Leith Eveleigh

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Biografie:
The Hon. Eveleigh Leith d.1983
Eveleigh Leith came late to climbing, though not to mountains. Her family's home, Glenkindie on the Don, was near the Cairngorms; and she had been an enterprising high-level skier. She started to climb in her 40s making up for the lost years by her determination and enthusiasm.
She joined the Ladies' Alpine Club in 1951 as a graduating member, becoming a full member in 1955, with a record of guided climbs in the Mont Blanc region, and guideless ones in the Tarentaise and Maurienne. She enjoyed all the Club's activities; she was a regular at meetings and dinners and a keen member of LAC meets on the Dorset cliffs, in the Engadine, at Zinal, Valsavaranche, Zermatt, Saas-Fee and - in her 69th year - in the Dolomites. Perhaps her greatest contribution to the Club was her editorship of the Journal from 1959 to 1966. She introduced two lively features - a series of 'Graduating Impressions' by beginners, and another, 'Looking Back', where veterans recalled their outstanding climbs (among these was Freya Stark's account of her great 1924 climb up the east face of Monte Rosa). She was a thoroughly professional editor - all names of mountains and routes were carefully checked - with that mixture of wheedling and bullying so essential to anyone who has to produce a club journal.
Eveleigh was the daughter of the fifth Lord Burgh. She went to school in Aberdeen and at Sherborne. Her first jobs were in journalism; then she joined the staff of the Sadler' s Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet) and was with them on their first adventurous return to Europe in the winter of 1944-45; then went on to manage their second company. Later she was Secretary of the Royal Ballet School. After an interlude with Crawford's advertising agency, she became, in 1964, Treasurer of St Anne's College, Oxford, till her retirement.
Eveleigh joined several of my family parties in the Alps, Skye and the Lakes. She was at ease with the young, though she never modified her strict standards, nor her sharp tongue, to suit other tastes. She was strong-minded, competitive, and could be exasperating; but all was forgotten and forgiven when put against her sympathy, her generosity, and her true passion for the mountains.
Janet Carleton
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 88, 1983, Seite 283-284




Gestorben am:
1983