Tony Smythe

The Club is sorry to hear of the death of Tony Smythe who was a member of the CC back in the 1960s. He was known for being the son of Frank Smythe, the noted Himalayan mountaineer, but probably better known for being the co-author of ‘Rock Climbers in Action in Snowdonia’ with CC member John Cleare. This rapidly became probably the first ‘tick list’ book for climbers and maybe it inspired Ken Wilson (with whom Tony worked on a collection of Frank Smythe’s books) to produce Hard Rock. His early career was in the RAF, flying Canberra and Javelin jets. He was a powerful mountaineer and a member of the ACG, climbing in the Alps, Eastern Europe and Russia, Canada and Alaska, the Himalayas and South America. In later life he completed the Munros and was a paraglider and mountain biker.

His funeral will take place in Kendal on March 24th. Details later.