Bob was an active mem-ber of the Cambridge Uni-versity M.C. who hadstarted climbing in theearly ’50s. During hisformative years he hadsteadily worked his waythrough the V Diffs gain-ing experience and devel-oping his technique. Hewas first recognised as ayoung and up and comingtalent during a CUMCmeet in the Lakes atEaster 1953 when he washalfway up Eliminate B, anHVS on Dow Crag. GeoffSutton and Roger Chorleywere checking out theroutes and called up to

Downes: “Do you know what you are on?”“Yes” replied the leader “Murray’s B.” As neither

Downes nor his second seemed to be having any prob-lem nothing was said. However, at the top of the routeSutton met the two youngsters and after a short conver-sation it became apparent that they still had no idea theyhad just completed a climb several grades above theirusual standard and without experiencing any difficulty.Following their brief encounter Bob often turned to Suttonfor recommendations as to what to do next. During theremainder of 1953 he worked his way through the classicWelsh and Lakeland VSs, none of which gave him anyproblem. That summer he briefly but productively visitedthe Dolomites and on his return he again met up withSutton for frequent gritstone outings.

Bob realised that by keeping himself ‘match fit’ hewouldn’t waste any part of his valuable vacation workingup to his peak performance. Consequently he spent thewinter combining his rock-climbing with gym work, not inpreference to weather conditions but because of the con-straints of time. In fact, the weather was just ‘weather’ tohim and consequently he made no allowances for it. Thereare many stories of Downes making fine and committingascents in appalling conditions; after all ‘a good route wasa good route’ whatever the weather.

Bob’s ability was quickly becoming apparent to his cir-cle of friends and his awareness of what was happeningon the greater crags rapidly developed, as did his distinc-tive climbing style. By 1954 Bob had already met up withEric Langmuir and John (Toby) Mallinson and in Augustthey went north to Scotland where they made an earlyexploratory visit to Loch Etive and The Trilleachan Slabs.

1955 was an excellent year for Bob and as if to addinsult to injury and a further blow to Scottish prestige af-ter the Brown–Whillans’s ascent of Sassenach the previ-

ous year he pioneeredNorth Eastern Grooveson Minus One Buttress.This was the possible linefirst noticed by Downesthe previous year. It washis original intention tofollow the crack-line onthe buttress. However, atjust over a third height abelt of overhangscrossed the face andforced Downes andO’Hara to traverse intoMinus Two Gully beforethey could ascend the40-foot flake to find thefinal pitches and summit.Downes pioneered thefirst part of the route withO’Hara on the 17th Junebut then completed theascent with Langmuir onthe 21st June. This wasthe first new route of theyear on the Ben and Bob

then made the second as-cent of two hard routes putup by Brian Kellett solo 11years earlier, first on MinusThree Buttress and thenGardyloo Buttress. TheCambridge team climbedRight-Hand Route in dampconditions and were im-pressed by the ‘daring per-formance’ of Kellett.Gardyloo Buttress had alsostretched Kellett on his firstand solo ascent where it hadtaken an hour to climb a 15-foot corner, which Downesfound reminiscent ofPiggott’s Climb on Cloggythough steeper and more

R O (Bob) Downes, is a former Climbers’ Club mem-ber who, in five years, contributed so much to theclimbing world and yet is known by few. ‘Downes,one of our brightest stars,died on Masherbrum’. Thatwas how the Editor of the CCJ officially announcedthe news of the death of Bob Downes to the Club in1958. The now famous photopgraph taken by RogerChorley of Bob on Diagonal, Dinas Mot, accompa-nied his Obituary.

TTTTThe R O Dohe R O Dohe R O Dohe R O Dohe R O Downes Hutwnes Hutwnes Hutwnes Hutwnes Hut

An extract from the photograph ofBob Downes on Diagonal, DinasMot by kind permission of RogerChorley

Bob, who with Eric Langmuir and John(Toby) Mallinson, went on an explora-tory visit to Loch Etive complete withthe prized possession – a pair of PAs,12th August 1954. Eric Langmuir col-lection

