Bicknell Peter

(Bearbeiten)

Biografie:
Peter Bicknell 1907-1995
Peter Bicknell had climbing in his blood. His father, Raymond Bicknell, was in the words of his Alpine Journal obituary 'in every sense a great mountaineer', renowned for his achievements in Norway and the Alps. Peter's own application to the Alpine Club in 1931 was supported by names famous in the Club's annals: Claude Wilson, Claude Elliot, Sydney Spencer, E L Strutt. In 1924 Raymond Bicknell took his family on holiday to Grindelwald, when Peter enjoyed his first mild Alpine excursions; in 1926 Raymond took Peter and his younger brother Claud on a high-level traverse from Chamonix to Grindelwald, on the way climbing Mont Collon, the Zinalrothorn, Finsteraarhorn and Wetterhorn. In 1927 Peter and his father made another high-level route, from Saas-Fee to Modane: then followed the attempt on the Southern Aiguille d'Arves and Raymond. Bicknell's fatal fall, probably due to heart failure, when leading the party of four up an icy couloir. In its account of the accident the AJ saluted Peter's courage in descending the couloir to release his father's body and then coming down as last man.
Peter was back in the Alps in 1929, when he and Claud led a Cambridge University Mountaineering Club meet in the Tyrol, and, in the following years, climbing with Claud, Dick Graham, Basil Goodfellow, Peter Lloyd and others; in 1931 he joined Jack Longland for the Younggrat of the Breithorn and the Mer de Glace face of the Grepon. Twice he was considered for Everest expeditions, twice he had to refuse - the first time because of temporary ill-health, the second, in 1936, because he was getting married. For his wife, Mari Scott Henderson, marriage also meant turning down an offer - in her case to audition for the Russian Ballet. Mari thoroughly enjoyed walking with Peter in the Alps or at home, but had no wish to put on a rope.
Peter's most celebrated achievement in the 1930s was the solo traverse, in 1932, of the entire Cuillin ridge, from Gars-bheinn to Sgurr nan Gillean, in twelve hours: a feat suggested and encouraged by Leslie Shadbolt who, in 1911 with A C McLaren, had fIrst achieved the traverse in one day, but in a longer time. Two years later Peter and Claud repeated the traverse, in the opposite direction, breakfasting at Sligachan and returning in time for dinner. Peter's affection for our home mountains was apparent in his first book, British Hills and Mountains (1947). There had been many childhood holidays in the Lakes. In Wales he was a regular at Geoffrey Young's Easter parties at Pen-y-Pass, and an active member of the Climbers' Club, of which he was President from 1951 to 1954. Visits during the war to the Longstaffs at Achiltibuie led to fascination with Suilven, CuI Mor, and the other strange shapes of the NW Highlands: his pen and water-colour sketches of them appear in British Hills and Mountains. Sketching came to him as naturally as climbing.
Peter was back in the Alps in 1947, in the Engadine; and in 1949, with Claud, he led a party organised by the Alpine Club to introduce climbers who had been debarred from the Alps in the war years. After two successful weeks with the party in the Oberland, the brothers were free to climb on their own and had a splendid day on the N face of the Jungfrau, from the Guggi hut and over the Silberhorn. In 1951 they climbed the N ridge of the Grivola and other peaks from Cogne, then joined my party at Courmayeur. I have a vivid memory of starting out with Peter and Claud on the Rochefort arete, which that year had snow the consistency of caster sugar: after a few steps we recalled that between us we were responsible for twelve young lives at home, and retreated to the solidity of the Geant. Scorning the fIxed ropes, Peter happily led us up to the summit where we were greeted by Lionel Terray with ironic congratulations on our careful British-style belaying. In 1955 Peter and Claud were able to complete the Rochefort arete, and went on to climb the Dent d'Herens by its W ridge and, with a guide from Breuil, traverse the Matterhorn from the Italian side in fast time: 'down to the Hornli for breakfast and Breuil for lunch'. After this there were no more big Alpine expeditions, but still much climbing and walking in the Lakes and NW Highlands. It was there, in 1977, that we had a last climb of Suilven, when Peter's, Mari's and my ages totted up to well over 200.
Peter had studied architecture at Cambridge, and in 1935 returned there to the practice that became Hughes and Bicknell. Among the buildings he designed in Cambridge were Fen Court of Peterhouse and the extension to the Scott Polar Institute; elsewhere he built for the King's School at Ely, Peter Scott's Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge, and many private houses. Among these were one for his sister Ellen at Brigsteer, with windows specially planned to show the western Fells, and a house for himself and Mari after the end of their lease of Finella on the Backs, scene of so much hospitality and memorable firework parties. At Newton Road he created a small masterpiece, his cunning design of house and garden making one feel miles from the city. Peter lectured at the Cambridge School of Architecture, and became one of the pillars of the Department. He was a Fellow of Downing.
It was a rewarding career; but when he retired from the practice in 1982 he had already started on another, which proved equally rewarding. A year before, at the invitation of the Fitzwilliam Museum, he had organized (and produced a scholarly catalogue for) an exhibition 'Beauty, Horror and Immensity - Picturesque Landscape in Britain 1750-1850', where there was much about the English Lakes. This led, in 1982 and 1983, to his organising, along with Robert Woof, two exhibitions at the Wordsworth Museum, Dove Cottage, Grasmere: 'The Discovery of the Lake District 1750-1810' and 'The Lake District Discovered 1810-1850'. So began a close association with Dove Cottage. He became a Trustee of the Wordsworth Trust in 1982, and had a hand in several later exhibitions, notably 'Gilpin to Ruskin: Drawing Masters and their Manuals 1800-1860' (1988), for which he was joint curator with Jane Munro, the exhibition being shared with the Fitzwilliam Museum. According to Robert Woof, Peter was 'the Muse - the best appreciator and the best responder' - to a later series of exhibitions, which included 'Wordsworth and the Alps' in 1990 (of which a full account appeared in AJ97 (1992/93). He edited a new illustrated edition of Wordsworth's Guide to the Lakes (1984) and produced a masterly bibliography The Picturesque Scenery of the Lake District 1752-1855 (1990). This began as a catalogue of his own collection of illustrated books, which he gave to King's College Cambridge in memory of Tim Munby, Librarian of the College, and of Professor Pigou who had often lent the Bicknells his house by Buttermere, giving them 'a glorious series of holidays that have coloured the whole of the rest of my life'. The bibliography has acquired such authority that 'In Bicknell' or (more rarely) 'Not in Bicknell' may be found to describe an item in a rare bookseller's catalogue.
At the Alpine Club, too, he was involved - along with Charles Warren, Bob Lawford and Frank Solari - in several exhibitions, notably that in 1981 of the Club's rare books and pictures, which he wrote about in AJ88 (1983). He served on the Library Council and contributed generously to its Appeal. He did much for the Club, not least by reminding us that climbing a mountain can be part of a larger experience, in which art, poetry and history are also involved; and that we can still enjoy mountains years after we have had to give up climbing them. His humane and many-sided approach made him, on the mountains or off them, the best of company.
He was among hills, at his daughter Caroline's home in Provence, when he was taken ill last May. He died in hospital in Avignon on 31 May, peacefully and with grace, his life fulfilled.
Janet Adam Smith
Quelle: Alpine Journal Vol. 101. Nr. 291, 1996, Seite 318-321


Geboren am:
1907
Gestorben am:
31.05.1955