Peaker Gilbert Fawcett

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Biografie:
Gilbert Fawcett Peaker CBE 1903-1983
Gilbert was a man of brilliant mind and vigorous body. At Cambridge he was awarded a First in Mathematics (was therefore a Wrangler) and a Half-Blue as a Marathon runner. Later he was in the 'possibles' for the Olympics.
He was elected to the Club in 1930, on the proposal of Claude Elliott, and his list of climbs from 1923 to 1929, all guideless, would be considered very fine today, and in those years astonishing. For example, in his 1924 visit to the Dolomites, he recorded the Pelmo and all six Vajolet Towers, these being done solo, except for the descent of Delago, when he joined up with a solitary Italian.
There is a blank from 1924 to 1927, when he was in the Cartography section of the Colonial Service in Nigeria. On his return, climbing mainly with H.M. Kelly and Eric Shipton, he listed 17 expeditions in four districts, including the Gran Paradiso and Herbetet, the Meije and Ecrins in Dauphine, ending with four ascents in Arolla with the Climbers' Club.
In 1928 he traversed the Dom, the Lyskamm, and most notable of all, the Matterhorn, up the Zmutt and down the Italian Ridge. Then by the High Level route to Chamonix, where he climbed the Grepon and the Drus, among others. In 1929 he was in the Berner Oberland for the Mönch, Jungfrau, Finsteraarhorn, Fiescherhörner, ending curiously enough by a traverse of Monte Rosa. It is not recorded if he walked from Grindelwald to Zermatt, but he was quite capable of that.
He married in 1930 and for some years went mainly to Savoy and Dauphine with his wife, occasionally climbing with friends. His only daughter was born in 1936, and he went out in 1937 to a Fell & Rock Meet at Saas Fee, where we met, and with E. H. Marriott, climbed guideless. So began a friendship which lasted until his death.
In the spring of 1938, we had a short holiday in Skye, and after two days of Sron na Ciche, Gilbert decided that, on the morrow, we would do the ridge. At that point I had misgivings as to the wisdom of being hitched to such a high powered machine. However, we left the Post Office in Glen Brittle at 3am, armed with 100 ft of full weight manila (with the red thread) nailed boots and 2lb of chocolate peppermint creams, our sole sustenance. When we came off the first pinnacle of Sgurr nan Gillean at 7pm that evening. I, at least, felt well exercised.
When the war broke out, we both had the misfortune to be in reserved occupations, he in the Treasury and I in the Head Office of my bank. So we had our holidays in Wales, mainly climbing on his favourite cliff, Lliwedd, and I think did all the routes, with the exception of the VS Central Gully. In 1944 we had with us his nephew, David Attenborough, who was just about to go up to Cambridge. It was intended to teach him climbing, but he finished by leading us. I sometimes wonder if his experiences with his formidable uncle led him to the study of Gorillas.
After the War, Gilbert and I with our wives and young families had holidays together, sometimes in the Lakes. Here again, Gilbert's long distance capacities led to our walking from Eskdale, over Burnmoor, and Black Sail to Pillar. There we did four routes, and walked back to Eskdale. In the forties and fifties, I was concentrating on the Dolomites and the Aiguilles, so that we did not climb together in the Alps. Hilary Sinclair has filled in some of these years, when he was with Gilbert. In particular he recalls traverses of the Jungfrau from the Guggi Hut, the AIetschhorn by the Hasler Rib, the Obergabelhorn by the NW arete and descent of the Arbengrat, the Mönch by the Nollen and the Jungfrau by the Silberhorn route, and others.
His climbing career ended with an unhappy accident on Lliwedd in 1957. Anthony Rawlinson recalls that he was leading Herbert Carr and Gilbert, up the Craig yr Aderyn route on the West Peak. As Anthony was negotiating the 'matchstick' it collapsed, taking with it all three men, who were lucky to survive. Anthony had a sprained ankle, Herbert a broken collarbone, whilst Gilbert, pinned under the matchstick, sustained a seriously torn tendon in his hip, which left him permanently lame. Even so, he eventually recovered sufficiently to walk with much of his old vigour and until just before his death he would regularly ascend towards Fairfieid from the back of his Grasmere home.
The obituary in The Times, by Neville Postlethwaite, does justice to his career as a Civil Servant at the Treasury, aidingJohn Maynard Keynes and working on the rationing schemes. In 1945 he resumed his work as an H.M.!., being mainly concerned with higher technical education. Indeed the new Technical School in Birkenhead was known as 'Peaker's Palace'. He also developed statistical data on the question of the efficacy of exams such as the I I-plus, which explains why he used to swap black and white beans from one pocket to another when we were climbing on Lliwedd.
In 1962 he became technical adviser to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, where he was able to help the 40 participating countries with his research.
I have lost a valued friend, and the Club,'a distinguished member. We offer our sympathy to his widow, Margaret, and to his daughter,Jane Muirhead. It is good to know that one of his grandchildren, Robert, is firmly intending to put up for Aspirant Membership of the Club, when he reaches the minimum age of 18.
C. Douglas Milner.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 89, 1984, Seite 264-266


Geboren am:
1903
Gestorben am:
1983