Barker Geoffrey

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Biografie:
Geoffrey Barker
Geoffrey Barker first visited the Alps in 1955, after many years of active mountaineering in England, Wales and Scotland. He was born in Barrow-in-Furness and walked widely on the local fells before venturing onto the crags. His best rock climbing and until the end he was a fine performer was done between 1920 and 1939 in the Lake District, where he helped with the field-work for several of the F & R. C. C. guidebooks.
His first trip to Wales was in 1927 and he settled there in 1946. Despite the hard work involved in establishing his own business, he took every opportunity of climbing in his new home. Soon he was involved in the Mountaineering Club of North Wales, and he became Secretary of the North Wales Committee of the B.M.C. In many ways he was useful to the Climbers' Club, and indeed was on its Committee when he died. His services were recognised when he became the first mountaineer to be awarded the Torch Trophy, in 1965.
Preferring solitude, much of his walking and climbing was done in unfrequented areas and alone. As a prelude to joining the C.C. Meet in Val Ferret in 1955, he made his way from Ticino to Brig via several peaks and passes. In subsequent years he walked and climbed modestly in the Adamello, the Karwendel, the Brenta and the Dolomites, and he spent a holiday in the Pyrenees (1959).
In 1964 my Alpine plans were thwarted, but at short notice I joined Geoff for one of the best holidays I have ever had. We were early in the season and our first climb was the East ridge of the Salbitschyn. We had virtually no food, as the information we were given in Göschenen, that the Salbit hut was open and 'guarded' proved wrong. We moved to Maloja, but bad weather meant that we could only be active on the lower peaks. When I had to return home he stayed on, and climbed the Zinal Rothorn and, with his son, the Demuth-Lichtenegger route on the Cima Ouest di Lavaredo.
A visit to the Kaisergebirge in 1965 was successful, but early in 1966 his illness first struck (on a Fell & Rock meet).I Recovery after a serious operation enabled him to enjoy the hills again, but a relapse enforced a return to bed. He died peacefully at his home in October last, but talked to the end of his ambitions when recovered, to climb the big Alpine peaks by their easy routes. Geoff' s death is a great loss to mountaineers, as he was active in their interests in Wales: he encouraged many and was an example to all.
A.J. J. MOULAM.
Geoffrey Barker was elected to the Alpine Club this same year, on March 15. Unluckily, the 1966 list of additions to membership had already been printed, and since a supplement did not appear in 1967, Barker falls into a rare category of members who have died before their name appeared in the A.C. List. T.S.B .
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 73, 1968, Seite 133-134