Graham Richard Brockbank

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Biografie:
Richard Brockbank Graham (1893- 1957)
R. B. Graham, who died on February 12, 1957, after an operation, came of an old Cumberland family and was the son of John William Graham, a leading member of the Society of Friends. He was educated at Friends' schools, at Manchester Gratnmar School, and at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read ' Greats '; indeed, he was always a ' Greats man '. He graduated in 1915, and as his father belonged to the more uncompromisingly pacifist section of the Quakers, he spent the war years, .during which he was of course a conscientious objector, teaching at Bishop's Stortford College. This had its importance in connection with the Everest expedition of 1924.
But Graham had already decided to devote his life to teaching, a profession in which he reached positions of eminence, becoming, after being a housemaster at Leighton Park Friends' School, successively headmaster of two important northern schools, King Edward VII School, Sheffield, and Bradford Grammar School. He had the sympathetic insight which marks the born teacher and he took a wide view of the responsibilities of a headmaster, organising during the war years agricultural and forestry work among his pupils. Indeed, in his broader understanding of international problems he departed a good deal from the position which he had held in 1914-18.
He was prominent in the moven1ent for promoting National Parks and for the preservation of rural England. He was a member of the Hobhouse Committee whose report led to the National Parks Act, 1948. He was also for a time Chairman of the Friends of the Lake District. Many boys from his schools became imbued with his enthusiasm, and when he took parties of them to the Lake District or to the Scottish Highlands he was always at pains to get the boys interested ·in the social and economic life of the people, having little patience with the rockclimbing gymnast who treats the local people as mere ministrants to his creature comforts.
Although he gave so much of his life to the activities which I have mentioned, the mountains, and particularly his native Cumbrian hills, meant an enormous amount to Graham. From boyhood he had been in the habit of spending his holidays in the English Lake District and had been a keen hill-walker before he left school. From this he graduated into rock-climbing, particularly in the Lakes, but also in North Wales. But his ambition was fixed upon the High Alps when in 1921 he had his first season with an experienced guideless party in the Pennines during which he climbed, among other peaks, the Nadelhorn, Grand Cornier, and Diablons. In 1922 he invited M. H. Wilson and myself to make up a party with him, and although the weather was very broken that year we had an enjoyable and successful holiday based on Arolla.
With Joseph Georges le Skieur, among other expeditions we traversed the Dent d'Herens from the Rifugio d'Aosta to Breuil by the Mont Tabel glacier, an interesting but dangerous route not to be recommended; traversed the Matterhorn on crampons after a day of snow, and traversed the Dent Blanche by the East ridge, a route which at that time had been little used. .Among our guideless climbs were the Aiguilles Rouges d 'Arolla, Aiguille de la Tsa, Petite Dent de Veisivi, and Mont Blanc de Seilon (with R. L. G. Irving).
In 1923 we planned a similar holiday which was to culminate in an attempt on the North ridge of the Dent Blanche with Joseph Georges. At that time this fine route was the guide's great ambition in life and he was bitterly disappointed when a bad break in the weather forced the party to go home. Before that we had kept ourselves exercised on the Zinal Rothorn (which Graham had already climbed earlier that year) and the Besso. Before meeting Georges we did a number of standard expeditions guideless, such as the Bietschhorn by the North ridge, the Mönch (traversed from south to east), the Jungfrau, Finsteraarhorn, and Dom. We had also failed on the Lauterbrunnen Breithorn from Ried, finding the descent from the Klein Breithorn too difficult in the limited time available; this route defeated many parties. More rewarding was our traverse of the Fiescherhorn-Grünhorn-Grüneckhorn ridge from north to south. This expedition, which was planned and led by Graham, we considered to be the first complete traverse of this fine ridge; the section up the North ridge of the Gross Grünhorn had not previously been done direct. It was certainly one of his finest expeditions and he described it graphically in the Fell and Rock Club Journal.
In 1924, which was a particularly bad season, Graham came out late to join me at Chamonix and all we could do was to walk round Mont Blanc; enjoyable enough but a poor termination to our alpine association.
In 1926, guideless with M. H. Wilson and B. R. Goodfellow, he made amends by pulling off an old ambition in the High Level Route from Saas to Argentiere, traversing en route, among less notable peaks, the Portjengrat, Lenzspitze, Matterhorn (by the Zmutt ridge), Mont Collon and Pigne d'Arolla (in the same expedition), Grand Combin, and the Aiguille d'Argentiere. In 1930, a poor season for weather, he did a number of minor climbs in the Oberland and from Binn with Peter Bicknell; also the Weissmies and Fletschhorn, and in April 1931 he broke new ground with a series of ski-mountaineering expeditions in the Tyrolese Alps during which the Wildspitze, the Hochvernagtspitze, and the Hinter Brunnenkogel were climbed.
The year 1935 found him in Norway, where despite bad weather he was able to get up several peaks in the Jotunheim and finished by crossing the Jostedalsbrae ice-cap. About this time he did more skimountaineering in the Engadine and particularly enjoyed an ascent of Piz Palü under winter conditions. He took up skiing too late in life to develop style but was able to do good expeditions, his great knowledge of snow mountaineering and his strength compensating for his lack of technique.
After the Second World War increasing disability to a knee seriously curtailed his activities, but he had a walking and climbing holiday in the Alps in 1947 and in 1954 and continued to enjoy fell-walking in the Lake District, the Scottish Highlands, and the foothills of the Alps until the time of his death, and occasionally did a short rock climb.
Graham's earlier alpine seasons had shown that he was a mountaineer of exceptional ability with great stamina, and it was natural that he should be invited to join the team selected for the attempt on Everest in 1924. This gave him great pleasure, and it was a bitter disappointment to him when some of the other members indicated that they would prefer not to climb with one who had been a conscientious objector during the war. Although this attitude did not commend itself to others of those selected, Graham felt that harmony was essential to success in such an enterprise and he resigned. The matter gave rise to some controversy in the Press at the time, which he very much deplored.
Graham was undoubtedly a distinguished mountaineer. He had an eye for a route, planned and reconnoitred his expeditions with great care, and carried through his assaults with skill and resolution. He had considerable gifts of leadership, both as a strategist and as a tactician, and was particularly strong on snow and ice. On rock he did not reach quite the same standard, despite his early apprenticeship on British crags. Difficulties always brought out the best in him, and on glazed rocks or coming down unfamiliar ridges in failing light he moved with a poise and assurance which evoked the confidence and admiration of his companions.
Although he appreciated the work of a fine guide like Joseph Georges, and was very ready to learn from him, Graham was essentially a guideless climber and it was to this end that he had developed his quite unusual capacity as a route-finder. There went to build up his success in this metier the careful study of earlier expeditions, skilled mapreading, a talent for observation which he had trained over many years, and a sensitive appreciation of the existing conditions during an expedition.
Graham was the best of companions in the mountains, always cheerful, always helpful how many times has he loaded further his already overloaded sack in order to relieve a flagging comrade? always understanding and ready to make allowances for the irritabilities which are inevitable during difficult guideless expeditions. His mind was alert and searching, so that a walk with him always produced good conversation, or perhaps a pause to consider the habits of some bird, for he was an enthusiastic ornithologist. Indeed, his personality was of a kind which one finds only among mountaineers, and there too rarely.
Chorley
Quelle: Alpine Journal Vol. 63. Nr. 296, 1958, Seite 108-111


Geboren am:
1893
Gestorben am:
12.02.1957