Pepper Laurence Reginald

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Biografie:
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 88, 1983, Seite 256

Laurence Reginald Pepper 1907-1982
Laurence Reginald Pepper was elected to the AC in 1956, well on in his life, and died in 1982 at the age of 75 years. He was a strong and determined personality, but with a modest and retiring temperament; it was significant that when his death was announced in the Club everyone seemed to have regarded him as a friend.
Laurie Pepper had two attributes rare in the Club, the first that although he did some fine climbing he did not climb in the Alps until he was forty, and second, pretty unusual, he was a superb driver, with the skill of a racing driver and a purist approach beyond ordinary mortals. He drove with perpetual thought of the current shape of the tyres on the road. The only occasion I can remember him showing anything like annoyance was when I was rash enough to brush mist from the inside of the windscreen instead of waiting for the hot air to remove it; he told me in no uncertain terms that never, never should this be done because the slight reflection remaining might detract the driver's side glance when driving at speed. All thi's is of relevance because he invariably took his car to the Alps, and on one occasion read an erudite paper to the Club on driving there. His successive cars were part and parcel of any Alpine visit in the eyes of those who climbed with him and imparted a kind of surrealist flavour; there was nothing unusual if the weather was bad in the Oberland in the morning, in driving to the Dauphine for the evening, to find bad weather there too but passing Michelin-starred restaurants on the way. Then back to the Oberland. It was at least better than playing spillikins in a hut.
Once Laurie reached the Alps, in 1947, he started in an enterprising way with the Breithorn, Zinal Rothorn, Dent Blanche, Matterhorn, Rimpfischhorn, Weisshorn - not bad for a first season. In 1948 and 1949 he was on the Jagigrat, Südlenzspitze, Nadelhorn, Obergabelhorn, Monte Rosa, Lyskamm, Castor, Pollux and after that he moved quickly to the higher levels of difficulty, or at least the higher levels in those days - the Peuterey Ridge, the Pear Buttress on the South side of Mont Blanc, the North Ridge of the Badile. There is no point in listing his many climbs. The best perhaps were with his friend Hans Hari, the Kandersteg guide, but he climbed guideless a great deal and extensively in the British mountains as a member of the Fell and Rock Climbing Club.
He was an able electrical engineer who became Managing Director of his family firm until he retired to his beautiful house and garden in Liss, Hampshire (a brief drive after an AC meeting). In his later years he was unhappily stricken with arthritis, which put a stop to the climbing but not' the driving. He leaves his wife Gladys, who accompanied him on many of his climbs and was a member of the LAC. The sympathies of all their friends go to her in memory of a man of quality and wit. These days we are beguiled with remarkable, beautiful books on climbing, describing prodigious and unbelievable feats and with wonderful photographs, but fun somehow seems to be missing so much of the time. We had plenty of fun in those days. Où sont les neiges d'antan?
Cyril Wickham
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 89, 1984, Seite 259-260


Geboren am:
1907
Gestorben am:
1982