Quick Facts
Biography
Brian Pinder Kellett (15 May 1914 – September 1944) was a British rock climber.
Life
Brian Kellett was born in 1914 in Weymouth, Dorset in South-West England. He was the son of Lt. Richard Pinder Kellett, whom he never knew: Kellett senior was killed commanding HMS Flirt in the battle of Dover (1916). Kellett himself died with Nancy Forsyth in Castle Corrie on Ben Nevis during the first weekend in September 1944 - the exact date is not known. He is buried in Glen Nevis.
Education and career
Kellett was educated at public schools in south-west England where he gained a reputation as a "perfect all-round sportsman", playing on the cricket and rugby teams and also representing them at boxing (oddly, given his subsequent pacifism). He was a strong chess player and his analytic mind led him initially to qualify in accountancy, but he left the profession in favour of physically demanding forestry work in Ennerdale in Cumbria where he began to climb more seriously than on his early forays on the Tors of Dartmoor. With the coming of the second world war Kellett refused to serve on grounds of conscience and was interned for two years. He eventually proposed serving with the forestry on Skye where he could climb on the magnificent Cuillin ridge, but was posted at Torlundy instead. Kellett was by all accounts industrious - "born to work the land", in the words of a co-worker - and now he could climb again, too: Torlundy is seven kilometres north of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK.
Climbing
The north-east face of Ben Nevis is a two-kilometre-long meandering cliff whose most prominent features are Tower Ridge and Carn Dearg Buttress. The corrie between these (Coire na Ciste) is divided at the back by three major gullies, numbered Two, Three and Four. When Kellett arrived at the face in 1942, Number Two Gully had yet to receive a summer ascent, having defeated both Harold Raeburn ("doyen of Scottish mountaineers") and G. Graham Macphee, editor of the 1936 climber's guide. Kellett led the first ascent on 30 August with J. A. Dunster, who at one point was forced to shelter off-rope from screes loosed by Kellett above him; sixty years later, the 2002 climber's guide still warns that "in summer the gully has a fierce reputation and is best avoided" (its grade is VS). Nevertheless, Kellett's achievement in 1942 was soon to be surpassed by his relentless attention to the face over the following two years.
First ascents
Kellett left an "unprecedented" legacy of new routes and variations on Ben Nevis in the summers of 1943 and 1944 (page references are to the SMC's 2002 Climbers' Guide, edited by Simon Richardson):
| Date | Ref | Added | To (vars) | Route (or variation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 May | p59 | 35m HSev | 185m Sev | Main Overhang variation: Bayonet Route to First Platform, Northeast Buttress |
| 29 May | p104 | 125m Diff | Lower East Wall Route, Tower Ridge East Face | |
| 9 June | p180 | 235m Sev | Route II, Carn Dearg Buttress (with W. A. (Arnot) Russell) | |
| 19 June | p116 | 55m VDiff | 125m Diff | Left-Hand Chimney variation: 1931 Route, Secondary Tower Ridge |
| 2 July | p197 | 100m Sev | Route A, Carn Dearg North Wall (now Kellett's North Wall Route) | |
| 10 July | p158 | 15m VDiff | 120m Diff | Tower finish: Central Rib, Creag Coire na Ciste |
| 18 July | p138 | 45m Sev | 250m VDiff | Central Wall variation: Tower Face of the Comb |
| 24 July | p118 | 180m Sev | Italian Climb, Tower Ridge West Face | |
| 24 July | p120 | 200m Easy | Broad Gully, Tower Ridge West Face | |
| 25 July | p171 | 150m VDiff | Right-Hand Chimney, Moonlight Gully Buttress (with G. (Gordon) Scott and E. M. Hanlon) | |
| 25 July | p162 | 75m VDiff | The Groove Climb, South Trident Buttress | |
| 25 July | pN/A | c.100m | 1943 Route, South Trident Buttress (not in 2002 guide, but in 1954) | |
| ?? July | p134 | 140m VDiff | Comb Gully Buttress | |
| 1 August | p91 | 45m Sev | 110m VDiff | Direct variation: Indicator Wall |
| 10 August | p197 | 30m | Flake Chimney: Carn Dearg North Wall (now Kellett's North Wall Route) | |
| 11 August | p197 | 50m | Route B: Carn Dearg North Wall (with J. H. B. Bell and M. M. ("Nancy") Forsyth) | |
| ?? August | p70 | 90m Diff | V-Traverse continuation from The Basin (North-East Buttress) to Observatory Ridge | |
| ?? August? | p197 | 20m | 50m | Route B Direct start: Carn Dearg North Wall |
| Date | Ref | Added | To (vars) | Route (or variation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 June | p73 | 45m VSev | 420m VSev | Beta Direct variation: The Long Climb |
| 20 June | p65 | 275m VSev | Left-Hand Route, Minus Two Buttress (with R. L. and C. M. Plackett) | |
| 21 June | p109 | 215m Diff | Left-Hand Chimney, Douglas Boulder | |
| 22 June | p194 | 55m Sev | 215m VDiff | Straight Chimney variation: Staircase Climb (with R. L. and C. M. Plackett) |
| 22 June | p194 | 40m Diff | 215m VDiff | Deep Chimney variation: Staircase Climb (with R. L. and C. M. Plackett) |
| 8 July | p80 | 325m VDiff | West Face Lower Route, Observatory Ridge | |
| 16 July | p100 | 30m Mod | Tower Face Crack, Gardyloo Buttress | |
| 18 July | p109 | 150m Sev | Right-Hand Chimney, Douglas Boulder | |
| 20 July | p66 | 275m VSev | Right-Hand Route, Minus Two Buttress | |
| 22 July | p99 | 140m HVSev | Kellett's Route, Gardyloo Buttress | |
| 30 July | p161 | 125m Sev | 1944 Route: lower tier, South Trident Buttress | |
| 30 July | p162 | 90m Sev | The Slab Climb: middle tier, South Trident Buttress | |
| 20 August | p200 | c.30m Sev | 275m VDiff | Direct start: Cousin's Buttress, Castle Corrie (shortened route by 15m) |
Commemoration
His sister Lorna commissioned a memorial to Kellett and his father in Glen Nevis.