Secord Campbell H.

(Bearbeiten)

Biografie:
Campbell H. Secord (1913-1980)
Cam Secord died at his home in Tuscany in June 1980 at the age of 67. A Canadian by birth he came to England in the mid 1930's and while retaining his citizenship he made England his home. In his early days in this country he was a lecturer at the London School of Economics. For the first half of the war he flew Liberators in coastal command, later he held various government posts and worked as an industrial consultant.
Cam's early mountaineering was in the Canadian Rockies during his student days at Winnipeg. His most notable expedition was an attempt in 1934 with the Neave brothers on the then unclimbed Mt Waddington. Nineteen days of back packing were required to reach the foot of the unexplored Tiedeman glacier. But the attempt failed 500 feet below the summit in poor weather. Secord himself left no record of this or other expeditions. He climbed in the Alps in several summers, for example with Frank Smythe in the Tyrol in 1935. But it was wild and unexplored country which excited his imagination. In 1938 he explored the western approaches to Rakaposhi with Michael Vyvyan, climbing the peak at the end of the NW ridge. With Tilman and two Swiss he returned to Rakaposhi in 1947 and made considerable progress on the SW ridge, the route which finally yielded the first ascent to Banks's party in 1958.
Secord was one of the first to realise that with the opening up of Nepal in 1949 the future possibilities on Everest lay with a S approach rather than the traditional route through Tibet which was likely to remain closed.
He was a moving spirit in getting the 1951 reconnaissance underway although unluckily he had to withdraw from the expedition itself. He was, however, a member of the 1952 Cho Oyu expedition.
In his work Secord displayed similar qualities, those of an enthusiastic and persuasive innovator. In the early post-war years he worked with Jean Monuet on the Euratom concept.
LIter, although he had no formal training in science or engineering, he was closely concerned at the Ministry of Fuel and Power with novel applications of industrial gas turbines. In the 60s and 70s he made and developed a number of inventions to do with production of oil from coal, with pipeline construction and with the transport of liquid methane.
Cam was not especially a Club man although he usually came to lectures which promised something new or exciting. What one chiefly remembers about him are the long and often argumentative discussions. Whether it was in the early days in his and Peggy's charming mews flat, or in subsequent years at their home in Markyate or on a skiing holiday, the conversation was always stimulating. He rarely accepted received opinions -the establishment view- and would always have a fresh way of looking at things.
Peter Lloyd
Roger Chorley
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 86, 1981, Seite 271


Geboren am:
1913
Gestorben am:
06.1980