Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
moacman
Trad climber
Montuckyian Via Canada Eh!
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 10, 2018 - 07:05pm PT
|
I'm Nancy Greenwood, Brian Greenwood's wife. For those who know him, I need to say that Brian died on Friday. He had cancer and I cared for him at home, where he wanted to be, until the last 12 hours when they took him to hospital for more powerful drugs to help calm him on his way. I've written an obituary, and hope it's OK to put it here. Please know that I feel a bit funny writing about his climbs, because climbing was always private, to be held close.... and he would not want me to blow his horn. I'm sending a photo of him from his sailing days. OK >>>>>
"Brian Greenwood died on April 6, 2018 at the end of a good life. He was born in 1934 in Hebden Bridge, a steep-hilled woolen mill town in the Pennines of West Yorkshire.
Brian immigrated to Canada in 1956 and settled in Calgary because it was close to the Rockies. Within a year he was doing serious climbs, and over an 18 year career his record of first ascents, establishment of new routes, first ascents on hard north faces and winter ascents and traverses was remarkable. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, and in 1965 he organized and instructed the first guides course in Canada
In his 40's he moved to Golden, B.C. where he met Nancy, the community librarian. In 1980 they started their life together, and moved to Duncan on Vancouver Island where he transitioned from climbing to sailing, and spent the next 10 years sailing the inside waters, often single-handing, in his 27 foot sloop. At home he dug a basement under their hillside cottage with a shovel and wheelbarrow. In their garden he built dry stone walls, and granite terraces and rock stairways. When his sailing days were over, he started cycling and continued into his 80's. He loved to garden, and he grew the best strawberries in the whole world.
Nancy will miss him forever, but in his journey toward death he always said he would die with gratitude for the good life he had had. He felt fortunate for the enduring friendships with fellow climbers. He will be missed by his daughter Arwen, named for the Princess in “Lord of the Rings”. She was the apple of his eye. He was so proud of his sons, all good men, all loved: Robin, Brandy and Dorn.
Please raise a glass in memory of Brian.
He went “gentle into that good night.”
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2018 - 07:09pm PT
|
Ah, sh#t.
Brian was the cornerstone of the transition to serious climbing in the Canadian Rockies.
Raising a glass, and wiping a tear from my eye...
|
|
micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2018 - 07:18pm PT
|
Nancy,
What a touching and sincere tribute. My sincere condolences. He sounds like he was one of the good ones. I have never met him nor heard of him until just now and I think it's really sweet that you put your words and thoughts into this small memorial. Honored that you put it here. I would love to see some pictures of his old climbs.
Sincerely,
Scott
|
|
grover
climber
Castlegar BC
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2018 - 08:26pm PT
|
Sincere condolences to Brian's family and friends.
Many thanks for all the sweet routes Mr.Greenwood....safe travels.
Mark Senyk
|
|
Bad Climber
Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2018 - 09:00pm PT
|
Oh, so sorry to hear this. I knew him by reputation only. As a young climber, I poured over Canadian Rockies guide books and articles, and his name came up everywhere.
Peace to you, his friends and family.
BAd
|
|
Fuzzywuzzy
climber
suspendedhappynation
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2018 - 09:25pm PT
|
What a man!!!!!
|
|
nah000
climber
now/here
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2018 - 09:29pm PT
|
i put the following together a while back:
those three are pretty inarguably his most famous canadian rockies alpine routes... esp the greenwood/locke on temple and the east face of babel are two of the most influential early “hard” alpine routes in the range and have been testpieces to the generations that have followed ever since they were first climbed. [pullan also has a good synopsis of his climbing life over at gripped]
sorry to hear of his passing at the same time that it sounds like we’d all be so lucky to live such a blessed life.
and so thank you for the beautiful eulogy.
|
|
Chief
climber
The NW edge of The Hudson Bay
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2018 - 09:41pm PT
|
Nancy,
Thank you for sharing this sad news in such a touching manner.
Although I never met him, I knew of him from very early on and he was a mountaineering role model.
Sincere condolences to you and those who were close to Brian.
PB
|
|
Tricouni
Mountain climber
Vancouver
|
|
|
Apr 10, 2018 - 10:07pm PT
|
Nancy, I am very sad to hear this. I met him only once and mainly I knew him by reputation only and through other friendw. A good man,and I'm sorry for your loss.
Glenn Woodsworth (Vancouver)
|
|
norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
|
|
|
Apr 11, 2018 - 03:16am PT
|
Not many inspire so many in this life. To a life well lived. Thank you Nancy my heart goes out to you and I raise a glass to Brian tonight. Peace.
|
|
steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
|
|
|
Apr 11, 2018 - 04:53am PT
|
My sincere condolences to you and those who were close to Brian. I remember reading about his climbing exploits long ago. He certainly was in the forefront of Canadian Alpine climbing. A life well lived.
|
|
Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
|
|
|
Apr 11, 2018 - 06:03am PT
|
Beautiful eulogy, Nancy - thanks for sharing.
I definitely heard of several of his climbs, even though I never climbed in the Canadian Rockies (Bugaboos don't count, right?).
A life well lived.
|
|
Bill Noble
climber
Golden BC
|
|
|
Apr 11, 2018 - 07:33am PT
|
Thank you for posting that great photo of "the sailor" Brian. Nice sweater!
I only met Brian once over twenty years ago but I still remember his elvish eyes and sharp smile. We got along almost immediately after I mentioned I'd just come from Golden for an event in Banff. An old friend, George Homer, had also mentioned Brian several times so I felt prepared to have a few "walk down memory lane" (once removed) laughs with Brian. It was a pleasure.
