Right now it is Richie's funeral in Mumbai. I can only think of Richie while thinking of cacti. Armed with his blunt penknife, we gamely hacked through cacti together, searching for a descent route at the top of a pinnacle we climbed together last year in the Sahyadris. One of my favourite climbing tales. Climbers visiting Mumbai may have had the opportunity to meet him, as he was an energetic and much-loved part of the Mumbai climbing community. He died as a result of a fall while in descent in the Himalayan Miyar Valley. The precise details of what went wrong have not yet been made known. My thoughts are with his family, brave climbing partner Sunny, and the Mumbai climbing community.
