Tier geoffrey Anyan

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Biografie:
Geoffrey Anyan Tier 1944-1995
Geoff Tier was killed with Paul Nunn on 6 August 1995 as they descended from the summit of Haramosh II (6666m) by a random serac collapse only minutes from the safety of their top camp.
I first met Geoff in 1977 when we drove overland to attempt Barnaj II in the Kishtwar Himalaya. It was actually Paul Nunn who introduced us and he was with us as we sat out a prolonged storm high on the mountain before making an unpleasant retreat. This cemented a lasting friendship between the three of us, and over the years we shared many and varied adventures, though never all together again.
Geoff was born and bred in Lincolnshire, attending De Aston School where he was head boy and captain of rugby and cricket, later playing scrum half for Lincolnshire. He studied Geography at Woolwich Polytechnic and became a town planner living in Reading and working in Slough. This was always a subject of some mirth to both of us, as he was never able to give me a convincing explanation of what the job entailed, let alone lay claim to a town he had actually planned.
Geoff came to climbing late, via a course at PIas y Brenin. Despite this, he was a more than competent rock climber, with a long list of Welsh classics at around E1 to his credit. In Scotland he systematically worked his way through the great winter routes including Point Five and Zero Gullies when their ascents were still highly rated. We only climbed twice together on Ben Nevis but both were fine outings to the NE and Observatory Ridges, the latter being something of an epic in dire conditions in which Geoff's tenacity and skill saw us safely through in the wee small hours. Geoff became President of the Reading Mountaineering Club and, even after his move to Derbyshire, he retained many close friends from that club.
Geoff was, at heart, a mountain explorer in the classic English tradition, shunning publicity and reluctant to write any more than expedition reports. At college he had led a geography expedition to the Atlas mountains, and the Kishtwar expedition was as much to satisfy his curiosity as to climb a mountain. This was a curiosity that probably found its greatest fulfilment in 1985 when I accompanied him to Peru to the (then) little known Cordillera Apolabamba north of Lake Titicaca. Here, in the company of Andy Maskrey, a friend of Geoff's living in Lima, we made the first ascent of Palomani Tranca, 5633m. It was not exactly at the cutting edge of Andean mountaineering, but on the long summit ridge Geoff led calmly and carefully over unstable snow and quivering piles of loose rock. It was without doubt the best climb I did with him, and I treasure the memories of this and our subsequent walk on the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu.
Geoff and his wife Barbara moved from Reading to Hayfield. Here Geoff ran the excellent Bridge End restaurant, where several Club members have enjoyed its superb cuisine after long days on Kinder or Stanage. Geoff combined a multiplicity of interests, ranging from house restoration, planning consultancy, fatherhood and climbing - a life that for some years precluded any more than two or three-week Alpine holidays. But here, normally in the company of Dave Soles, Geoff chalked up a long and impressive list of climbs, ranging from the Brenva Face of Mont Blanc to hard sport climbs around Chamonix; from the Walker Spur to the complete traverse of the Aiguilles, a route rarely completed by Brits and not often by anyone else. Geoff was a wonderful companion on the hill or in a tent. His eccentricity and absent-mindedness were legendary and for years I assumed it was all an act. Recently I came to realise that no one could play the part that well.
At Geoff's 50th birthday party Paul Nunn invited him to Haramosh II and in the months before his departure the old gleam of excitement shone out again. It is some small consolation to know that both Paul and Geoff found a profound fulfilment just by being in the wild places of the world. Geoff made the very most of his life and lived it with an admirable honesty and integrity. His loss, to Barbara and his children, Georgina, Joanna and Andrew is immeasurable: to his many climbing friends the memories of Geoff will always remain, surfacing at the end of a long day in Scotland, or as the sun sets and the shadows lengthen over the Derbyshire moors. I am proud to have known him and been his friend.
Jim Curran
Quelle: Alpine Journal Vol. 101. Nr. 291, 1996, Seite 330-331


Geboren am:
1944
Gestorben am:
06.08.1955