Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ativity to the job at a turning point in British mountaineering when politicians
were considering tampering with the basic freedoms of the sport.
Alex's tenure began with a visit from the past. On his first day at the office, Alex's
past at Leeds University came to haunt him. Dennis Gray opened a letter from the
new president of the Leeds University Climbing Club. They were applying for affili-
ation to the BMC.
'Here Alex,' he said, 'this is clearly right up your street. Respond to this letter and
welcome them into the fold.'
It was only three years since Alex's famous treasurer's report to the club, and
only a year since Alex had been its vice-president, but a new regime was now run-
ning the club, and it was very different to the old one. The university had given
club officials one last chance to put right our legacy of chaotic finances, no written
records and an empty storeroom. They needed to convince the student union that
LUCC was still worthy of grant support and should remain as a registered bona
fide organisation supported on campus. We had gone through the same trauma
every year but the new officers had clearly decided they needed a new image.
They renounced all previous anti-BMC sentiments expressed by the club in our
various Leeds journals and were instead anxious to become fully paid-up affiliated
members. It might have been a moment of acute embarrassment, but not for Alex.
He wrote back to the new club president explaining that now Leeds University
Climbing Club had taken over the BMC, he was perfectly happy to accept their
cheque.
Even so, Alex took a big risk with his image when he joined the BMC. It was a
risk he willingly took on, because it meant he had moved into the ranks of profes-
sional climbers. He had no plans to make the BMC a career. He knew that Board-
man had left in part because of the compromises he had to make between his im-
age as a climber and his job as an official spokesman for the sport. But it was for
both men an important stepping-stone.
A spoof entry in the gear section of Climber and Rambler from March 1978 gives
a flavour of the scepticism in the climbing community at Alex's appointment.
Under a photo of Alex captioned 'joining the professionals', the magazine satirised
him thus: 'Not the old style as recommended by the BMC, but the Pro model which
comes a little dearer than before. No better on rock, but expected to continue to go
well in the big hills … Could this be the start of lesser-performing imitators turning
professional and hoping to reach star status?'
The quip about 'lesser-performing imitators' makes you wonder what you had to
do not to be seen as a pretender to the alpine-style crown - and he already had
star status. His job would also have little to do with climbing status. A huge expan-
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