Smith-Barry Thomas Guy Burton Forster

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Biografie:
Thomas Guy Burton Forster Smith-Barry (1886- 1962)
Guy Smith-Barry inherited Holt Manor in Wiltshire on the death of his father, Colonel Forster, in 1927, and in 1930 he succeeded to the estate of Bally Edmond in County Cork, and added to his paternal name that of his uncle. In 1948 he married Miss Eisa Lang of Zurich, who survives him.
Guy's introduction to mountaineering, a guided ascent of the Tschingelhorn in 1905, all but cured him of any desire to climb. It was not until five years later that he took to guideless climbs of a modest nature, such as the Claridenstock, Glärnisch, Schächentaler Windgälle, Spannörter, Sustenhorn, Tödi and several easy passes, and finished up this apprenticeship with an ascent of the South face of the Pucher, a by no means easy rock climb.
Guy and I first met in Zurich in 1907 as students in the Swiss Federal Polytechnic, and later in Grindelwald, where we had both learned to abandon snow-shoes in favour of skis as a means of access in winter to the Scheideggs, Faulhorn, Lauberhorn and such-like lesser peaks and
passes.
Guy's first serious winter expedition on skis was in 1912 with my brother, over the Furka and Nagelisgratli to the Oberaarhorn, whence they were driven back to the hut by bad weather which made the snow conditions for their subsequent return to Andermatt both tricky and dangerous. Early in 1913 Guy crossed the Oberland on skis and climbed the Jungfrau, Mönch and Ebnefluh. He followed this up in the spring and summer of the same year by climbing most of the summits of the Windgällen-Rothorn group and the Fleckistock-Sustenhorn regions. In the autumn of 1913 we together made the ascent of the West ridge of the Bifertenstock.
Early in 1914 Guy skied into the Rotondo group and climbed almost every summit within reasonable reach of the hut. Later, in the early summer, he was active in the Scopi and Medelser groups. By this time he had become an enthusiastic, able and safe climber, with a fine eye for route-finding and assessment of conditions. In this he was certainly helped by his remarkable gifts as a landscape artist whose black and white sketches and water-colours of mountain scenery are of a rare and individual beauty. One can never think of him on a mountain top without his small sketch-book and pencil.
Soon after the outbreak of war in 1914 Guy, who was in the reserve of officers in the Royal Engineers, was serving in France, and I was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery. During the war our paths crossed at Sidi Bishr, both of us destined, as we then guessed, for Gallipoli. In the event, however, Guy went to Gallipoli and after the evacuation was posted to the North-west Frontier in India, while my battery was sent to Salonica. Nevertheless, during our fortnight together in Egypt we talked mountaineering and roughed out plans for the future. In essence these were that (i) 've would climb only for the sheer fun of it, (ii) two days of climbing would be followed by a rest day, irrespective of the weather, and (iii) we would shift our ground to the lesser mountains when the weather conditions promised to be consistently bad. In 1920 we were able to put these plans to the test. We met at Stalden, sent on our bulging rucksacks by post to Saas Fee and walked up to the Mischabel hut. Guy, having already climbed in the Maderanertal, Medelser and Titlis groups, was trained to a hair, while I found it a struggle to keep up with him on the steep ascent to the hut. After traversing all the peaks from the Lenzspitze to the Balfrin and picking up some oddments on the way, we moved over to the Britannia hut and from there traversed the Allalinhörner, Alphubel and Rimpfischhorn. Thence we went to Zermatt, climbing the Strahlhorn en route. Throughout, we had tested out our scheme of two days of climbing followed by a rest day, and found it highly successful. The weather, never very settled, now took a turn for the worse, so we moved over to Mont Blanc, traversing this by the Aiguilles Grises route to the Col du Geant. In dubious weather we then climbed the Geant and most of the neighbouring lesser peaks. An attempt on the Eccles route was frustrated by a heavy overnight snowfall to well below the Gamba hut. Nevertheless, we had the fun of rescuing a party of five charming Italians who were in difficulties on the Brouillard route to the hut. Persistent bad weather now drove us to implement the third part of our agreed plan by moving off to the Maderanertal, where irrespective of climatic vagaries we could roam about to our hearts' content.
It was not until 1923 that we could climb together again. Guy, Raymond Peto and I, all in good training, then climbed the Dent d'Herens by making use of the great glacier terrace which rises diagonally across the North face of the mountain. After this, academic demands cut short my climbing, but Guy moved over to Bonneval whence, having made a clean sweep of practically everything within reach, he finished up in the Tödi group and Maderanertal.
By this time Guy had proved himself to be a first class all round mountaineer. Expert in route-finding and in judging conditions, he climbed safely and with outstanding skill on rock, ice and snow. It was indeed something of a revelation to watch him work his way over iced-up rocks and slabs, or surmount a difficult bergschrund. And perhaps most endearing of all his attributes was a never-failing, infectious and joyous sense of humour.
In November, 1923, Guy submitted his application for membership of the Alpine Club. This, perhaps the most remarkable document of its kind in the possession of the Club, lists over 140 qualifying climbs, of which only the first was professionally guided. Later, he joined the Academic Alpine Club of Zurich.
