Frank Harris, a Master of Mountains

Per Kaijser1    KRI Ismaning, Germany
1 Corresponding author: email address: per@kaijser.de

This chapter is devoted to Professor Frank Harris. First time we met was in connection with the Löwdin Summer School in 1969, which took place in BeitostøIen, Norway. During 3 weeks in August that year and the years 1970 and 1971, I got to know Frank not only as an excellent teacher and scientist but also as a dear friend with many capabilities. One of these, his knowledge, skill, and love for mountains, is the topic of this chapter.

The summer schools 1969–1971 were situated in Beitostølen, Norway, a small village in Jotunheimen, the highest mountain region in Scandinavia. Professor Per-Olov Löwdin, who was in charge of these, was a very experienced climber and loved the mountains and made sure that as much of the free time as possible was spent hiking in the mountains. A hike is the perfect environment for mingling and for discussing scientific issues and ideas. Of the other staff members, the two best hikers were Professor Yngve Öhrn and, especially, Frank, who was outstanding. I was told numerous stories about his achievements in the north of Sweden and in the Dolomites, mainly from my supervisor Jean-Louis Calais from whom I learnt not only science but also much about the scientists. Besides being a technically excellent climber, Frank was most known for his speed and distances he was able to cover.

Mountains have always appealed to me, but I had no experience with alpine type of mountains with peaks several hundreds of meters above its base. I was thus very keen to get to know them better. The first mountain lecture was how to handle large groups of inexperienced hikers. This took place at the Summer School home mountain, Bitihorn. This is a beautiful rather steep mountain but still easily accessible without advanced climbing. The students were divided into smaller groups led by one of the athletic members of the staff. These included also Osvaldo Goscinski and Erkki Brändas. The tail of each line, however, was given to less athletic staff members such as Jean-Louis Calais and Ruben Pauncz or to a junior like me. Bitihorn (see Figs. 1–3) was visited several times and during some of the later ones I had the pleasure of hiking along with Frank.

Besides Bitihorn, we also made hikes through Svartdalen from Torfinsbu at the lake Bygdin to Gjendebu at the lake Gjende, a very nice valley surrounded by high peaks on all sides. Another mountain Knutshøe (see Fig. 4), close to Gjende, was a small and very beautiful mountain that could be climbed during a half-day tour.

Once we made a longer tour over Besseggen at the east end of lake Gjende, a famous mountain ridge 800 m above the lake and famous from the Norwegian literature. During this hike, I saw with envy how Frank was permitted to make a side trip with some of the more athletic students to Besshøe, a further away lying taller mountain, whereas I had to walk at the end making sure no one was left behind and encouraging the slower ones enough so that we would not miss the last ferry back from Memurubu.

The most advanced tour made during that first summer was the climb to the top of Galdhøpiggen, the tallest mountain in Scandinavia. Here, we were all tied up on ropes crossing the glacier up toward the peak. From the top, one could see the cracks in the ice and how the path winded between them.

The second year, 1970, I could spend more time in the mountains, since I no longer needed to attend all the lectures. This year Per-Olov also wanted to climb the east peak of Turfinstindane (see Fig. 5) along a route that Frank had found at an earlier occasion. We were a limited group, only four of us. It was a rather long and at some places exposed climb (see Fig. 6), so we sometimes used ropes. This I consider my first real full-day climb. Frank (see Fig. 7) was the excellent guide for me. The way he was carefully looking for the easiest and safest path and also how he always checked the hold or the step before making the next move, each with only one hand or one foot at a time. I observed every move with the keenest eye and had no difficulty seeing a master and follow his movements. It was a most wonderful climb giving us an impressive view from the top (see Figs. 8 and 9). It took place on Frank's 41st birthday, and was well documented by Per-Olov with his mini-camera.

Frank was an excellent hiking partner. We had the same approach to hiking. None of us was keen in bringing too much food or drinks along, and we could both walk fast and with very little need to rest. On my third season, 1971, Frank and myself, with Per-Olov’s permission, set out for a long hike.This was to make the western ridge along Svartdalen (see Fig. 9) from north to south. There was no path on any map, so we had to find the way on our own. The ridge contained some peaks, all of which we of course wanted to pass. Weather was good and stable, but the trip was long, and as the start of the actual hike would be late we had to be fast in order to reach to the end before the darkness would force us to abandon it beforehand.

We left the hotel in Beitostølen with two cars early in the morning of August 25, parking one in Bygdisheim before continuing with the other to Gjendesheim. There we caught the first ferry across the lake Gjende to Gjendebu. After having a short breakfast, we started hiking at 10:25 am. First, we climbed Svartdalspiggan (see Fig. 10) more than thousand meter above Gjende before descending down to the ridge. We conquered all the peaks along the ridge including Mesmogtind (the highest one) and Langedalstind (note that the two top pictures on page 2802 of the Int J Quantum Chem Vol 109 (2009) are also from this hike and shows Frank at two points along the ridge) and then followed a rather horizontal Turfinseggi to the western peak of Turfinstindane (see Fig. 11). As we reached the latter only shortly after 8 pm in the evening, we had to abandon our original goal to pass all three peaks of Turfinstindane. Notwithstanding a rather fast direct descent, it was indeed very dark when we finally reached the tourist hut in Torfinsbu close to 1000 m below. After a good night's sleep, we had an easy hike out along the lake Bygdin (see Fig. 12) to our car in Bygdisheim. This fantastic hike the author considered as taking the final mountaineering exam for Frank.

The author has since then made many hikes on all continents but Antarctica, some together with Frank (see Figs. 13 and 14). Some of these have been rather long and tough and required good speed. In Munich, where the author is now living, he has the reputation among some of his friends of being too fast and too seldom stopping for food and drinks, just as his teacher. But due to the excellent guidance received, the author has never got into any serious trouble while hiking anywhere in the world. And the pleasure of hiking in mountains is still immense. Thank you...