Walter Richardson
1934 - 2002

Index Page - Gallery 1 - Gallery 2 - Gallery 3

If there's something you want to add then let me know m.richardson@derby.ac.uk

Early in 2002 Walter started a hand-written account of his climbing:

I started mountaineering on a school holiday in Wales, Snowdonia, that was in 1947 June. The first climb was 'Moel Siabod' a round top mountain, I remember the mist came down and we had to take a compass bearing.

Halfway up Snowdon

Then there was Snowdon, a three hour climb, short trousers a cap, and ordinary walking shoes. It was this journey that started it all, making me think about the big rock faces all around me.


Not until nearly a year later did I visit Wales again, only this time on my own. My time was spent making myself familiar with the area on a map, Ogwen Valley my first rock climb. Idwal Slabs where many young persons climbed, the Ordinary Route up the centre of the face, easy, good holds which led up to a traverse about 200ft then a steep wall above. I had a pair of boots by now with climber nails in. My memory of that day was that the boots must come off in order for me to climb the wall above me, so up I went with boots around my neck, this was hard and took me quite sometime. On descending to the valley I looked up to where I'd been, I couldn't believe it.

In time I progressed to climbing harder things after being introduced by Paul Gardiner to Dave Penlington, a man that rode big motorbikes and climbed the hard stuff. We got on well, although he didn't say much, as time went by things improved, which meant together we did some good climbs.

I was called to do National Service in the army. My first posting was to Germany, a place called "Lipstat". It was at weekends that we visited Winterberg, a ski resort. In the meantime my regiment was to be disbanded and I was posted to Hong-Kong far east. My first few weeks in Hong-Kong was spent in hospital with appendicitis then on convalescing at Freshwater Bay on Hong Kong island.


Later my leave time was walking in the New Territories up country. I climbed on Lion Rock, Tamo Shan and many other mountains in the area it was hot with temperatures mainly in the nineties. After seventeen months I returned home for holiday, this I took in the French Alps at Chamonix, the weather most of the time was good, there were off days.


From notes in Walter's Llanberis guide books:

1949 - Spiral Stairs, Flying Buttress, Delphos with Dave Penlington.
1950 - Hazel Groove, Long Tree Gate, Scamblers Gate, Parsons Nose Direct and Great Slab.
1954 - Diagonal Route.
1955 - Lorraine, Westrib (6th April), Western Slabs.
1956 - Parchment Passage, Holly Buttress, Spiral Stairs, Crackstone Rib, Kaisergebirge Wall.
1957 - Spiral Stairs, The Wrinkle, The Unicorn, The Lion, Crackstone Rib, Phanton Rib, Nea, Brant with Brian Richards.
1958 - Pharoahs Wall with Brian Richards, Dives Routs (8th April), Sabre Cut, The Nose (7th April)
1960 - Longlands Climb
1962 - Lorraine, Direct Route (July) with Brian Richards.
1968 - The Wrinkle, Main Scoop Route, Delphos, Hazel Groove, Nea, Babel, Ledge Way, Main Wall Climb, The Gambit Climb, The Ring, Rectory Chimneys, Crib Goch Buttress Reade's Route, Pedestal Crack, Great Slab with Brian Richards.
Cornwall 1959