Bob and Mike O’Hara in Glen Coe.Eric Langmuir collection

The newly refurbished R O Downes Memorial Hut, Froggatt, Derbyshire.Ian Wall collection

exposed.Downes and O’Hara, this time in the company of Mike

Prestige, returned to Ben Nevis where O’Hara had theidea of straightening out their route up the Minus OneButtress. The line eventually corkscrewed its way up therock but the team did manage to eliminate the sling thathad been used on the first ascent. The fourth pitch wasthe crux and consisted of an exposed rib and a groovesection of committing moves; Minus One Direct, now de-scribed in the modern guide as ‘one of the most enjoy-able climbs known to mankind; sustained, and on perfectrock’, had succumbed to the Cambridge onslaught. Bynow Downes had the feel of big Scottish rock routes inhis hands and a list of possible ascents planted firmly inhis mind.

In June 1956 he was again travelling north. Now theproud owner of a pair of PAs and this time in the com-pany of Mike O’Hara he headed up to complete an 11-hour second ascent of the Whillans and Brown routeSassenach. On the crux pitch Downes and O’Hara notedthe rock required ‘delicate handling’ but was at the sametime technical and difficult. The crux pitch alone took fourhours and in describing their ascent Downes demonstratedhis characteristic modesty; his determination had beentested by a prolonged hailstorm during their ascent caus-ing the considerable delay. In Sassenach was one of thegreatest mountaineering routes in Britain and its ascentin 1954 had stunned the Scots; complacency had beenrevealed.

A few weeks later Bob went to the Alps where he hada very good season though the weather was indifferent.He climbed the South Face of the Aiguille Dibona in theDauphiné, the South Face of the Guliermina and theGervasutti Couloir on the Tacul. Bob also made the first

British ascent of the North East Face of the Badile by theCassin Route with Alan Blackshaw, Geoff Sutton and EricLangmuir and the first British ascent of the Triolet withBlackshaw. Downes and Blackshaw describe both of theseascents in the CCJ of 1956.

Bob’s initial meeting with Don Whillans was when thelatter returned to the Biolay camp site after his eventfulascent of East Ridge of the Crocodile and soon the pairstarted talking about the routes they would like to do, theyeventually decided on the East Face of the Capucin. Un-fortunately this attempt ended in the darkness of a vio-lent storm causing the pair to retreat in the most atro-cious conditions. Before leaving Chamonix, Downes ten-tatively suggested to Whillans a trip to Scotland on theirreturn to the UK.

So in late August they met and the two travelled toO’Hara’s residence in Cambridge to try to persuade himto take up the empty place in Whillans’s motorcycle com-bination that was outside ready for the journey north. MikeO’Hara did not join them, a decision that he was later toregret. There was a corner line on the Carn Dearg But-tress that a few parties had previously shown an interestin, Kellett climbed the first pitch back in 1944 during whichhe found an old sling 30-40 feet up the big corner. Marshall,accompanied by Richie, made a commendable effort in’53 but it was the Whillans/Downes route that later be-came known as Centurion. Whillans’s powerful climbingpushed seven of the eight pitches but Downes master-fully spotted a more subtle way to avoid the vicious linethat Whillans had ascended on the last pitch and this isnow the normal route taken by parties wishing to make asuccessful ascent. Not content with inflicting another na-tional disaster on the Scots, Downes and Whillans wentout the following day and made the first ascent of The

Bob leading on the first ascent of N E Grooves, Ben Nevis 1955, in thecompany of Eric Langmuir and Mike O’Hara. Eric Langmuir collection Bob on the first British ascent of the N E Face of the Badile by the Cassin

Route August 1955 with Eric Langmuir and Geoff Sutton and AlanBlackshaw. Eric Langmuir collection

Shield in wet conditions (September 1st 1956).Two weeks later Bob was in North Wales with Judith

Clark where they made the first ascent of the fierce over-hanging crack of Penammen Groove on Carreg Alltremon September 18th. The following day Bob lead the fifthascent of Cenotaph Corner with Judith following for thefirst female ascent.

This was to be the last contribution Bob Downes madeto pushing the frontiers on British rock. Reference to Scot-tish activities – Ben Nevis by Ken Crocket 1986

Aside from climbing and his many frequent and pro-ductive trips Bob Downes achieved a 2:1 in history fromClare, Cambridge and was a capable secretary and laterPresident of the CUMC. Previously during his nationalservice he became an officer in the Royal Corps of Sig-nal. After Cambridge he decided against a career in theColonial Service and he worked at the White Hall Out-door Pursuits Centre near Buxton where Geoff Sutton wasWarden. His aim was to raise money for a trip to theHimalaya.

