Thexton Peter

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Biografie:
Peter Thexton d. 1983
Dr. Peter Thexton died, seemingly from altitude oedema, at the top bivouac site of the British expedition on Broad Peak in June 1983.
Though he became well known in the British c1imbing scene in the 1970s, he had developed as a rock climber over a longer period. Ten years of family holidays on Lundy had imprinted the place indelibly in his consciousness. He took part in a number of Lundy first ascents. Experience with Keith Darbyshire and others of his ilk led him to open up new areas like Beef Buttress and Punchbowl Clilfas well as great climbs like Wolfman Jack and Immaculate Slab.
Qualified as a doctor in 1978, and free of the examinations which he loathed, he spent periods of house work in hospitals in Nottingham; Mansfield and Sheffield. He made many friends, did not settle much, and climbed winter and summer, at home and abroad. In early 1978 he joined the Alpine Climbing Group, and soon he went on two Himalayan expeditions within the year. This looked like liberation, with the first ascent of Thelay Sangar and a charming period in India. He recovered from an Asian disease and went on to the Latok 2 West Ridge Expedition. In the Braldu he suffered the trauma of being alone with Pat Fearnehough when he was killed by rockfall, but he went on to spend weeks of hazardous climbing on the W Ridge in poor conditions with enthusiasm which never wilted. Even at the last descent, after two months on the mountain, a brief clearance made him want to go up again.
Thexton was a good photographer, a practical pragmatic mountaineer and an increasingly successful organiser. It was a streak which came out in medical work and as a caring and unpretentious expedition doctor. He knew much about his own limits, but was very much his own man, privy to others' secrets, cheerful, mild and easy, but unready to reveal his own. His motivations lay very deep, and he could be very hard on himself. Fortunately he did not always hope for so much from less strong or single-minded companions, though he hated loss of opportunity, and sometimes then the volcano erupted. On Everest in winter in 1980-1 he doctored half the Khumbu and the climbers as health failed in face of inspiring but outrageous conditions.
Pete Thexton had the inner fire and climbed for pleasure. Not blaming others for his own mistakes, he was supremely steady when others indulged in neurotic rush. He did many extreme things like climbing the N Face of the Midi alone in bad conditions in winter. A small man, his appetite was gargantuan. He loved to sunbathe at sub-zero temperatures, took great pleasure in exertion and also in bouts of rest. He disliked formal writing yet showered his friends with rich and detailed letters from all over the globe. Under an unassuming exterior was the confidence of formidable practical and intellectual gifts, and a desire to test his powers in many directions. In the 1982-3 period he pushed his rock-climbing standards higher than ever before, with a sustained campaign in Britain and the United States. One of his greatest charms was that one never quite knew what he might concentrate on next.
It is an irony that Pete Thexton died of a condition which intrigued him. His grasp on life was particularly rich and tenacious. Though he knew mountains to be feelingless geology, he was happy on them and thus knew himself, and was not unhappy with what he found.
All our sympathies must be extended to his family, who delighted in his achievements and were always ready to help climbers in every way possible.
Paul Nunn
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 89, 1984, Seite 270-271 (Foto Seite 264)

Gestorben am:
06.1983