RIP. George Band OBE

[don4l]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8728507...

George was one of Britain's great mountaineers. He was the youngest member of Hilary's expedition to conquer Everest. Two years later he became the first man to climb Mount Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain, and a more difficult ascent than Everest.


George was a remarkably modest man. He was a true gentleman.

I first met George three years ago when I was out with a group of countryside walkers. We went past a chalk quarry, and George went in to it and spent some time looking at the "cliff face". When he came out, I said "You seemed very interested in that quarry". "Well yes", he said, "I used to be a geoligist, so the chalk face is interesting".

George was utterly unaware of his fame, and he had assumed that nobody had told me who he was. When I asked him if he was working out how to climb the quarry face, he lit up. Apparently the chalk cliff would be very similiar to an ice cliff, and could be climbed with the use of extra crampons, and other stuff that I didn't understand. The enthusiasism in a 79 year old was quite inspirational.

Reading the Telegraph obituary, it is clear that George reached very senior positions in the oil industry. He was managing director of Shell in Sarawak and Sabah. Later he he was also vice-chairman of Premier Oil. Yet, when you met him, he said that he had been a geoligist in the oil industry.

Two years ago, he went climbing in Scotland, at the age of 79.

This summer he was going to visit Nepal. In 1961, a charity that he helped to set up, funded a school in the foothills in Nepal. This year, they were having their 50th anniversary celebrations. George was the only surviving member of the group who founded the charity. He was looking forward to going back to Nepal.

Feck it. Some things are too difficult to write.

I'll do a bit more in the morning.


R.I.P. George.


Don
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