Culverwell Edward Ronald

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Biografie:
Edward Ronald Culverwell (1893- 1957)
THE death of' Mickie 'Culverwell in May 1957 caused a sad loss to his many friends in the Army and among mountaineers and skiers.
He was born in Belfast in 1893. After education at King Edward VI Grammar School and Clifton College, he went to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, where he was Under-Officer and then Senior Under-Officer, and was awarded the Sword of Honour. In December 1913 he was commissioned in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He went to France in November 1914 as A.D.C., 8th Divisional Artillery. Fifteen months later he joined Z Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, and fought on the Somme, at Vimy, Messines, Passchendaele and Cambrai, gaining the Military Cross. As a field battery commander, he took part in the 1918 retreat and final advance until he was severely wounded in August.
After the war, he was a company commander at the' Shop 'for four years. His recreational interests were wide, and included rugger, hunting and, in later years, yachting, big-game shooting and polo. But he lost his heart to the mountains when the late W. M. Roberts, then a civilian instructor at the ' Shop ', introduced him to climbing. He spent his first season in 1922 with E. E. and W. M. Roberts in the Dauphine, and in 1923, with W. M. Roberts, N. S. Finzi, J. H. Hollings' worth and others, he climbed several of the larger peaks near Zermatt and Saas Fee, always guideless and sometimes leading. That autumn he was selected by the Everest Committee as second reserve climber, but the opportunity of visiting this mountain in 1924 never materialised. In 1924, Culverwell went to India and joined the 6th Pack Battery at Rawalpindi. Later that year he was appointed to raise the R.A. Survey Section (India) at Kakul. During long leave in 1928 he travelled widely in Africa and India, and also climbed guideless in the Chamonix district, again with W. M. Roberts and others.
In 1929 he had the opportunity of making an attempt on an unclimbed peak near Tirich Mir, and reached about 20.000 ft., then the highest point attained in that massif. He made some interesting observations on the effects of altitude and wrote a wise little monograph on mountain sickness, a malady from which he had himself suffered in his first alpine season.
He had learned to ski from Ken Hadow near Gulmarg in 1926 and decided to seek some winter mountaineering during his annual leave in 1930- 3 r. After a rather miserable beginning at Langdale, where he sprained an ankle chasing his hat which had blown off on a steep grass slope, he went, not to the Alps, which would have involved currency difficulties at that time, but to Canada, travelling steerage.
The Second World War gave little opportunity to a technical gunner of his age. He took the 63rd Medium Regiment to France in April 1940 and after Dunkirk continued in command for three years, but to his great disappointment was transferred at the age of fifty and not allowed to take it into action again. During the latter part of the war, he served on War Office Selection Boards. After the war he was Director of Labour, Eastern Command, and on his retirement in 1949 joined the Civil Defence Corps, in which he became a Chief Warden.
After the war he took an active part in the Association of British Members of the S.A.C. meets in 1947, at Langdale at Easter and at Arolla in the summer. His last real climbing season was a meet of the Association in Arran in March 1948. It ended in a serious accident on Cir Mhor, when he was leading a climb. Although he escaped with his life, he never recovered fully.
Culverwell was a delightful companion and an enthusiastic supporter of mountaineering clubs in which beginners can learn their craft from fellow members. He was an original member (1927) of the Mountain Club of India, which later amalgamated with the Himalayan Club.
He joined the Association of British members of the Swiss Alpine Club in 1930, becoming in due course Vice-President (1948-so) and President (1952-3). He was elected to the Alpine Club in 1929 and the Alpine Ski Club in 1934, and was a member of a large number of other clubs.
Thus to the end, his enthusiasm in helping beginners, and especially young beginners, never flagged. The ideal which he tried to impart was the ability to move surely in the high mountains and to enjoy them.
E. Gueterbock
Quelle: Alpine Journal Vol. 63. Nr. 296, 1958, Seite 103-105


Geboren am:
1893
Gestorben am:
05.1957