Harber Michael John

(Bearbeiten)

Biografie:
Michael John Harber 1948-1985
Mike was one of the principal figures of the South Wales climbing scene, where he had been active for nearly 20 years. He visited the Alps frequently and had climbed many classic routes up to TD standard in a variety of areas. Mike was also an active rock climber and since the late seventies he opened up scores of new climbs on the N coast of Pembrokeshire.
One of Mike's main qualities was determination, which earned him success in his job as a medical researcher and in his other interests such as playing guitar. This determination would often manifest itself on a difficult climb, as once he got his teeth into something it was not in his nature to give up, and thus he acquired a certain reputation for being benighted!
In recent years Mike's climbing ambitions were focused on the greater ranges. Perhaps his best ascent was in 1982 when he and Tim Oliver made the first alpine-style ascent of the SW ridge of Huascaran (see AAJ 25). His disappearance this summer whilst attempting Snow Lake Peak (6593m) in the Karakoram came as a shock to the small climbing fraternity in Cardiff, among whom he was a very prominent, enthusiastic and well-liked figure.
Pat Littlejohn
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 91, 1986, Seite 285-286

Michael Harber
Dave Parsons writes:
Mike Harber was killed in July 1985 whilst attempting the first ascent of Lukpe Lawo Brakk in the Karakoram. He disappeared with Mike Morris when both climbers attempted a lone ascent of the 6590m peak which is situated at a remote corner of the Snow Lake Basin near the junction of the Hispar and Biafo glaciers.
Mike was a post-doctoral research worker at the Kidney Research Unit Foundation in Cardiff where he will be sorely missed. His contribution to mountaineering over the last seventeen years was considerable. He was a member of the South Wales Mountaineering Club, of which he was a past Chairman, and was always an activist when it came to developing new climbs and new cliffs in South and West Wales. He was also a member of the Climbers' Club, and a joint author of the Pembrokeshire Climbing Guides, the new guide in itself being a fitting tribute to the time and energy that Mike spent in the development of climbing in Pembrokeshire over the last eight years.
Mike was an accomplished alpinist and an experienced expeditioner, with first ascents in both the Indian Himalaya and the Peruvian Andes to his credit. The route that gave him the greatest satisfaction was the first British (and alpine-style) ascent of the SW ridge of Huascaran Sur which he linked with the first complete traverse of the mountain via the SW and SE ridges. Mike will be greatly missed particularly by family friends and climbers in South Wales, where his good humour and boundless enthusiasm have been so much a part of the mountaineering world for the last 17 years.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 92, 1987, Seite 281


Geboren am:
1948
Gestorben am:
07.1985