Pasteur Charles Henry

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Biografie:
Charles Henry Pasteur (1869- 1955)
With the death of Charles Henry Pasteur on July 31 the Alpine Club has lost its senior member, a former Vice-President, and a mountaineer whose visits to the Alps extended over a period of 76 years (A.J. 59· 458). He made the first guideless ascent of the Grepon, with Sir George Morse, J. H. Gibson and Claud Wilson, on August 8, 1892, an event which caused no small stir at the time, and later that same month, with Mummery, Collie and Hastings, made the first traverse of the mountain, also guideless. He was, almost certainly, the last of Mummery's climbing companions.
Charles Pasteur came of a climbing family and has left a climbing family. His father, Marc Henri Pasteur, was elected a member of the Club in 1873, only sixteen years after its formation. His mother also climbed. Two of his sons are members; the third, though unable to climb for physical reasons, has walked the Alps widely, and his daughter has also made various ascents. Finally, a grandson has inherited the same taste and in due time should qualify for membership. Four generations of Alpine climbers may well be unique.
But the mountaineering connections in the family do not end there. His elder brother, Dr. William Pasteur, was a member of the Club, whose daughter married General E. F. Norton. Of his three sisters, all of whom climbed, one became the wife of Sir George Morse. The latter's daughter in turn married yet another member, Brigadier J. R. T. Aldous, while one of his sons was also until recently a member. In fact, membership of the Club seems almost to have been regarded by the female side of the family as an essential qualification for aspiring husbands. Finally, a nephew, T. C. Paynter, is also a member.
Born in 1869, Pasteur was educated at Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge. After visiting South Africa with his father on business, he decided to become a stockbroker and joined the London firm of Francis Birch & Christian, of which he remained an active member till his death. In 1895 he married Constance Barkworth and, from 1902 onwards, lived at Much Hadham, Herts. It would be hard to conceive of a happier home than the one which grew up there. Though hardly a climber, his wife shared his love of the mountains, joining in, walks and picnics and mothering her climbing brood until her sudden death in 1932 at Brigue.
Save for the years 1893 and 1894, when he was in South Africa, and for war years, Pasteur answered the call of the Alps almost every year until his death. In his early years the Montanvert was his favourite district, with the Dauphiny a good second, but later these yielded pride of place to the Valais.
Pasteur began serious climbing in 1883 when, at the age of fourteen, he made ascents of the Petits Charmoz and Aiguille du Midi. Thereafter he went out every year till 1890, in December of which year he was elected a member of the Club ; only the necessity of attaining his twenty-first birthday prevented him from being elected earlier. His major expeditions in 1890 included the Grand Dru and the first ascent of the Aiguille de la Nonne, both with Claud Wilson and two guides ; the Géant and the Grands Charmoz. A day on the Petits Charmoz is of interest for the names of the other members of the party: Morse, Wicks, Wilson, Mrs. Wilson, and his sisters Mary Pasteur and Isabel May Pasteur, later Lady Twigg.
His two best seasons were those of 1891 and 1892, in the Dauphiny and at Montanvert on each occasion. The 1891 Dauphiny expeditions consisted of the Breche de la Meije, a traverse of the Ecrins in bad weather, the Meije via Glacier Carré, the party being benighted on the way down, Aiguille du Planet, Col de la Temple and Grande Aiguille, all guideless with Morse and Wicks ; the Montanvert expeditions included the Petit Dru, Mont Blanc in bad weather, Col de Triolet, Mont Mallet and Les Periades, an guided. In 1892, the Dauphiny expeditions included the Aiguille d'Arve Meridionale, Pie Coolidge and traverse of Meije, all with Wilson and Ulrich Almer ; the Montanvert expeditions consisted of a first ascent of L'Eveque and a traverse of Grands Charmoz, both guideless, the Grand Dru with Ellis Carr, Norman Collie and Alfred Simond, Col des Hirondelles with E. A. Broome and guides, Aiguille du Tacul and the following Grepon climbs, namely, an attempt via C.P. with Wilson and a guide, which failed, followed by the successful first guideless ascent by the same route and first traverse, already referred to.