In 1957 the Rucksack Club were looking for anothermember for their expedition to the then unclimbed 25,600ftMasherbrum in the Karakoram. Ron Moseley had droppedout and Downes had taken his place asking if Whillanscould join the team. Downes paid Whillans a visit “Howwould you like a trip to the Himalaya?” he asked, “You’llhave to contribute £150”.

“I’ll manage it all right,” replied Don and the team wascomplete.

On June 15th 1957 the Masherbrum expedition es-tablished Base Camp at 13,000ft. On the 16th, DonWhillans set off to reconnoitre the route and possible campsites, it was to be six weeks before he returned to BaseCamp. The first summit bid failed at about 24,500ft aftera poor bivvy and in worsening weather conditions Donand Geoff Smith returned to Camp 6. A major storm de-veloped and for the next few days the two climbers weretrapped in their two-man tent. During a break in theweather two more climbers arrived, the storm was stillblowing and the situation became serious with the four ofthem trapped in one two-man tent. It was obvious to allthat they couldn’t go on in their condition so it was plannedthat all would descend to Camp 4. Whillans took a majorfall resulting not only in a badly damaged ankle but alsoin him being separated from the others. Luckily he man-aged to get down to Camp 4 where he sat and waited forhis companions. At this point Joe Walmsley and BobDownes arrived from Camp 3 eager for news. Downeshad been ill on the walk into Base Camp but had made agood recovery and Whillans suggested that Downes andWalmsley should go for the summit but this time from asmall camp situated at the site of Don’s top bivvy. Donstayed in Camp 4 only to discover it was virtually emptyof supplies but particularly of matches, the key to the lifegiving liquid that is required at that altitude. Don sat outanother storm then descended to Camp 3 only to findthat supplies were lacking as in the higher camp. Whileon his way down to Base, Don considered the situationthat Joe and Bob were in with the empty camps betweenthe high point and base. A team was organised to go upto replenish supplies, Don and Ted Dance would go toCamp 2 and the porters to Camp 3, once these were re-stocked the climbers would return to Base Camp. Whileresting in the by now lush and green haven Don noticedfour people descending from high on the mountain andrealising that there should have been five he becameanxious. Eventually when the climbers came into campthe following morning they explained that Bob had diedat Camp 6. It was suggested that a team should go tobring Bob’s body down but that they should also try one

more time for the summit. Having taken the body downto Camp 5 Don and Joe then went for a final summitattempt. They reached the previous high point but thenbecause of poor snow conditions in the gully, the line ofthe proposed route, they had to deviate to the adjacentrock buttress. After some extremely hard high altitudeclimbing, the lack of daylight, the severity of the pitchesand the physical condition the two men were in as a re-sult of their long stay at altitude it was decided to return tothe top camp from about 400ft below the summit. Portraitof a Mountaineer, Don Whillans 1971

Bob’s body was taken to Skardu where the post mortemshowed that he had died of pneumonia (possibly pulmo-nary oedema). He was laid to rest on a small grassy hill-ock overlooking the Indus which is marked by an inscribedstone. By the age of 25 years, despite having only beenclimbing for just over seven years Bob had achieved agreat deal and was in the top echelon of the climbers ofthe day.

A memorial fund was established and the CCJ of 1961described the result ‘1960 saw great activity surroundingthe CC Huts. The Trustees of the fund in memory of R ODownes have purchased a building at Froggat, Derby-shire, to be known as the R O Downes Memorial Hut andpresented it to the Club’. The trustees of other funds inmemory of G J Fraser and G Cruickshank and of P W FMayo, have made contributions to assist in the furnishingand equipping of the hut and recently the parents of M JHarris have made a donation in memory of their son whichwill enable the equipping of the hut to be completed. Thehut will be in full use by the time the CCJ is publishedin1961. Eric Langmuir who was at that time warden ofWhite Hall Open Country Pursuits Centre and on the BMCPeak District Committee had agreed to become custo-dian’, CCJ 1961. The hut was officially opened on the29th April 1961 at 5pm.

