Barratt Geoffrey

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Biografie:
Geoffrey Barratt 1904-1983
When I first met Geoffrey Barratt in 1932 he was a hard-up barrister, but in a successful career he eventually rose to head the Army's legal department with the rank of Brigadier. When he joined our party in Langdale that year he did the best routes that had been done at that time on Gimmer and other crags and turned out to be one of the best all-round mountaineers and rock climbers in the '30's. He had already had seasons in Savoy (1927) and the Dauphine (1928) climbing both with guides and guideless, before he and his sister Christina joined us at La Berarde in 1934, our party being my sister-in-law Brenda Ritchie, my wife Evelyn (AC) and myself. In the short space of two weeks we did several good climbs, the best day being a traverse of the Meije, Brenda leading Christina and Evelyn, whilst Geoffrey and I followed on a second rope. Ice on the rocks made the climb difficult and we were slow, not reaching the Doigt de Dieu until sunset. A full moon rose over Italy to light our way down, where Peacock and his party joined us on the descent on the La Grave side.
In 1936 we were in the Dolomites, climbing every day on the Sella Towers and the Cinque Torri, before Geoffrey went off to do the Marmolata Südwand, the traverse of Winkler, Stabeler and Delago and other routes with Johann Demetz. Geoffrey retired to a small village in Norfolk where, despite recent illness, he was able to carry on with his interests of gardening and bird watching right to the end. In a letter to me in February 1983 he complains of the difficulty in getting snowdrops and aconites to establish in the garden and mentions a large flock of Little Auks which had been blown down from the Arctic. The letter ends 'I think about mountains but they seem very remote now.'
Herbert Carr.
Mention is made above ofChristina Barratt who, in fact, died a short while before her brother. She spent almost all her working life at Westfield College, in the Classics Department, and shared with her brother a love of the mountains and of gardening. She was responsible for forming the College Climbing Club in 1931.
G. W. T
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 89, 1984, Seite 263


Geboren am:
1904
Gestorben am:
1983