Sad news today that veteran UK mountaineer,
conservationist, writer,educationalist and access champion Alan Blackshaw has died aged 78.
The diplomatic figure of Alan Blackshaw was a familiar sight in UIAA meetings since he joined the Mountaineering Commission in 1985 and became its President (1991-97). During that period Blackshaw was involved in the introduction of competition climbing and ski mountaineering competitions into the UIAA, reviewing competitions at high-altitude, revising the standard for the guidebook label, introducing model standards for instructor training, and setting up working groups to advise on sustainable mountain tourism, access and conservation, and legal liability.
Under his leadership, the Mountaineering Commission proposed the UIAA Summit Charter for the International Year of Mountains (IYM) 2002, during which two key seminars were organised by UIAA colleagues in Trento and Flagstaff. At the Trento seminar, Blackshaw presented his keynote paper ‘Human Rights and Access Freedoms: is Nature the Missing Link?’ In 1996 he became a member of the United Nations (UN) Inter-Agency Group on mountains, and Vice-Chair of the Inter-Governmental Conference on Sustainable Mountain Development. From here he went on to become the UIAA Special Representative to the UN International Partnership that was launched during the IYM2002 with the support of UIAA.
His career started in the Royal Marine Commando (cliff assault and mountain warfare) but was spent mostly in Government service. This included a senior position in the UK delegation to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), acting as the Principal Private Secretary to three Ministers of Power, and other senior postings connected to coal, North Sea oil, and manufacturing of iron and steel.
Like many involved in UIAA, he made significant contributions to his national mountaineering federation. In Blackshaw’s case, this also includes skiing and national sport and environment bodies. Highlights of his service include: Editor of the Alpine Journal (1966-70), President of the British Mountaineering Council (1973-76), Chair British Ski Federation (1985-88), Chair Plas y Brenin the national mountaineering centre (1985-97), Board member Scottish Sports Council (1990-95), Chair Scottish National Ski Council (1991-94), Board member Scottish Natural Heritage (1991-97) and Chair of the Access Task Force, President Scottish National Ski Council (1994-00), President Ski Club of Great Britain (1997-03), Board member Cairngorms Partnership (1998-) and Chair of the Recreation Forum, and President the Alpine Club (2001-04). Blackshaw also made a very significant contribution to new access legislation in Britain, and was called as a witness to the Scottish Parliament on public access to land, for the Land Reform (Scotland) Act, 2003.
Blackshaw was born in Liverpool in 1933 and studied modern history at Wadham College, Oxford. In the 1950’s he made significant climbs in the Alps including NE Face Piz Badile, N Face Triolet, and S Face Pointe Gugliermina. In 1966, he wrote the classic Penguin handbook ‘Mountaineering: from hillwalking to alpine climbing’. In 1972, he made a continuous ski traverse of the Alps (Kaprun-Gap) and over a series of visits between 1973 and 78 he skied Scandinavia end-to-end (Lakselv-Adneram). He also went on expeditions to the Caucasus, Greenland and Garwhal.
Born:Liverpool,England-7 April 1933: Died Scotland- 5 August 2011
Education: Merchant Taylors' School, Crosby (Foundation Scholar), 1944-51; Wadham College, Oxford (Open Scholar), 1951-54 (Modern History).
Family: Wife (Dr Elspeth), 1 son + 2 daughters; 1 daughter by previous marriage
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