Clark J. F. Gunn

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Biografie:
J. F. G. Clark 1937-70
Gunn Clark was killed on 7 February at the age of thirty-two. He was buried by an avalanche dislodged by a party above while climbing a gully on Buachaille Etive Mor; none of his companions was hurt.
Gunn was born in 1937 and educated at Oundle School and Imperial College, London, where he studied Civil Engineering. He began climbing at school and was, from the first, a natural rock-climber-strong, fluent, extremely controlled. After leaving Imperial College, he worked for a time in France, where he climbed regularly at Fontainebleau and got his first taste of the Alps in the company of some of the harder French mountaineers. From the start he showed the same natural ease on the big mountains as he had on British crags. This culminated in a remarkable season in 1959 when he made the first British ascent of the Walker Spur with the late Robin Smith. That done, he crossed over to the Dolomites with Chris Bonington, where he climbed the Cassin route on the Cima Ovest di Lavaredo and then made the first British ascent of the Brandler-Hasse route on the Cima Grande (A.J. 65 182). These two achievements did a great deal to open up the hard Dolomite routes for other British climbers.
Engineering did not satisfy him, so he finally gave it up and returned to England to study architecture at Brighton. This turned out to be his real vocation; he graduated brilliantly, worked for a while in London and then took a job in Edinburgh, where he was living until his tragic death. His professional commitments left him little time to train for big Alpine routes but he still got onto the hills regularly. He did some good climbs in the Dolomites, put up a new route last autumn on the side of Strone Ulladale and, while in London, had done new routes at Swanage.
He was an ideal climbing companion-reliable, cheerful, with an effortless natural technique, ready to try anything and always encouraging you to do the same. He was also a man of great charm and modesty, who was passionately interested in both his profession and the hills. He leaves a wife and a small daughter, Nicola. He will be greatly missed.
Al Alvarez
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 75, 1970, Seite 331-332

J. F. G. Clark 1937-70
It has been brought to our attention that the circumstances of the fatal accident to Gunn Clark on Buachaille Etive on 7 February 1970 were incorrectly reported in A.J. 75331. We quote below part of a letter from Mr. B. M. Wragg, whose party was on the same climb at the time.
'We started our climb in the morning after a heavy snowfall during the night. There was nobody else on this side of the mountain. Above the awkward sections and the rock step the angle is much gentler and it seems only a walk to the top. We found we had to wade through deep powder snow, but since the angle of the slope was only 20°-25° we discounted the possibility of avalanche. About 400 ft above the step we became aware of a party of three about 300 ft lower down. A little higher one of us found a slab of snow slipping under him, but he did not fall. This snow slab slid down the gully and knocked Mr Clark's party about 30 ft down the slope. We realised that we had underestimated the dangerous state of the snow and, after ascertaining that the party below was all right, we decided to traverse out of the gully. We attempted this to the right of our position (true left bank) but again found the snow in a very dangerous condition. We noticed an obvious traversing line on the true right bank at the same level as the lower party, so we retreated to it. We discussed the situation with Clark and he accepted our decision that the snow was too dangerous. He did not appear too happy with the apparent difficulty of the traverse, but stated his intention of following us off. As we crossed the ridge formed by the mountain face and the gully wall, I looked back; Mr Clark was just starting the traverse.
The fatal avalanche must have struck sometime within the next five minutes. Ten minutes after leaving the gully we had descended the mountain and were crossing the gully lower down. We heard shouts and saw somebody running down towards us; we climbed up to meet him. From what he said, and from what we heard later, we learned that an avalanche had knocked Gunn Clark's party down the gully and over the rock step and they were buried at the bottom .. .'
The writer describes the rescue attempts and then continues. 'MYown opinion of the cause of the avalanche is as follows. I was told by someone involved that the avalanche had come from high up the mountain. In my view, though the gully slopes were dangerous, they would not have avalanched without being disturbed by something extraneous. The slopes of the mountain overlooking the top of the gully were, however, much steeper and equally covered in snow. It is quite possible for them to have avalanched under their own weight and I believe that this is what happened. The avalanche would fall directly into the gully and flow on down it .. .'
(We are grateful to Mr Wragg for making these facts available).
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 76, 1971, Seite 337-338



Geboren am:
1937
Gestorben am:
07.02.1970