1934–2018

Brian Greenwood

Brian Greenwood died on April 6, 2018, at the end of a good life. He was born in 1934 in Hebden Bridge, a steep-hilled woolen mill town in the Pennines of West Yorkshire, U.K.

Brian immigrated to Canada in 1956 and settled in Calgary because it was close to the Rockies. Within a year, he was doing serious climbs, and over an 18 year career, his record of f irst ascents, establishment of new routes, first ascents on hard north faces and winter ascents and traverses was remarkable. He was instrumental i n establishing the Calgary Mountain Club, the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides, and in 1965 he organized and instructed the first guide’s course in Canada.

In his 40s he moved to Golden, B.C., where we met. I was the community librarian. In 1980, we started our life together, and moved to Duncan on Vancouver Island, where he transitioned from climbing to sailing and spent the next 10 years up and down the inside waters, often single-handing in his 27- foot sloop. At home, he dug a basement under our hillside cottage with a shovel and wheelbarrow. He built dry stone walls, and granite terraces and rock stairways. When his sailing days were over, he started cycling and continued with the sport into his 80s. He loved to garden, and he grew the best strawberries in the whole world. I will miss him forever, but in his journey toward death, he always said he would die with gratitude for the good life he had had. He felt fortunate for the enduring friendships with fellow climbers. He will be missed by his daughter Arwen, named for the Princess in She was the apple of his eye. He was so proud of his sons, all good men, all loved: Robin, Brandy and Dorn. There was no service, but please raise a glass in memory of Brian. He went “gentle into that good night.”—