PIERRE ALLAIN ( 1904-2000)

A French mountaineer, alpiniste and rock climber born in Paris 1904 who arguably was one of the greatest climbing product innovators of all time, reaching across technical climbing hardware and performance clothing. The author of the Wikipedia note on him says he is mainly remembered for his climb in Fontainebleau, ‘Angle Allain’. This article corrects that understatement and gives a full account of the depth and breadth of his innovations.

As Stephane Pennequin commented :

‘If nowadays the name of Pierre Allain no longer resonates as a benchmark for the new generation of climbers, it should be remembered that even the least well equipped have a minimum of three climbing tools/articles of which PA is the creator; the aluminium Karabiner, the abseil device, rock boots, not to mention the down jacket and cagoule. For these, we mountaineers should be forever thankful’.

The term ‘PA’s’ became the generic expression used by all Brits for their rock boots during the 60’s.

Pierre Allain’s context.

The 1930s  was the most serious, boldest and most highly publicised climbing decade and it has probably never been equalled. We describe this in Invisible on Everest as Phase 2: The ‘Bare Knuckle Fight’ lasting from the mid 1930s to the mid 1950s. The climbing techniques existed but not the clothing and bivouac gear. The rapid acceleration of techniques following Dulfer and friends (pre-First World War) and Welzenbach (known as the father of modern Alpinism) created the system we all use today of double ropes and karabiners . This meant that the ‘last great problems’ were achieved before warm and waterproof garments and bivouac gear had been developed to match the conditions. This alone, underlined the seriousness of the climbs. The fanfare that surrounded the so-called ‘last great problems’, the Eiger North Face, Grande Jorasses, Cima Grande, was clouded by political overtones which often obscured the achievements.

In contrast to the rapid uptake of the new German technical climbing methods across the Alpine nations, the diffusion of innovations in clothing and bivouac equipment was very slow. Ideas did not move quickly across national boundaries in this period and British and French clothing ideas did not reach Germany. Down clothing appears to have been unknown among German climbers even though experiments began in Britain in the 1920s with George Finch on the 1922 Everest expedition ( see story in Invisible on Everest chapter 7).

Pierre Allain (PA) began to think about new bivouac equipment , in 1931, after a very hard night in a crevasse on “La Dent Parachée” (Vanoise) with Robert Latour.

PA’s newly created down jacket was used in conjunction with a short length sleeping bag (which he referred to as a ‘pied d’éléphant’ or elephant’s foot).This is a short waist length sleeping bag  and was a classic design for lightweight bivouacs. It was a total bivouac concept, including a knee length, coated silk jacket, which he called in French ‘an awning’. This design of jacket, known by the French word cagoule, dominated the UK market during from the mid 60’s through to the end of 70’s.

Cagoule

The influence still lingers today, amazingly, as British outdoor people still like the longer jacket, partly because it can obviate use of waterproof over-trousers.

In case of an unplanned bivouac and no down equipment, the long cagoule could be pulled down over the knees and feet when in a crouch position. When used in a full length sleeping position, a half length inflatable mattress of rubber coated silk provided comfort and insulation from cold rising from the ground. In order to achieve a very light, but durable product PA imported from Japan some ultra-lightweight silk. This comprised two layers of silk which was cleverly cross laid “on the bias” to create a very high tear strength and the rubber coating between the two layers made it not only totally waterproof but also air holding. From this fabric he made his short inflatable mattress weighing only 400g and of course his first ‘cagoule’.

After his first trials on a first ascent of the South Face of the Fou he wrote in Alpinisme et Compétition, in the chapter “L’Arête Sud du Fou”,

Pierre Allain’s total bivouac solution

A literal translation ‘Here, we are totally equipped. The bivouac has become bourgeois, the risk has become security. The Bohemia makes way to the Organization.’ The way we would express this today is; We are now totally equipped; bivouacs are now a luxurious and secure thing to do because instead of ‘ad hoc methods we can be fully prepared.

His equipment was used in the 1936 French Himalayan Expedition and described as the ‘Integral Bivouac’. However, he was rather premature and his equipment was not commercialised in the French market until after 1945 and unknown in Germany until 1955. Then it was directly imported by Schuster of Munich.

After his 1933 ascent of the South Arête of the Fou, Pierre Allain then went on to create 12 premières, beginning with 1934 West ridge of the Pic san Nom, South Face of the Meije, South Face of the Corno Stella, 1935 East Face of Caïman.

The French succeeded in climbing the first 8000er, Annapurna, in 1950.The great achievement of this trip was to find the route to the base of the mountain, without prior exploration. Maurice Herzog‘s team did not include Pierre Allain. However in a rather uncomfortable pre-summit bivouac (the precursor of two desperate post summit bivouacs where they were badly frostbitten) he was able to muse ‘good old Pierre: these (sleeping) bags are superb!’

But just what sort of man was Pierre Allain?

Herman Huber had met him through business as Salewa was, in the late 1960s, already exporting considerable quantities of aluminium ski poles to France. A visit to Munich was arranged for the French retailers and amongst this group was Pierre Allain. A rapport was quickly established between these two mountaineers. Herman rated him perhaps above all other innovators saying, that if he ever had his time over again and had to choose an innovation collaborator it would be PA. But it is Stephane Pennequin, the passionate climbing historian who had the memorable experience of meeting him in his fully operational workshop before he died.