Brian Pinder Kellett
Brian Pinder Kellett 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.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. 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 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 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". 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 :| Date | Ref | Added | To | Route |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 25 July | p162 | 75m VDiff | The Groove Climb, South Trident Buttress | |
| 25 July | pN/A | c.100m | 1943 Route, South Trident Buttress | |
| ?? 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 | |
| 11 August | p197 | 50m | Route B: Carn Dearg North Wall | |
| ?? August | p70 | 90m Diff | V-Traverse continuation from The Basin to Observatory Ridge | |
| ?? August? | p197 | 20m | 50m | Route B Direct start: Carn Dearg North Wall |