When I meet climbers I always look for the person first and not the climber. Brian was approachable and likeable on both counts. Authentic. Arms length - he represented someone who could evolve and get on with this thing called life beyond the narrow scope of climbing.
May his spirit fly within the beauty of early morning light cast upon mysterious peaks and enigmatic oceans.
peace to you and family Nancy
Bill
|
|
BruceHildenbrand
Social climber
Mountain View/Boulder
|
|
|
Apr 11, 2018 - 10:39am PT
|
Here's my favorite photo of Brian. It was taken by Chris Jones on the South Face of Mount Watkins. RIP, Brian.
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Apr 11, 2018 - 11:34am PT
|
I didn't know Brian but I certainly knew of him. Sorry to hear of his passing but it seems he had a life well lived.
|
|
SpokaneBob
Ice climber
Spokane, Washington
|
|
|
Apr 11, 2018 - 12:33pm PT
|
Hi Nancy & Fellow Climbers,
I write to say I am sorry for your loss. I never knew your husband personally. I knew him by reputation. I would come close to exhausting my lexicon of superlatives attempting to describe his influence on me and it would take several paragraphs to do so. Suffice it to say I am in debt to him and the many other giants of climbing, past and present. His example was a gift. I am sure I speak not just for myself but for many, many others.
With condolences,
Bob Loomis,
Spokane, WA.
|
|
guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
|
|
|
Apr 11, 2018 - 06:03pm PT
|
I met Brian briefly in BC years ago through my old climbing mate Rob Wood. I remember Rob told me Brian had installed grow lights in his basement and was growing tomatoes while everyone else was growing the killer weed! Brian and his group of expat Brits help set new standards of ice climbing in the pioneer days of Canadian Ice Men. Rob Wood, Ray Gillis, Stevie Smith, Bugs McKeith and many others. Always fun fun people to be around.
https://gripped.com/news/canadian-climbing-legend-brian-greenwood-passes/
|
|
Beazley
Trad climber
BC
|
|
|
Apr 12, 2018 - 08:41am PT
|
Brian....The Master.
I was lucky enough to have spent a lot of time with Brian which included many noble adventures in the mountains and many not so noble misadventures in the pub.
In the pub Brian's mischievous, laconic and irreverent humor inspired an ethic that prevented any one from taking themselves too seriously, most of all himself.
In the mountains, Brian had a way of making an epic first ascent seem like walking the dog in the park with mum. Even in extremely scary circumstances his technical competence was matched by an unrivaled and deep rooted ability to remain calm and positive.
Thank you Nancy for being Brian's reliable rope mate in his later years and for posting the fine obituary.
Cheers....Rob Wood
|
|
Chris Jones
Social climber
Glen Ellen, CA
|
|
|
Apr 12, 2018 - 11:09am PT
|
What a lovely tribute from Brain’s wife Nancy to such an outstanding man. He was an inspiration and a mentor to myself and many others.
April in the Canadian Rockies can be pretty bleak. Especially if the mythical Yosemite Valley is only a couple of days driving away. So it was that every spring in the later 1960s sun-seeking Canadian climbers were a boisterous presence in Camp 4. Predominantly British ex-pats, they included Brian Greenwood, Bugs McKeith, George Homer, Rob Wood, Tim Auger and others. They climbed hard, and partied just as hard.
In July 1970 I arrived at Brian’s home in a smarter part of Calgary. His welcome was magical. After dinner and a few beers the talk soon turned to a climb for the coming weekend. Brian had his eye on the northeast face of Hungabee, a peak I had no clue about. Gear was sorted and he and I together with Paul Moss and Oliver Woolcock headed for Banff. Moving a bit slowly the next morning after the previous night at the pub, I nonetheless expected that we would head right for the approach. But no, we apparently first needed fish and chips and a beer under our belts. When we did get underway the sun was pretty high in the sky. Our objective was harrowing - maybe 5,000 feet of rock pillars, rock-strewn ledges and dubious snow and ice. It was well after midday as we made our way up the easier-angled lower slopes. My experience thus far with the Canadian Rockies was that the steeper rock was pretty good. Awful would be a mild term for what we found. As the face steepened we moved more slowly, looking for passable anchors or indeed anchors at all. Late in the day we found a cave, which was a godsend as it provided protection from whatever might be falling from above. We agreed the way ahead was not too certain, but Brian knew these mountains; we were in good hands.
With an overnight freeze the face was quiet as we started up the following morning. But soon the sun touched the top of our wall, and the rockfall commenced. The route now reared up, but the rock itself did not improve. It was simply vertical piles of rocks. We were about two-thirds of the way up the face, but going on seemed crazy: loose rock, terrible anchors and rockfall. We needed an escape in a hurry. Brian led off rightwards across a crumbling ledge system that appeared to continue to the ridge. As we moved out, a fist-sized rock utterly destroyed the ledge between Paul and I. It was about the closest call either of us had ever had. Racing as fast as we could we reached the safety of the ridge and took a breather. We had failed on our objective, but had no regrets as we scrambled to the summit. Brain had been here before and knew the route down. He took off like a mountain goat, moving so smoothly over sloping, uneven ground. He was so assured that the rest of us felt downright incompetent. He had every skill of the great mountaineers. He was a master.
|
|
wbw
Trad climber
'cross the great divide
|
|
|
Apr 12, 2018 - 11:51am PT
|
Brian Greenwood has always been one of those names that I wanted to know more about, but never quite knew where to find it. I've climbed relatively little in the Rockies, but enough to know that a name that occurs in the guides as much as his must be the name of a maestro of extremely serious climbs.
Thanks for the write-up Nancy. You've filled in a lot of the blanks I have always wondered about. Most sincere condolences to you and Brian's children.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!