After the war, Bates returned to teaching at Phillips Exeter, continuing to travel and climb. In 1954, he married Gail Oberlin, a former staff member of the American Alpine Club and avid traveler, who survives him. Together, during the 1962-1963 academic year, they lived in Kathmandu, Nepal, where Bates had been recruited by Sargent Shriver to be director of the first group of Peace Corps volunteers. One outcome of this experience was for Bates and his wife to bring a Tibetan refugee from Lhasa to study at the University of New Hampshire, a young woman who became a member of his extended family. After returning to their home in Exeter, Bates continued to welcome countless students, climbers, Peace Corps volunteers and friends from around the world, always imbuing them with a sense of excitement about the possibilities in life and the belief that they could accomplish whatever they set out to do.
Robert Hicks Bates, first Peace Corps country director in Nepal
Robert Hicks Bates
Born in Philadelphia, PA. on Jan. 14, 1911
Departed on Sep. 13, 2007 and resided in Exeter, NH.
ROBERT H. BATES
Robert H. Bates, teacher, author, mountaineer and first Peace Corps Director in Nepal, died on Thursday, September 13, in Exeter, New Hampshire. He was 96.
As an instructor in English at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH, from 1939 to 1976, Bates encouraged and inspired countless students with his warmth, energy and optimism. In addition to teaching in the classroom, he introduced many students to rock-climbing and winter survival in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, sharing his great enthusiasm for the outdoors.
Well-known among mountain climbers as climbing partner with Charles Houston on two early expeditions in 1938 and 1953 on K2, the second highest mountain in the world, Bates climbed during the “golden age of mountaineering,” a time when few of the world’s highest peaks had been reached. The 1938 team trekked more than 350 miles to the base of the mountain, ferried supplies to eight high camps, and reconnoitered several possible summit routes. They reached a height of 26, 000 feet before limited supplies forced the team to turn back. In 1953, a massive storm forced the expedition team of eight climbers to descend, attempting to save the life of a seriously ill team member. A fall by one climber at 25, 000 feet resulted in a tangle of ropes and bodies as each pair of roped climbers fell in turn, all miraculously held by one climber in what has come to be described as the most famous belay in mountaineering history. Accounts of these climbs were published as Five Miles High (1939), edited by Bates, and K2: The Savage Mountain (1954), co-authored by Bates and Houston.
Robert Hicks Bates was born on January 14, 1911, in Philadelphia, PA. He absorbed from his parents an early fascination for exploration, an interest in other cultures and a love of reading that lasted throughout his life. His father, William N. Bates, was a distinguished classical scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. Both he and Bates’s mother, Edith N. Richardson, were descendants of Minutemen from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who were killed on the first day of the Revolution. Bates attended the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia before graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1929. He earned both an undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in 1933 and a master’s degree in 1935 from Harvard University. Interrupted by World War II, Bates earned his Ph.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1947 under the GI Bill. His thesis on the literature of the mountains was published under the title Mystery, Beauty, and Danger (2000).
Early in his career at Harvard, Bates made friends in the Harvard Mountaineering Club who became known as the “Harvard Five” – Bradford Washburn, Adams Carter, Charles Houston, Terris Moore and Bates – climbers who dominated American climbing for many years. With Washburn, who became a renowned cartographer and director of the Museum of Science in Boston, Bates explored some of the largest unmapped areas of North America in Alaska and the Yukon territory, making several first ascents between 1932 and 1942. The story of their incredible survival, after walking close to 100 miles across remote crevasse-filled glaciers in the Yukon and summiting both Mt. Lucania, then the highest unclimbed peak in North America, and Mt. Steele, is told by David Roberts in Escape from Lucania (2002).
By the time the United States entered World War II, Bates had had considerable experience with the limitations of the cold-weather clothing, boots and equipment available at the time. He entered the U.S. Army in 1941 and was assigned to the Office of the Quartermaster General as a captain in charge of testing clothing and equipment for use by the army’s mountain troops. He coordinated the successful third ascent of Mt. McKinley in 1942 as part of the Army’s Alaska Test Expedition, a test of army clothing and equipment conducted jointly with the American Alpine Club. For further testing in combat and for training mountain troops in effective protection in cold weather, Bates was sent to Anzio, Italy, in 1944. His work there resulted in significant decreases in casualties from frostbite and trench foot. He was discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant colonel, having been awarded a Legion of Merit and a Bronze Star.
After the war, Bates returned to teaching at Phillips Exeter, continuing to travel and climb. In 1954, he married Gail Oberlin, a former staff member of the American Alpine Club and avid traveler, who survives him. Together, during the 1962-1963 academic year, they lived in Kathmandu, Nepal, where Bates had been recruited by Sargent Shriver to be director of the first group of Peace Corps volunteers. One outcome of this experience was for Bates and his wife to bring a Tibetan refugee from Lhasa to study at the University of New Hampshire, a young woman who became a member of his extended family. After returning to their home in Exeter, Bates continued to welcome countless students, climbers, Peace Corps volunteers and friends from around the world, always imbuing them with a sense of excitement about the possibilities in life and the belief that they could accomplish whatever they set out to do.
