Ray Colledge
Early life
Colledge was born in Coventry, England.[http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/city-mountaineer-who-helped-sir-7049804 " City mountaineer who helped Sir Edmund Hillary climb Everest dies aged 91"]. Coventry Telegraph. 30 Apr 2014 By Ben Eccleston He began climbing after his discharge from the RAF at the end of the Second World War.[https://www.thebmc.co.uk/ray-colledge-19222014 "Ray Colledge 1922-2014"]. British Mountaineering Council, Apr 20, 2014 by Lindsay Griffin
Career
Colledge's guideless ascent of a number of difficult routes in the Alps resulted in an invite to join Eric Shipton's Cho Oyu expedition in 1952. The expedition included many climbers who would later form the successful Everest team in 1953. During the expedition, Colledge made the first ascent of a number of lesser peaks[http://www.climbmagazine.com/getfile.php?type=archives&id=499 "Repimo Shar".] GREATER HIMALAYA - Climb Magazine, and was one of the test subjects who worked closely with the physiologist Griffith Pugh to test oxygen flow rates at altitude.{{cite book|author=Harriet Tuckey|title=Everest - The First Ascent: How a Champion of Science Helped to Conquer the Mountain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFIPkWLEodEC&pg=PA63|date=21 May 2013|publisher=Lyons Press|isbn=978-0-7627-9192-7|pages=61, 63–}} At the time, the Cho Oyu expedition was seen as a failure, Shipton was replaced by John Hunt as leader for the 1953 Everest expedition and Colledge was not asked to join another expedition to the Himalayas.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}
Colledge continued to climb in the UK and in the Alps.{{cite book|author=Peter Steele|title=Eric Shipton: Everest and Beyond|url=https://archive.org/details/ericshiptonevere0000stee|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-0-89886-659-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ericshiptonevere0000stee/page/170 170]–}} In 1969, in a two-week holiday from his job at Courtaulds in Derby, he made three difficult ascents that brought him to the attention of the British climbing community.[https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/obituaries/article4079874.ece "Ray Colledge "]. The Times (subscription) Obituary May 4, 2014[http://www.alpine-club.org.uk/Tributes/RayColledge.htm "Ray Colledge 26-05-1922 – 10-04-2014"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305235857/http://www.alpine-club.org.uk/Tributes/RayColledge.htm |date=2016-03-05 }}. Mark Harrison, Alpine Club website Partnering Dan Boon, Colledge made an ascents of the Pear Buttress on Mont Blanc and the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses.{{cite book|author=Mick Conefrey|title=Everest 1953: The Epic Story of the First Ascent|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QpUTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT49|date=31 January 2014|publisher=Mountaineers Books|isbn=978-1-59485-887-1|pages=49–}} Colledge then made the third British ascent of the 1938 route on the north face of the Eiger.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10791072/Ray-Colledge-obituary.html "Ray Colledge - obituary"] The Telegraph, 27 Apr 2014"Eiger Tigers", {{cite book|title=Climber and Rambler|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJ8bAQAAMAAJ|year=1969|page=422}}
Colledge went on to make many early British ascents of difficult Alpine routes with his friend and climbing partner Dennis Davis.{{cite book|title=World Climbing: Based on Mountain Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TXYKAQAAIAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Dark Peak|page=68}}[http://www.karabiner.org/articles/viewer.php?aid=2454 "IN MEMORIAM - DENNIS DAVIS"]. By Jim Gregson Newsletter of the Karabiner Mountaineering Club, 19 February 2015
Colledge died on 10 April 2014.
References
{{reflist}}
- Journal of the Midland Association of Mountaineers 1970
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Category:British mountain climbers