Rouse Alan Paul
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Biografie:
Rouse Alan (Allan), Wallasey-Merseyside, später Sheffield (Großbritanien), + am K2 beim Abstieg an Erschöpfung, (Karakorum,Pakistan)
1970 Beg.Petit Dru-Westwand "Hemming-Robbins/Amerikanische Direkte",VI/A2,1000 HM,3733m, (Montblancgebiet)
1970 1.Alleinbeg.Piz Cengalo-Nordwestpfeiler,3366m, (Bergell)
1971 1.Alleinbeg.Piz Cengalo-Nordkante,3366m, (Bergell)
1975 2.Beg.Aiguille Noire-Südostwand,1300 HM,3773m, (Montblancgebiet)
1977 1.Beg.Nevado Yerupaja-Südgipfel-Südwand,VI,55°,1500 HM,6636m, (Cordillera-Huayhuash)
1977 1.Beg.Nevado Rondoy-Nordwestwand,VI+,1100 HM,5887m, (Cordillera-Huayhuash)
1977 1.Beg.Nevado Rasac-Südwand,VI,1100 HM,6045m, (Cordillera-Huayhuash)
1977 1.Beg.Ancocancha-Westwand,5315m, (Anden,Peru)
1978 Best.Jannu,7710 m, (Himalaya,Nepal)
1979 3.Best.u.1.Beg.Nuptse-Nordwand "Scott-Route",1100 HM,7861m,
(Khumbu Himal,Himalaya,Nepal)
1979 1.Beg.Ninashanca-Westgrat,5607m, (Huayhuash-Gebirge,Anden,Peru)
1979 1.Beg.Cerro Trapecio-Südwand,
1979 3.Best.u.2.Beg.Tsacra Chico Norte-Nordostflanke,300 HM,5513m, (Anden,Peru)
1981 1.Best.Mont Kongur Shan,7719m, (Pamir,China)
1983 Best.Lobsang Spire,5707m, (Karakorum,Pakistan)
1983 Best.Broad Peak,8047 m, (Karakorum,Pakistan/China)
1986 Best.u.1.britische Best.K2,8611 m, (Karakorum,Pakistan)
1.Beg.Gletscherhorn "Direkte Nordwand-Rouse Carrington-Führe",
Beg.Grandes Jorasses-Walkerpfeiler,VI-,1200 HM,4208m, (Montblancgebiet)
Beg.Mont Maudit "Zappelli-Pfeiler",4465m, (Montblancgebiet)
2.Alleinbeg.Dru Nordwand "Lesuer-Route",3754m, (Montblancgebiet)
Beg.Droites-Nordostpfeiler,4000m, (Montblancgebiet)
Gerd Schauer, Isny im Allgäu
Quelle: Der Bergsteiger 1984, Heft 3, Seite 89
Alan Paul Rouse 1951-1986
On the 11th day of August 1986 Al Rouse died on the descent from the summit of K2. When news of it broke, hundreds of people around the world who knew Al paused at their work and thought fondly of the good times they had spent in his company.
For eight or nine years AI's life and my life were deeply entwined as we wended our way through the growing-up process of climbing. And in that time a love and understanding grew between us so that at times we seemed to be able to read each other's minds.
Predictably enough, it was at the Padarn in Llanberis that I first met AI, propped up against the bar, long hair and orange loons. He was on a flying visit from Liverpool and he had a 'plan' for a new route. Our day on Cloggy is as clear to me today as it was then-Octo-Aries-a failed attempt on the new route, then on to do E Gully Wall Direct and finally W Buttress Eliminate. Instantaneously a deep friendship welled up, intuitive knowledge of strengths and weaknesses revealed. For years after that first day I was afraid to climb on Cloggy, lest subsequent visits might tarnish the glorious memory of that day.
Al was brought up in the Wirral; a scholarship took him to Wallasey Grammar where he excelled and further scholarship took him on to Emmanuel College Cambridge to study Pure Maths. His climbing started whilst still at school on the Breck, a sandstone wall but a stone's throw from his house. Here he found an outlet for his adventurous nature and also a sport at which he could excel. Pete Minks and Brian Molyneaux took him under their wing where his climbing skills and ability grew, in spite of their beer-swilling excesses.