Remaining active after his retirement from teaching, Bates, in 1985 at age 74, led with Nicholas Clinch the first joint Chinese-American climbing expedition to Ulugh Muztagh, the so-called “great ice mountain,” a previously unclimbed peak in remote south-central China. Bates recounted the experience in his autobiography The Love of Mountains Is Best (1994).
Besides his mountaineering interests, as a past president of the American Alpine Club and an honorary member of the 10th Mountain Division, Bates was also very involved in civic affairs in the town of Exeter. The preservation of the Dudley House in its present location in the center of town and the adjacent “Town Common” owe a great deal to his efforts as does the historical integrity of Water Street. He was an active member of the Exeter Historical Society, chairman of the Historic District Commission, and, as a committed outdoorsman, worked with conservation organizations to save the open land surrounding Exeter. Always engaged with other people, Bates was modest about his own accomplishments. He often dismissed admiring comments such as “You’ve had such an amazing life!” with a smile and the simple reply, “I’ve had an interesting one.”
In addition to his wife, survivors also include two nieces, Edith B. Buchanan of Denver, Colorado, and Elizabeth T. Bates of Philadelphia, PA, three great-nieces, two great-nephews, two great-great-nephews and Tsering Yangdon and her son Nima Taylor. His brother, William N. Bates, Jr., predeceased him. Contributions in his memory may be made to the Nature Conservancy and the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire. A memorial service will be held at a future date. Burial will be held at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA. Brewitt Funeral Home, Exeter, NH is handling arrangements. To sign an on-line guest book, please visit www.brewittfuneralhome.com
Brewitt FH-603-772-3554
ROBERT H. BATES
Born: January 14, 1911
Parents: William Nickerson Bates and Edith Newell
Richardson
Married: June 18, 1954, to Gail Oberlin in Cleveland,
Ohio
Education:
Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH, 1929
Harvard University, magna cum laude, A.B., 1933
Harvard University, M.A., 1935
University of Pennsylvania, Ph.D., 1947
Profession:
Instructor in English, Phillips Exeter Academy,
Exeter, NH, 1939-1976
First Peace Corps Director, Nepal, 1962-1963
Instructor in English, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA, 1935-1939
Military Service:
U.S. Army, 1941-1946, discharged as Lieutenant
Colonel
Quartermaster Corps, in charge of testing
cold-weather clothing, boots, and equip-
ment for mountain warfare
Decorations and Citations:
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star
American Campaign Medal
European, African, Middle Eastern Campaign Medals
with three bronze
battle stars
Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Climbs and Expeditions:
1932, 1933: Mt. Crillon, Fairweather Range, Alaska
1935: National Geographic Society Expedition
exploring and mapping southwest
corner of Yukon territory
1937: First ascent Mt. Lucania, Yukon territory,
crossing St. Elias Range to
Kluane Lake
1938: First American Karakoram Expedition to K2,
Pakistan, second highest
mountain in world, trekked 720 miles from Srinagar to
K2 to Srinagar,
reached high camp at 24, 500 feet
1941: American Geological Society Wood Yukon
Expedition, first ascents in
St. Elias Range
1942: Executive Officer of U.S. Army Alaska Test
Expedition, third ascent Mt.
McKinley
1946: Operation Muskox, northwest territories
1951: Artic Institute of North America Yukon
Expedition, first ascents of Mt.
Hubbard and Mt. Alverston
1953: American Alpine Club Third American Karakoram
Expedition to K2,
Pakistan
1956: Ojos del Salado Expedition, Chile
1965: Mt. Russell, Alaska
1970: Mt. Ararat, Turkey
1985: Joint China-United States Ulugh Muztagh
Expedition, Sinkiang-Tibet
border
Other Travels:
1938: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey
1954: Nepal, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Panama
1962-1963: Nepal, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Japan
1967: Sikkim, Nepal, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania,
Ethiopia
1969: Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria
1970: Turkey
1971: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary
1973: Yucatan, Mexico
1974: Pakistan
1975: Greece, Iran, Nepal
1977: India, Pakistan
1978: Afghanistan
1979: Pakistan, China
1980: China
1983: China, Japan
1984: Egypt
1985: India, Bhutan
Publications:
Five Miles High: The Story of an Attack on the Second
Highest Mountain in
the World by the Members of the First American
Karakoram Expedition,
with Charles Houston (1939)
K2: The Savage Mountain, with Charles Houston (1954)
Mountain Man: The Story of Belmore Browne, Hunter,
Explorer, Artist,
Naturalist (1988)
The Love of Mountains Is Best: Climbs and Travels
from K2 to Kathmandu
(1994)
Mystery, Beauty, and Danger: The Literature of the
Mountains and Mountain
Climbing Published in English Before 1946 (2000)
Related publications:
David Roberts, Escape from Lucania: An Epic Story of
Survival (2002)
Honors and Affiliations:
Past president of the American Alpine Club
Honorary member of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain
Division
Past president, Exeter Historic District Commission
Lecturer, Merrill Lecture Series
Consultant, Outward Bound
Member, Harvard Travelers Club
Member, Harvard Club of Boston