As the years went by, professional duties restricted my climbing activities more and more. For all that, however, we were occasionally able to enjoy some good climbs together. I remember particularly the Gletschhorn (South ridge), a traverse of Piz Roseg, the North face of Castor, the Bianco ridge of the Bernina, a traverse of the Nesthorn-Breithorn, and also a wholly delightful and successful campaign in the Viro valley in Corsica.
Guy's climbing was not restricted to the Alps, for he climbed also in Ireland, Norway, Tunisia and Morocco. I hope that Binnie, Malcolm and Herbert will be able to add notes of Guy's climbs, particularly after 1927.
I last saw Guy at Holt a few weeks before his death. We spent much of the time cutting up fallen timber. _He worked at the pace of a two-year old and soon had me trying hard to keep up with him. His sense of fun was as lively as ever.
Guy's versatility was astonishing. He climbed the mountains and he sketched and painted them; he managed two large estates; he soldiered on active service throughout the First World War; he ran his own market garden; he was an expert photographer. Everything he did was well done; he was indeed a whole man.
G. I. Finch
MR. A. M. Binnie and MR. H. R. Herbert write:
A chance meeting in Switzerland led to a hundred expeditions. One day in 1930 we had come over the Allalin Pass from the Britannia hut under such thick conditions that at more than one place the expedient of shouting was adopted to test if cliffs were near. We were walking up the street in Zermatt when we encountered a party hard to recognise. Betsey Gates was easy enough; her husband Caleb (A.C.) was concealed under an enormous beard, the result of a fortnight at the Sustli hut. The third was a stranger, Smith-Barry, or 'Potts' as he became known to us for a reason now lost in the mists of time.
From then up to the outbreak of the Second War he led a party which commonly varied in numbers from four to two, and which from time to time usually also included A. D. Malcolm and occasionally Caleb Gates and H . L. Pryce. Smith-Barry was naturally the leader, not merely because he was older than the rest of us. His personality and charm were most attractive, and he possessed a very remarkable skill and toughness, dating from the days when he was a volunteer in Dr. Dubi's surveying parties. Moreover, his knowledge of languages and customs was so complete that in Switzerland and France he could readily pass himself off as a native. In spite of the limited time available each summer, an astonishing number of peaks were ascended in all parts of the Alps except Austria. Little mountains were visited at the beginning of the season and in unsettled weather, and large mountains when the party was fit and conditions were favourable. With the aid of his car which he generously provided, no time was lost when the campaign was in progress. Thus, although it was discouraging to wake up one morning in Courmayeur to find snow lying low in the valley, yet the same evening we were installed in the Gelmer hut above Handeck. The tactics commonly employed were to take five days' provisions up to the hut on a Monday. This method could on occasion be strikingly successful, notably on a visit in 1933 to the Bernese Oberland. With the aid of a mule to the Eggishorn, a porter to the Concordia and finally a hard grind with heavy sacks over the Grünhornlücke, the party was established at the Finsteraarhorn hut. The next six days dealt with the Fiescherhorn, Gross Grünhorn (South-east face), Finsteraarhorn, Agassizhorn (traverse), Finsteraar-Rothorn (descent to the Oberaarjoch hut), Studerhorn-Altmann-Oberaarhorn (traverse) and down to Biel in the Rhone valley.
Another good year was 1936, though it began badly with five days' imprisonment in the Lenta hut, beyond which we did not advance more than a hundred yards. But it finished well in the Dauphine, with ascents of the Pelvoux, Les Ecrins, Ailefroide, Meije (traverse), Les Bans, and L'Olan not a bad lead for a man of fifty. On one occasion we persuaded him to go to Norway where, in weather not good but better than average, climbs were made from Türtegro, Øye and the Romsdal, and the Jostedalsbrae was crossed to Loen from the south. But he was always reluctant to miss a summer in Switzerland, and in 1938 we could not get him to join us in Lofoten.
In the following year, which was as good as any, there were five sorties: Blümlisalphorn and Doldenhorn from the Fründen hut; the Pigne, Mont Blanc de Seilon, and the la Luette-Mont Pleureur-la Salle ridge from the Val de Dix hut; the Weissmies (North ridge), Fletschhorn and Laquinhorn from the Weissmies hut; the Nesthorn and Breithom from the Oberaletsch hut; and finally the Brunegghorn, Gässispitz and Wasenhorn from the Topali hut, where the party was nearly caught by the outbreak of hostilities.
After the war, operations were resumed, but naturally on a smaller scale and in not quite so breathless a way. Nevertheless, the Blümlisalphorn was climbed in 1948 and the Tour Noir, Tiefenstock and Gletscherhorn in 1950. From his house near Granges, between Sion and Sierre, he made numerous ascents of the local mountains, such as the Bonvin, Illhorn and Bella Tola, and there he royally entertained the younger members of the party when it was no longer possible for him to climb big peaks. After his move to Bally Edmond in County Cork he visited many of the mountains of southern Ireland, some of these expeditions involving very long drives as well. His last visit to a summit was to the Brecon Beacons a day's outing from his home in Wiltshire. No complete list of his ascents was made, but he was accustomed to insert a date against the guide book account of his climbs. The little mountains, particularly those accessible from the A.A.C.Z. Windgällen hut, he visited many times, and the ascents thus recorded add up to hundreds.
Quelle: Alpine Journal Volume 70, 1965, Seite 374-378


Geboren am:
1886
Gestorben am:
1962