Kirstein Walter

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Biografie:
WaIter Kirstein 1896-1983
Walter, dental surgeon, skier, mountaineer, photographer, lecturer, who refused for so long to retire from his profession and his recreations, is no more. We who knew him are left to marvel at his vigour and activity far beyond the age when most are content to hang up their boots and retire.
Born in Berlin, WaIter acquired his life-long love of mountains early in the course of family winter sports holidays in the Sudeten mountains where he first put on skis. Only 17 when the first world war broke out he was refused by the (German) army as being too frail so he joined the Red Cross in which he served until, in 1916, he was accepted for the light artillery from which he was invalided out with shell splinters in his leg shortly before the end of the war. He qualified as a dentist and pursued his profession with great dedication and skill (as several of us will gratefully testify) for nearly 60 years. He came to Britain in 1937, and was allowed in 1944 to join the Home Guard in which he served with the anti-aircraft guns to make use of his artillery knowledge gained in the first war.
In the early 1920s WaIter began cross-country skiing and ski-mountaineering in earnest, and for years took all his holidays in the winter in the Engadine, Berner Oberland, Valais or Austria, at first with a guide; from 1930, on his marriage, with his wife Lona; and then with the SAC Section. After the second world war he joined the ABMSAC and took part in their 1950 Saas Meet in the course of which he climbed the Weissmies twice, the Jaggihorn, the Mittelrück
and the Fletschhorn. These climbs, with his extensive ski-mountaineering between the wars, were ample to secure his admission to the Alpine Club in December 1950. For the next 30 years he climbed and skied in Britain, Switzerland, Austria and California whenever possible. At the age of 75 he climbed Piz Badile by the North Ridge, and, when nearly 77, Piz Palü by the East Pillar. He continued climbing well into his eighties as recorded in successive issues of the AJ to Vol 85, although he did remark to me once that his age had forced on him the need to forego 4000m peaks and to content himself with 3000ers.
He had been interested in photography from the age of 12; his colour slides, post-war, were exceptionally fine - many of them were used in calendars and posters - and his illustrated lectures on skiing and climbing were much appreciated on both sides of the Atlantic.
He became President of the Alpine Ski Club, Vice President of the ABMSAC, Honorary Member of the Alpine Ski Club and of the ABMSAC, and life member by election of the SCGB.
The loss in 1968 of his wife Lona from a cancer was a severe blow at the age of 72. A strenuous ski tour in the Oetztal including nine peaks in ten days taxed him physically but restored his confidence to tackle the future and gave him courage to undertake summer climbs he had not previously considered. In 1972 Waiter re-married and Bertha, although untrained in dental work, soon became his very competent assistant in the surgery and in the management of his practice. Our sympathy goes to her and to WaIter's son and daughter and their families.
Frank Solari
Les Swindin writes:
Waiter's existence only came to my notice in 1970, the year I joined the SAC. He was a long-standing member of this club and on a Lake District meet of the ABM I attended, he was spoken of in most respectful terms by those who knew him. Over the next few years I kept in touch with his activities by reading articles he wrote for the Alpine Journal.
It wasn't until 1978 that I actually made his acquaintance, again on an ABMSAC meet at Raw Head. Walking into the hut the first person I met was Waiter who, during the course of our conversation, asked if I'd like to take him climbing the next day. Well, I couldn't refuse, how could one refuse someone who was such an enthusiast? We climbed Corvus, which Waiter explained he had first climbed with Rusty Westmorland many years before, when learning to rock climb. Following this first climb together and another the following day we came to have a regular annual arrangement to climb together in the Lakes on the autumn meet there of the ABM or AC, and although WaIter was now into his eighties we climbed such routes as Little Chamonix, Greenup Arete and Oak Tree Wall together. He always put complete faith in his leader and was generous in his praise that his 'guide' had been able to get him up the route when really it had been his own efforts. I can recall several occasions when he called up to me: 'Les, I can't do it. I t is too hard for me.' But each time up he would come after a few words of encouragement.
I only met him once in the Alps when we did a short climb on a ridge above his beloved Pontresina where he spent each summer in the latter years of his life. He became very disappointed when the time came that the guides there would no longer accept him as an employer because of his slowness. He then looked forward more than ever to our autumn outings together. Missing a year without doing a climb would lead to loss of form and the end of his climbing career, he thought.
Our last climb together was Route 2 on Scout Crag, two weeks before his 85th birthday. I think he knew in his own mind that it would be his last and he seemed rather reluctant to complete it. Mountaineering had been such an important part of his life and this was the end of it.
I was impressed by his feats before I ever met him, not for their difficulty, but for the pleasure they gave an old man. After climbing with him, I can only say that I've been greatly inspired by such a fine gentleman and lover of the British people. It has been a delight to have known him and his charming wife, Bertha.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 89, 1984, Seite 269-270


Geboren am:
1896
Gestorben am:
1983