The Salopian no. 157 - Winter 2015

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SCHOOL NEWS
Relaunch of the Rovers
In May 2013, when we proudly reported the news that Adam Booth (PH 1995-2000) had reached
the top of Mount Everest, Adam responded by thanking the members of staff who led the Rovers, the
School’s mountaineering and adventuring club, for ‘lighting the flame’. On 3rd November, we were
delighted to welcome Adam back to Shrewsbury to kindle that flame in a new generation of Salopians,
as the historic Rovers - first formed in 1934 - was officially relaunched to the whole School.
the 1953 Expedition, who formed the
first summit pair with Tom Bourdillon.
They got to within 300 feet of the
summit of Everest before faulty oxygen
equipment forced them to withdraw. A
few days later, second pair Hillary and
Tenzing made history.
Martin Hansen and Adam Booth
Adam recalled his own sense of
excitement when, at the age of
15, he attended a similar relaunch
of the Rovers. Inspired by Master-in-
Charge Mr Hansen’s vivid descriptions
of climbing Ben Nevis, he signed up
immediately for the Rovers and spent
the next few months learning the
basics of climbing and mountain safety,
leading up to his first Rovers Expedition
– the climbing of the Three Peaks,
Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon.
A new and life-changing passion had
been born.
Further trips followed during what
became one of the golden period
for the Rovers, travelling to remote
locations to take on challenging
mountains, typically camping at a
high altitude on the way to a summit.
They scaled the highest mountain in
the Picos De Europa, Spain and the
following year climbed Galdhøpiggen,
the highest mountain in Norway.
In 2013, Adam climbed Mount Everest,
reaching the summit on 13th May, sixty
years almost to the day after the first
successful ascent by Sir Edmund Hillary
and Tenzing Norgay. On hearing the
news, Mr Hansen expressed the utter
delight and pride of the staff who had
been part of the Rovers. “The news
that he’s summitted Everest has quite
stunned us. The pupil has certainly
exceeded the Master.” At the Rovers
relaunch on Monday, Adam paid
special tribute to Mr Hansen, who
still teaches at the School, for the role
he and the Rovers had played in first
inspiring him with a love of mountains
and mountaineering.
Some of Adam’s inspiration has also
come from two Old Salopians: Sandy
Irvine (S 1916-21), who famously took
part in the 1924 Everest Expedition with
George Mallory; and Sir Charles Evans
(DB 1932-37), Deputy Leader of
Adam spoke of his sense of
connection with those other Old
Salopians and their experiences on
Everest, and in a few brief sentences
and images he was able to convey
something of the scale of their
achievements. He spoke about his
own experiences entirely modestly,
however. So it was perhaps not
until the end of his talk, when he
showed a five-minute film of his final
gruelling hours of climbing Everest
and euphoric arrival on the roof of
the world, that his audience caught a
proper sense of the sheer enormity of
his own achievement.
Current Salopians keen to follow
in Adam’s footsteps and join the
relaunched Rovers have some exciting
expeditions to choose from later this
year, including an introduction to winter
mountaineering in the Cairngorm
Mountains during February half term for
Fifth and Sixth Formers; a Junior Rovers
Adventure in North Wales for Third and
Fourth Formers in March; and an 11-day
expedition in July called ‘Land, Sea and
Skye’ - sailing, hillwalking, mountain
biking and climbing in the Cuillin
Mountains on Skye.
Annabel Warburg