Chris Walker, a highly talented, accomplished and popular mountaineer
Trustees of a fund set up in memory of a climber who died in an avalanche in the Scottish Highlands are offering financial help for mountaineering expeditions.
A grant of £1,000 will be made to help with the cost of expeditions to the greater ranges – home to the world’s highest mountains – by the Chris Walker Memorial Trust.
The 29-year-old Keswick-based instructor Mr Walker died in February 2010 when he and Robert Pritchard, 37, were swept to their deaths by an avalanche while they were descending from a climb on Buachaille Etive Mòr in Glencoe.
A spokesperson for the trust said: “Chris was a highly talented, accomplished and popular mountaineer who loved to share his enthusiasm, knowledge and skills with others.
“He already held the MIC [Mountain Instructor Certificate], was a full member of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors and no doubt would have fulfilled his life-long dream of becoming a British Mountain Guide.
“To assist other climbers who share the same passion for the mountains as Chris, the Chris Walker Memorial Trust has been set up.”
The fund trustees said they will welcome applications from aspiring greater ranges climbers who need financial help with expeditions where new routes will be established, rarely attempted lines repeated, or unexplored areas visited.
“The closing date for applications will be 1 December each year, after which the trustees will meet and make their decision,” the spokesperson said.
The greater ranges include the Himalaya, Karakorum, the Hindu Kush and other mountain chains in northern Pakistan, India and Nepal, and southern China and Tibet. They are home to all the world’s 7,000m (22,966ft) peaks.
The trust will also be liaising with the national association of British Mountain Guides to provide a grant to subsidise the cost of the avalanche training part of the guides’ scheme for 2011 and 12.
In conjunction with the CWMT, the British Alpine Ski School is annually offering a free place on their ski performance course for mountaineers. The closing date for applications will be 11 September each year.
Mr Walker and Mr Pritchard, of New Malden, Surrey, had made a successful winter climb of Curved Ridge and were descending the usual route of the notoriously avalanche-prone Coire na Tulaich, opting to avoid the obvious dangers of the gully by using the north-north-east ridge, viewed as a safer descent route.
A small slab avalanche knocked the pair off their feet, taking them over a 450m (1,500ft) drop to their deaths.
Ritchie Birkett, 29, who was with the pair at the time, was not caught in the avalanche and, along with other climbers in the area at the time dropped down into the corrie to try to help the men. Despite their efforts and those of the Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team, the climbers did not survive.
Details of the grants are available on the Chris Walker Memorial Trust website.