The hut has always been well-used not only by CC

The first British ascent of the South Face, Aiguille Dibona, July 1955 BobDownes leading. Eric Langmuir collection

members but it is also a popular venue with visiting out-side booking parties and was continually in use up to the7th June 1997 when it was closed for refurbishment. The‘refurbishment’ was virtually a rebuild for the building hadin its previous life been the pumping station for Derby-shire Water.

On the 27th November 1999, 42 years and four monthsafter Bob’s tragic death on Masherbrum it was entirelyappropriate that Mrs Dinah Evans, nee Downes; Bob’ssister re-opened the R O Downes Memorial Hut. The largeassembled gathering heard of the great love, affectionand esteem people held for Bob through the reminis-cences given by some of those in attendance, PeterEvans, Ted Dance, Mike O’Hara, John Peacock, TedMaden, Alan Blackshaw, John Gaukroger, Tony Moulamand Roger Chorley. Many of those who spoke had notcome prepared to say anything but the images conjuredby those who were prepared jogged the memories of oth-ers who wanted to share their experiences of Bob’s com-pany, such was the stature of the man. Ann Sutton told ofhow she personally made all the down gear forMasherbrum.

Through the reading of background material for thisarticle and from the impression presented by the peopleI have spoken to it is evident that Bob Downes, had hehave survived Masherbrum, would have gone on to be-come as much a household name as those other distin-guished climbers with whom he associated. It is a sadfact of our time that many of these names and the char-acters are totally unrecognised by many of the youngergeneration of visitors to the R O Downes Memorial Hut. Itis important that the history of the Club, its roots and theendeavours of its membership should be remembered.

As I have mentioned previously the Hut Log Booksprovide a great insight into the life of the Club and theDownes Log is no exception. There are many entries, alinked conversation in the style of the emails of todaywhich relate stories of broken windows, snow building upinside that had to be excavated before the place washabitable, no fire wood and of course the continual custo-dial cry ‘put the bloody pots away’.

I make no apologies for rewriting in full one of the morepoignant entries dated 24.7.93 and signed John Gaukroger

‘Can’t believe the numbers – but 40 years ago this sum-mer Bob Downes hitched out to the Dolomites where Ijoined him at Canazei. We had a variety of ambitionsincluding the South Wall of the Marmolada (neither of ushad climbed anything particularly hard up to then). Firstwe camped up near the Sella Towers where – if my

memory serves me correctly – we were rained off on threesuccessive days. We then walked over the pass betweenthe Cirque Dita (Funffingerspitze) and the Sassolungo(Langkoffel) to the Rifugio Vicenza, from which we had asatisfying but scary ascent of the Thumb (Il Pollice) ofthe Cirque Dita (Scree slopes at the top of the cliffs, andmiscellaneous loose rocks around the summit were a newexperience!) then a carry or trudge round and over intoRosengarten, in rain and mist, only to be defeated by badweather again, before returning to the starting point inCanazei. We decided to give it another last (for Bob)chance, by heading up to the hut for the Marmolada.There, however, (about this time in July) we woke up tofind about four inches of snow! Understandably Bob hadhad enough by then; good friends were busy in Scotland,so he headed off back there, where he really got going asa rock-climber. I stayed on a bit longer and got three goodclimbs, including one of our chief ambitions, the VajoletTowers.

Hut CustodiansE D G Langmuir 1960 -1963P E Evans 1963-1968D K Morrison 1968-1976T C Chatterley 1975-1981R J Treglown 1981-1984K Sanders 1984-D Ibbotson 1984-

I am much indebted to John Peacock who helped meby supplying a wealth of his personal reminisces much ofwhich I have been unable to use due to a lack of spacehere and to Eric Langmuir who kindly gave permission touse previously unpublished pictures from his private col-lection. Thanks also to Derek Walker who added back-ground information and helped me get the facts in theright order. I hope to use the information John and AlanBlackshaw gave me in a more complete article later.Ian Wall

The official opening of the R O Downes Memorial Hut with Veronica(Ronnie) Phillips, Frank Fitzgerald, Mrs Downes (Bob’s Mum), Geoff Suttonand A B Hargreaves. Centenary CCJ Harry Pretty collection

The living room in the R O Downes. Ian Wall collection