Harris Richard George

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Biografie:
Richard George Harris (1926-1966)
The death of Richard Harris on Mont Blanc on August 3, 1966, was as bitter as it was surprising to all who knew him. Any climber who met him would quickly have recognised him as a fine mountaineer. His technical skill on rock, his controlled determination, his rigorously trained fitness all these impressed and made one feel that he at least would be unlikely to meet disaster. But even the best prepared are vulnerable and for anyone who had at all penetrated his charming self-effacement, surprise naturally gives way to sadness at the loss of such a wonderful man. And, though he was a dedicated mountaineer, no appreciation of his life could be limited to mountains; one must pay tribute to the rarity and richness of his remarkable personality.
The first hints of what lay beneath might come from his sense of humour, a quiet Jane Austen-like wit, or one might stumble on one of his many talents: gymnastics, Japanese and other languages, music; or again one might find him quietly and thoroughly toiling away at some routine task either to benefit others or to perfect his own efforts. Whatever it was, one found perfectionism linked with a most humane self-effacement. His organ-playing revealed him fully; always by choice and temperament an accompanist, he married a technical brilliance with the most perfect control and sensitivity both to the music and to the people whom he was accompanying. It was this combination of supremely high standards with sympathetic awareness to everything and everyone around him which made him such a rare personality. To work beside him was at once a pleasure and a humiliation. He never failed one if help was required, was always friendly and gracious, warm though unobtrusive; but the real revelation came when one looked at his results or talked with his pupils (he was a schoolmaster by profession). That such a perfectionist should promote distinction among his charges was natural; what was unique was that he could maintain his own remarkable standards, expect and get the same from clever boys and yet remain so tolerant and understanding of the inabilities of the less gifted, that he never failed to lift them all to the best that they could do. Nor were they crammed; they were led simply and faithfully by a supreme teacher whom they honoured and loved as a model of the truest humanity.
This was the man whose career ended so tragically in the terrible storm on Mont Blanc last year. His record, which includes rock climbs like White Slab and Spectre, and a fine list of alpine ascents,*) shows his calibreas a mountaineer. He was elected to the Alpine Club in 1964. His many achievements and undertakings, including some notable services to the Rucksack Club, deserve our praise. Above all, he is to be lamented as a man a wonderful companion to those who climbed and worked with him; a dear son to his indomitable mother. To her this loss is deepest, but all who were close to him have lost an unique friend and an irreplaceable though still vivid inspiration.
J. A. Graham.
*)A full account of his climbs will appear in the Rucksack Club Journal for 1967.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 72, 1967, Seite 190-191


Geboren am:
1926
Gestorben am:
03.08.1966

Erste Route-Begehung