glacier in storm when they had to bivouac twice, and Una popped her drawing-book inside her trousers to make a seat at night. These separate ascents culminated in the climb of the whole Peuterey Ridge of 1935, when Una, Edouard and Elisee were accompanied by Dora de Beer and her guides. Dora, whose experience had been mainly in New Zealand, had been led by Una to believe that 'it was just one of the usual routes', and till it was over had no idea that they were the first women to go up it.
With Edouard and Elisee, Una went far afield. In 1932 it was the Caucasus, with Hazel Jackson joining them: in spite of rotten rock - 'a sinister mixture of stone books and suitcases that rattle down just as you are about to put a finger on it' - they climbed seven peaks in the Kasbek area ('as far as can be ascertained all first ascents') in the six fine days they snatched from a rainy season. In spring 1933 it was ski-touring in the Canadian Rockies round the Yoho Valley and Lake Louise. In 1938 it was East Africa, with ascents of Mt Speke and Mt Baker in the Ruwenzori, Kilimanjaro ('dull') and, not at all dull, Mt Kenya. From Nelion they traversed to Batian, where Una was the first woman, and where Edouard and Elisee were following those earlier Courmayeur guides, Brocherel and Oilier, who had made the first ascent with Halford Mackinder in 1899.
Once Courmayeur had become Una's alpine base she decided to build her own home there, above La Palud, near the old mule-track to the Mont Frety; later, the teleferique to the Col du Geant passed right above it. It was a solid stone house with marvellous views that exactly suited the character of its owner; she created an alpine garden, bringing back plants from as far as the Ruwenzori; the garage at the foot of the steep path housed her succession of fast
Italian cars.
During the war Una served first in the fire Service in London, then with the FANYs, mainly in Scotland with Polish troops, and for some months in 1945 in liberated Singapore. In 1946 she returned to Courmayeur and a heartwarming welcome from the friends who had made it their business to keep German soldiers away from the Villa Cameron. The garage had gone - but in an avalanche! - and 'my home with its red-leather chairs and books, even clothes and some bottles of fiery liquor, were all as I had left them and the house a great deal cleaner than if the owner had been in residence for seven years'.
After the war Una would speak cheerfully of 'getting into training for the Pear', the climb which would have completed Graham Brown's triptych on the Brenva Face - but the days of her great exploits were over; she had put on weight, she didn't want to be a liability to others. This was to the advantage of her friends, who were more likely now to find her in when they passed by the Villa Cameron. She would regale them with Italian food and Scotch drink ('fire-water'), invite them to camp in her basement, bathe in her swimmingpool. She would help with their plans, calling in Edouard (who became something of a majordomo to her establishment) to advise on a route or a guide, or where a large party with teenagers could be most cheaply accommodated at La Palud.
When the LAC was coming up to its Jubilee in 1957, there was no question who should be President. Una had the presence, and a climbing record known far beyond the Club; she had edited the Journal and cheered it up no end with her woodcuts, which also adorned the menus at Club dinners. The LAC meant a lot to her, and she never felt quite at home after the merger with the Alpine Club, and seldom came to meetings. She now travelled rather than climbed; she walked in Nepal and Borneo (though there she did go up Mt Kinabalu), she visited Mexico, the Galapagos Islands, China, Angkor Wat. Her horizons narrowed as her health declined; her last years in a nursing home were cheered by a smuggled kitten - cats had always played a large part in her life. She died on 15 October 1987.
Una Cameron was a great character, though not always an easy one, for she had strong prejudices which she didn't bother to hide. She had a large body - 'I felt it handy to be heavy' she wrote, after a storm had nearly blown her parry off the Brouillard Ridge - and great stamina. She stood out in any company elle porte le pantalon et elle fume la pipe, a Courmayeur man described her to me in 1934, when trousers on women were not so common off the mountain, and before her pipe gave way to villainous-smelling cigars. She belonged to Courmayeur in the way passing climbers couldn't. She was fluent in French and Italian, the two languages of the Val d'Aosta; she supported the local Waldensian church (as she supported St Calumba's Kirk in London); she knew everybody and everybody knew her. But that was in the days before the new roads, new hotels, the Mont Blanc tunnel and the huge extension of skiing- and before the death of Edouard. When she had to give up the Villa Camerorr; it was no longer the wrench it would once have been.
Una was able to climb in a style that must amaze today's young climber, with limited means and limited holidays - able to transport her guides overseas, to build her Alpine home. She was privileged, and she knew it - but what matters is the enterprising use she made of her money and leisure, and the way she shared with others the pleasures they made possible. She made many first ascents, and many more firsts by a woman. But though she was pleased by such successes, they were not what she chiefly climbed for. After the 1935 season she wrote in her diary: 'First the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey and then Mont Blanc several times, in fact employment that I would not swop for entertainment by archangels, with the Heavenly choir in the offing.'
Janet Adam Smith (Janet Carleton)
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 93, 1988-89, Seite 323-326


Geboren am:
06.05.1904
Gestorben am:
15.10.1987

Erste Route-Begehung