AI's natural flair and drive gave him early ascents of Wee Doris, Our Father and the Beatnik at Helsby and the first ascent of the wonderful Positron on Anglesey. Minks and Phillips gave him soloing which he pursued audaciously till he was caught on the hop on the S face of the Fou, and ended up with a broken ankle.
Minks introduced Al to the Alps, and here Al was in his spiritual home. Chamonix kindled a flame in AI, and it was here he wanted to live. The secrets of the mountains could be found in the Alps and in Chamonix, the close company of friends in the bars and the cafes. Al loved it here and made friends readily, friendships which could last over a year of neglect, yet be rekindled over a glass of wine in the Bar Nac or a brew on Snell's Field. Mick Geddes gave Al Scotland: the subtlety and desperation of Ben Nevis in winter, long weekend hitches from Cambridge to Fort William, and the thought of a long difficult day on the hill in winter brought a particular gleam to AI's eye.
Al Rouse gave me the world to climb in.
In 1972, after an excellent season in the Alps, Al convinced me that we should conquer Yosemite. It was now that I discovered the finer details of AI's organizational skills. Over breakfast, on the day of departure, he drew from his pocket a tatty piece of paper covered all over with his spidery writing and a myriad of long multiplication sums. Heading the paper in bold capitals and underlined to ensure its importance: Things to Do
1) Get gear from Brighams 8.55
2) Opticians, get eyes tested and new glasses 9.10
3) Banks and organize travellers' cheques 9.30
4) Pack gear 10.00
5) Train to London 11.20
Needless to say, Brighams didn't open till 9.30, we had a brew, then a butty, the optician was forgotten, the banking never mentioned, but we did get to Yosemite.
From then on the trip abroad was an annual event, with Al generally choosing the venue. A disastrous trip to Patagonia, where we almost failed to reach the mountains, was followed in '74 by a winter season in Chamonix with Brian Hall, John Whittle and a cast of thousands. Al was in his element: posh apartment in Argentiere (not so posh when we left it), skiing on the doorstep, parties almost every night and the new experience of alpine winter climbing. The irony of making a two-day ascent of a certain col in the Argentiere basin, only for someone to ski down it in 20 minutes several years later. But also the first ascent of the N face of the Pelerins, which has since become a winter classic.
I once remember chatting to Al and saying how glad I was that we were lucky enough to go to places like Yosemite, the Alps in winter, before the masses got there: what I failed to realize then was that it was AI's vision that took us to those places, not luck.
The heady summers of '75 and '76 brought with them endless sunny days, routes on Cloggy, Sheard's transit van and parties at Harris's, the Piranha Club with its twin mottoes so close to AI's heart: 'Never let the truth get in the way of a good story' and 'More than enough is quite sufficient'. At the end of '76, the Burgesses, Brian Hall, John Whittle, Al and myself all set off on our Super Trip to S America. This was the best trip ever: plenty of climbing, lots of close
friends and new places to visit.
Memories flood back: Christmas at Piedra del Fraile, success on Poincenot, but yet another failure on the W face of Fitzroy with AI. The Paine in the pouring rain, La Paz Hotel, and the saga of Al's boots stolen. Then the Cordillera Huayhuash in Peru and Al banning all conversation of pubs lest we become too homesick and have to leave before all the routes had been done; finally Rondoy and fear and complete trust in each other's capabilities.
And so to the Himalaya, it had to be the next step: Jannu alpine-style with Roger Baxter-Jones and Brian was a long, hard, exhausting climb and perhaps verging on the necky.
Finally, '79 on Kang Taiga, tearfully realizing that Al and I had at last come to the end of the line in the mountains. AI's ambition led him on, mine to compromise. Perhaps we had been together too close, too long. Sorrowfully we parted-Al's path led him on to Nuptse and Everest, mine to Kunjung and the plains of Nepal.
We remained friends after that, but never climbed together again.
Al asked me to go on K2 with them this year; I turned it down and he added, almost as a postscript (and thinking of his imminent fatherhood) that he would probably be joining us next spring for our family weekends away-I was looking forward to that. Don't anybody leave here sad-AI wouldn't have wanted that: but just, when you are sat down in a pub or round a camp-fire, remember the good times you had together and smile at the memory.
Thank you.
Rab Carrington
(Address given at the memorial service for Al Rouse)
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 92, 1987, Seite 304-306
Quelle: Himalaja Journal 1985/86, Seite 160 ff
Geboren am:
19.12.1951
Gestorben am:
11.08.1986