In reply to Rog Wilko:
Thanks for posting this sad news Rog. It was my privilege to spend a couple of weeks in the Alps with Dave, almost 20 years ago, when I was an aspirant mountain guide. His passion for the mountains, understated experience and competence, and his contribution to the social cohesion of the group were everything his friends would recognise of this gentle mountain man.
Led by BMG Graham McMahon our Jagged Globe group traversed the summer Haute Route, from Chamonix to Zermatt. We climbed the Pigne d’Arolla 3796m from the Vignettes and had a day marooned in the Cabane de Bertol, by bad weather. Dave kept us entertained, with a guitar plucked off the wall. We were rewarded the following day with a blue sky, descending the Schonbiel glacier below the mighty Matterhorn.
On returning to Chamonix our Mont Blanc intentions were thwarted by the weather. The sunny side alternative of the Gran Paradiso 4061m, on a rope shared with Dave, was as fine a mountain day as we could wish for.
Jamie