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to be fully developed. To reach the base of the biggest mountains took weeks not
hours. Would Alex have been like Ueli Steck had he lived today? Possibly. The only
certainty is that the best mountaineers of any age would always agree that 'when
the chance is there, take it.'
Alex had a nickname in university - Dirty Alex. It was not entirely fair. We were
all a pretty grubby bunch, but it stuck. His dishevelled appearance contrasted
sharply with his bold good looks, constructed around inquisitive, intelligent and
somewhat mocking eyes. He was certainly not, as has been suggested, a product of
the flower power generation. Like many sportsmen of the 1970s, Alex styled his
appearance with a mix of punk and glam rock. His appearance was both a state-
ment and a challenge to draw out any ambivalence others might have from first
impressions. Like most climbers in the 1970s, he smoked pot occasionally and
used to joke that drinking was good 'brain training' for the Himalaya. But Alex was
not a late-night boozer like many leading stars of those days, including the mercur-
ial genius John Syrett and the American Henry Barber, who enjoyed legendary pub
crawls.
Alex's vision of the possible was backed up with an unnerving intellect and a
wicked perversity to provoke and toy with other people's emotions. He was also a
pragmatist. His approach to lightweight alpinism was well thought through; his as-
pirations were matched by his own designs for equipment that was often deve-
loped.
'Alex was in many ways unique,' said Maria Coffey, the author of
Fragile Edge
and other topics about the psychological and emotional implications of climbing.
'He stood out from everyone else. He definitely had a glimmer.' Maria knew Alex
as well as anyone, having been his landlady for a year and a half while she was
teaching in Manchester and Alex was working for the British Mountaineering
Council. After Alex's death, Maria said those climbers who knew of her friendship
with Alex would often ask about him. 'Mark Twight and Tomaz Humar were in
awe of him. His uniqueness sprang from his karma and charisma, generated from
a sense of purpose, not just ambition.'
I climbed with Humar a few times at Paklenica on the Dalmatian coast of Croa-
tia. Alex was indeed one of his heroes. Tomaz was like Alex in many ways, enthusi-
astic, bold and brash and scoffed when warned he might share the same fate. To-
maz, like many climbers, had a spiritual connection with the mountains. For To-
maz, it was manifested through his Catholic faith and the mystical connection of
his nation, Slovenia, to its highest mountain - Triglav - on which it was founded.
In Alex, it was harder to detect but it was there. Alex had a true love for the moun-
