Issue 28 September 2005
OTHER NEWSRob MilneAn Appreciation by Rab Anderson On 5 June 2005 Rob Milne (48) suddenly collapsed and died of a heart attack on the way to the summit of Everest, just below the Balcony some 400m short of the summit. This was to be his final peak in his quest to climb the Seven Summits, the highest peak on each of the seven continents. Rob was born in Montana and moved to Colorado at an early age where he started to climb. He quickly progressed to the big mountains where in 1975 he made the first ascent of the North-East Ridge of Mount Vancouver in the Yukon and a few years later he visited the Kitchatna Spires in Alaska and made some fine ascents. It was around 1979 when he came to Edinburgh to complete a PhD in Artificial Intelligence that I first met Rob, where he was gaining a reputation as an ice climber with a string of good ascents on The Ben. Rob certainly found the Scottish winter scene to his liking. Our first route together in January 1980 was White Elephant (VII 6) on Creag an Dubh Loch. This was quickly followed by Outgrabe Route (V,5) in Glen Coe and the tone was set for many years to follow. It was whilst we were doing a new route up on the Diamond Buttress of Bidean nam Bian this year that Rob proudly announced that we had climbed 100 winter routes together. Amongst our significant ascents were the West Buttress Direttissima (VII,8) on Beinn Eighe, Inclination (VII,8) and Ravens Edge complete (VII,7) in Glen Coe and the opening up of the Southern Highlands with Deadman's Groove (VII,7) on the Cobbler. In the Cairngorms classics such as Deep Throat (V,6) and The Hoarmaster (V,6) were established. We also made a number of significant repeats in the Cairngorms such as The Migrant (VI,7) and Postern (VI,6). My enthusiasm for the rigours of Scottish winter climbing was not quite of the same magnitude as Rob's and therefore I was choosy about when I went out. Not so Rob, for he just wanted to climb and as a result there are many others who enjoyed his company on the hills. When the conditions were not good for climbing he would go off hill walking. There was no doubting his boundless energy and enthusiasm for the Scottish hills. In 1980 he also climbed Denali and the North Face of the Eiger, together with more routes in Scotland but his PhD had been paid for by the US Military, so he moved back to the States and gave them back the years they gave him. This reduced his climbing somewhat but he still managed to keep active and in fact was part of a top American team including Galen Rowel and Andy Embick, which opened everyone's eyes to the potential of Karakorum granite with the first ascent of the beautiful Lukpilla Brakk spire. This was when he scored his full gore-tex shell suit from the US military, which he proudly wore around the Scottish hills for many years. The only problem was that it was camouflaged - fortunately not in white! Rob became the Chief Artificial Intelligence Scientist at the Pentagon but his sights were firmly set on returning to Scotland, which he did, to establish a highly successful business in Livingston, Intelligent Applications. Rob became one of the leaders in the artificial intelligence and software engineering fields, gaining a string of recognitions and awards. He regularly travelled the globe on business and no matter where he went he would always manage to squeeze in some climbing. It was on such a trip that he climbed Mount Kosciuszko in Australia, one of the peaks that he climbed as part of the Seven Summits objective. There is some debate as to whether Carstenz Pyramid, on which he climbed a new route with Steve Sustad, is in Australasia, or not, so he climbed them both. The other peaks were Acongagua, Elbruz, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Denali. Rob was a member of the American Alpine Club, the Alpine Club and more importantly the Scottish Mountaineering Club. Rob's business and IT skills, together with his love of the Scottish Hills stood him in good stead when he took on the role of Convenor for the SMC's Publications Sub Committee. He also took on the role of Editor of the Club's hill walking guides and was behind the latest edition of the Corbetts guide and CD Rom, together with the most recent and highly acclaimed North-West Highlands 'District Guide'. One of the last times I saw Rob, he was drunk. Not just on alcohol, although there had been a lot of that, but on success. It was the end of the International Winter Climbing Meet at Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms and they were having a party. It had been a great week and a lot of climbing was done. Rob was one of the host climbers. In fact Rob had acted as a host on all of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and British Mountaineering Council International Winter Climbing meets. I am sure that some of the International climbers must have found it a little strange to see that one of their hosts was a smooth shaved American, rather than a bearded and kilted Scotsman. It would not have taken them long to realise that Rob was no ordinary American for he was a local with a great knowledge and understanding of the Scottish Hills and a temperament ideally suited to the task in hand. In addition to his mountaineering and winter climbing exploits Rob was an avid hill walker and having climbed all 284 Munros and their associated tops he was set to complete the 219 Corbetts and the 89 Donalds in the same year that he completed the Seven Summits. Sadly this was not to be. Rob leaves a wife and two children. He was a true Scottish Mountaineer and will be missed by many. |
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