A detailed list of Pasteur's climbs in subsequent years would be lengthy and to some extent repetitive ; for with him mountains became old friends, and several ascents of the same peak are not infrequently recorded in his diary. Up to the age of sixty-two he was still climbing actively, though latterly cols, of which he was always fond, tended to predominate. Perhaps his activities in those years can best be indicated by reference to districts.
Between 1895 and 1932 four seasons were spent wholly or partly at Montanvert, his climbs from there including Mont Blanc, Tour Noire, Aiguille du Tacul, Aiguille d'Argentiere and Aiguille du Plan. Arolla was visited five times, his principal expeditions there being the Aiguille de la Za by the face, Pigne d'Arolla, Aiguilles Rouges, and Mont Blanc de Seilon. Visits to Zermatt numbered six, with traverse of Matterhorn, Ober Gabelhorn, Monte Rosa, Allalinhorn, Dent Blanche and Rimpfischhorn (the two latter at the age of fifty-eight) as some of his major climbs. Saas Fee received five visits, his last real climb being a traverse of the Portiengrat with Aldous at the age of sixty-two. Other places or districts visited towards the end of this period were Zinal, Belalp, the Tyrol and Sulden, with the Rothorn and Ortler as chief ascents. He also stayed on various occasions at the Eagle's Nest, that mountain retreat of the Norton family above Sixt.
The foregoing visits to the mountains were all primarily family holidays, in which friends of Pasteur, and of his children, were invited, and delighted, to join. His diary shows Sir George Morse, T. L. Kesteven and S. B. Peach of the older generation as his principal climbing companions in earlier days, together occasionally with his mother and wife. Then, from 1909 onwards, his two elder sons, Mauris and Hugh, and later his daughter Claire, were increasingly with him on the rope. The names of nephews and nieces, and their wives and husbands, also sometimes appear, making up ~he family party. And gay and happy those parties were, as the writer, who 'vas privileged to share in several of them, gratefully recalls.
in the Alps were less frequent, but the Chamonix district, Arolla, Grindelwald and Kandersteg Vere visited, though no expeditions of note were undertaken. During the war four short holidays were spent in North Wales on strenuous walks. But after the war his regular alpine holidays were resumed. Each year from 1947 to 1954 he went out, too old now to climb, but still an amazingly tough walker. Throughout this last phase his youngest son, Mark, was his invariable and devoted companion. Zinal, Arolla, Champex, the Engadine and Val Ferret were their principal haunts. A walk from Morteratsch station to Diavolezza and back in under twelve hours at the age of eighty-three is indicative of his powers. He had planned to go out again in 1955, but had suddenly to undergo a serious operation, from which he failed to recover. As he could. never have been himself again, the end was fitting and such as he would have wished.
Pasteur was indeed a mountain lover in the -widest sense of that term. He rejoiced in the valleys and their flowers equally with the peaks. A keen gardener, he specially cherished his alpine plants. He kept young in spirit to the end and had the art of friendship with the young as well as with the old. He delighted in music, which abounded in the home, trios and quartets being frequently played, with Pasteur on the viola. He was kindly and generous, had a twinkle in his eye, liked to chaff and be chaffed. He was also fond of good wine. And, above all, he was a man of firm religious belief. No wonder that, with these endearing qualities, he was widely loved and is deeply missed.
w. B. Carslake
Quelle: Alpine Journal Vol. 60. Nr. 291, 1955, Seite 406-409

1890 1.Beg.La Nonne-Südgrat,IV+,3340m,(Montblancgebiet)
1892 1.Beg.L’Evêque-Südwand,III,150 HM,3469m,(Montblancgebiet)
1892 1.Überschreit.Aiguille Grepon-Nord-Süd,IV+,3482m, (Montblancgebiet)
1892 1.führerlose Beg.Aiguille Grepon-Südsüdwestgrat „C.-P.-Route“,IV+,100 HM,3482m,
(Montblancgebiet)
1895 1.Beg.Tour Noire-Südwestflanke im Abstieg,III,bis 49°,3838m,(Montblancgebiet)
G.Schauer


Geboren am:
1869
Gestorben am:
31.07.1955