3

With the AMA in 1961 he climbed in Austria and Switzerland, ascending many peaks including the Finsteraarhorn and Schreckhorn, and a traverse of the Eiger via the Mittellegi Ridge, the Jungfrau and Monch, etc.  

 

1962 was probably his best year.  He went to Equador to climb in the Andes and reached the summits of Cotopaxi and Chimborazo.  Later in the same year we climbed together again in the Alps where we traversed the Matterhorn, climbed the Dent Blanche from Zermatt and the Weisshorn.  We also got caught in an alarming electric storm whilst traversing the Lenzspitze Nadelhorn Ridge. In 1964 we were back there again and traversed the Zinal Rothorn via the wonderful rock ridge of the Rothorngrat.  We followed this by a three day traverse of the Monte Rosa peaks and Lyskamm.  In all David had by then climbed at least fifteen 4000mtr peaks in the Alps.  Quite a significant achievement. 

 

Over the years since then he maintained his interest in rock climbing and many members of this club will have interesting stories to relate of him.  In earlier years he had a penchant for ex-army gear and at one period, when he sported an almost Mohician hairstyle with his camouflage combat outfits, he was nicknamed “the ex-WD Indian”.

 

David retired from work very early, whilst still in his mid-40’s, so his battered motorbike and the patched up Citroen 2CV eventually had to go.  He took up beachcombing on a grand scale and his picture appeared in the local paper.  All that was visible were two legs under a huge chunk of driftwood making its way along the shoreline. He was also keen on skiing but by his own admission fell off them more times than he did from his motorbikes.  I was present when he had a bad accident at Grizebeck when he sustained serious head injuries.  He was carried off by ambulance men who indicated that he  would not live, but he pulled through, although this was possibly a contributory factor for his early retirement.

 

Dave kept copious notes of all the climbs he did in an A4 ring binder, going back to the 1950’s.  His writing is small and neat but difficult to decipher.  Possibly someone out there will be willing to transcribe it into a more readable memoir of our late friend for the Club archives.