Case John Crowther

(Bearbeiten)

Biografie:
geboren in Rochester, New York (USA)

Quelle: American Alpine Journal Volume 26, 1984, Seite 347 f

John Crowther Case 1892-1985
John Crowther Case was born in Rochester, New York, on 29 January 1892. Before the turn of the century his father, Howard Case, became the representative in England of the Vacuum Oil Company, and the family settled near Ascot. John attended Marlborough and in early 1911 enrolled in the Institut Minerva, in Zurich, to prepare for entrance to the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule where he planned to study civil engineering.
Upon arrival in Zurich he joined the Anglo-American Club and quickly found friends. Although he had no previous mountaineering experience he remembered having been taken as a child to Lucerne, and soon after arriving in Switzerland he made a weekend trip there by train and walked back to Zug, traversing the Rigi en route.
During the Easter recess in 1911 John was invited to an open-house which the Akademische Alpen Club of Zurich held at their hut near Glarus. At that time the President of the AACZ was George Finch. Years later John told of his meeting with George as follows: Near the AACZ hut was a felsblock which George Finch maintained as his private domain by the simple procedure of chopping off an essential handhold or foothold whenever any other club member succeeded in climbing it. John, ignorant of this history, was not only audacious enough to attempt George's personal rock, but skilful enough to climb it, which led to a lifelong friendship between the two. Finch took John under his wing, and during the following 12 months John spent all of his holidays, winter and summer, climbing in the Alps with George and Maxwell Finch and other talented climbers from the AACZ. John did not join the AACZ at that time, possibly because, as he had not yet matriculated at the ETH, he may not have met the club's eligibility requirements.
Not long before his death, while reminiscing about those days, John conceded that he returned to England at Christmas 1911 only because his family insisted that he do so. He went reluctantly, because he was missing a good climbing trip.
His passionate involvement with mountaineering was abruptly cut short just a year after it began when his father was lost on the Titanic. On that fatal day in 1912 John and his friends were on an extended trip in the Berner Oberland, and
Pigott and Wood in combination are as unscrupulous as they are invincible. Nothing stops them, and they stop at nothing, not excluding pitons and fixed ropes. If the threatened onslaught takes place on the West Buttress, I shall not be surprised to see either of them turning up with the latest S assolungo rock-drill and a whole belt full of pitons
-and sometimes against each other:
The important thing was that Crew had well and truly beaten Drummond by his
psychological tactics . . .
Yes, this is very much a 'modern' history book, or perhaps “drama” would be a better description, as it is more a study of the 'actors' themselves than their climbs; it takes a contemporary view of the early historical record, and offers a sometimes controversial account of more recent events. The authors, on occasion, seem to go out of their way to stir the pot of controversy, and to highlight inter-personal rivalry, and whilst this is a good technique for creating and sustaining interest, it is perhaps unfair at times on the characters in the play, suggesting, as it does, that competition has been the single most important force behind the development of climbing in Wales. Or perhaps it has? The Crew era comes in for some pretty rough handling in this respect:
Open competition flourished between climbers on these cliffs. Subterfuge in passing on information, laying false trails, inventing non-existent routes on horrible pieces of rock, were common ploys pressed into service by rival parties.
It may be that Crew upset Trevor lanes by suggesting the demolition of Tremadog, a crag with which lones has had a long and happy association, but whAtever it was, the Alpha Club is unstintingly portrayed as the villain of the piece!
Whilst using characters as a framework for the story certainly brings the book alive, it also has the unfortunate effect of producing a seemingly insoluble dichotomy over continuity. As there is an inevitable overlap between each biographical 'Act', we either meet the actors in the wings before they've made their entry, or we have Scenes appearing in the wrong Act. Both happen, and it can be a little disconcerting at times; but it is a problem with which every great historian will have wrestled, unsuccessfully, at some time, so our humble “playwrights” will be forgiven, 1 hope, for not making a significant breakthrough on this front.
The format of the book is one of its strongest features. Each double page comprises one full-page photograph (or collage), and one page of text, and this makes it extremely attractive, both to read and to skim through. And the photographs, of which about a third are in colour (I haven't counted!), are really excellent. The old black-and-whites (of which the ones of Chris Preston on the first ascent of Suicide Wall, Pete Crew on Erosion Groove Direct, two anonymous gentlemen on Lliwedd's Red Wall, and Dave Potts setting off up Troach with about four krabs and a few yards of tat, gave me most cause to be grateful for the age into which 1 was born) really bring alive the anecdotes quoted in the text. It is perhaps ungenerous, and unappreciative of the In his early climbing life he suffered an illness which prevented him from climbing for a period, but on recovery he took up all forms of mountaineering with renewed vigour, and, being in a position to do so, retired at 50 to Windermere to devote his time to mountaineering and gardening.
He was always happy to introduce others to climbing and readily communicated his own enjoyment to his companions. As a rock-climber he was skilled and safe, still happily leading the Crack on Gimmer and Eagle's Nest Direct on Great Gable in his 60s. As a fell-walker he appeared to be completely tireless. He walked and climbed extensively in Scotland, completing the Munros and “tops”, many for a second time. He had considerable experience in the Alps, the Pyrenees and Corsica and, on the invitation of Alf Gregory, joined the British Italian Expedition to Ama Dablam in 1958. He also ski'd with enthusiasm and completed the High-Level Route from Argentiere to Saas Fee in 1957.
A necessarily brief account of Dick's mountaineering would be incomplete without reference to Mountain Rescue. In 1960 a Search Panel was formed in the Lake District to co-ordinate searches involving several teams. Dick was appointed secretary with the duty of collating all relevant information and recording search activities. His intimate knowledge of the district and secretarial ability proved of great use during his ten years of devoted work. He became a member of the Langdale MR Team and was appointed Treasurer. To quote Sid Cross, in 1970, “The present sound financial position of the team is due in no small measure to the untiring efforts of the retiring Treasurer- Dick Cook”. Dick was fortunate in being able to devote so much time to his beloved fells,
crags and mountains and to gain so much enjoyment from his opportunities. In return he freely shared that enjoyment with others and generously gave his time to help those, less fortunate, who had come to grief in the hills.
Robert Files
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 92, 1987, Seite 284-286


Geboren am:
29.01.1892
Gestorben am:
1985