Richard Gilbert ( 1937-2018 )
Roly Smith remembers a true gentleman of the mountains
R
ichard Gilbert will always be remembered in the
outdoor world for his immense contribution to
the groundbreaking and best-selling series The
Big Walks, Classic Walks and Wild Walks, all of which were
published by his long-time friend and collaborator,
the late Ken Wilson of Diadem Books. He also wrote
Memorable Monros, a diary of ascents of the highest
hills in Scotland (Diadem, 1983), and Exploring the Far
North West of Scotland (Menasha Ridge Press, 1994),
which won the Guidebook Award in the OWPG’s
Awards for Excellence in 1995. He also wrote the semi-
autobiographical Lonely Hills & Wilderness Trails (David
& Charles, 2000).
Richard was born in Lancaster in 1937 and read
chemistry at Worcester College, Oxford, where
he became president of the Oxford University
Mountaineering Club. After working in the chemical
industry for a short time, he became a chemistry
teacher at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire where
he introduced many pupils to rock climbing at places
like Peak Scar and Whitestone Cliff . Richard lived at
12 Outdoor focus | spring 2018
Crayke, near York, with his wife Trisha, and their four
children.
A specialist in the North West Highlands of Scotland,
which he regularly visited for over half a century,
he described the area’s unique combination of sea
and mountain wilderness as “quite simply, the most
exquisitely beautiful corner of Britain.” He contributed
masterful essays on Suilven, An Teallach, Ben Mor
Coigach, Cape Wrath and Sandwood Bay and Handa
Island to the Guild’s 1998 anthology, A Sense of Place,
which I edited. Richard was the 100th person to climb
all the Munros, and was a past winner of the Welsh
1,000-metre Peaks Race.
He continued to visit the North West in his later
years, despite debilitating kidney disease which
required him to have to arrange daily dialysis treatment
at local hospitals, where he could receive the essential
regular treatment.
I’ll always remember him as a fi ne mountaineer
and a true gentleman. He’ll be sadly missed but always
remembered in the outdoor world.