Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith (1923–2012)

There seems nothing in my background," wrote Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith at the start of his unpublished memoirs, "to suggest a future interest in the polar regions."Nevertheless, Geoffrey-who died on July 21, 2012 at the age of 89-became one of the giants of Canadian Arctic science.The High Arctic's first glaciologist, he led scientific expeditions every year from 1953 to 1972.He was the first to study the ice shelves of Ellesmere Island.He did pioneering work in Antarctica and wrote three books on place-names in the polar regions.Finally, he was a passionate mountaineer and amateur historian who in the course of his glaciology duties, always kept his well-read eyes open for historic cairns and camps.Though he had little patience for modern self-styled "explorers," believing that "exploration was already a joke when I came to Canada in 1951," he traveled in traditional style by dog team for months at a time during his research.Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith was born in London on April 22, 1923.His father, a soldier and avid sportsman, was posted to Hong Kong a few months later.The family returned to London when Geoffrey was three.In 1928, they moved to a sprawling residence on 10 acres of land in Sissinghurst, in the county of Kent, which is still the family home.The neighborhood bristled with Old World charm and celebrity: parts of the house dated back to the 1530s, and nearby stood a castle and two of the oldest yew trees in Britain.Travel writer Charles Doughty lived across the road, and periodically T.E.Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) toodled past on his motorcycle to visit his fellow author.Like most young gentlemen of the era, Geoffrey was sent off early to boarding school and later won a scholarship to Winchester, a traditional boys' school whose 14th century motto was, "Manners makyth man."His mother died of pneumonia in 1937, shortly before Geoffrey began Winchester.At Winchester, Geoffrey absorbed some of those oldschool manners that made living in a tent with him so easy.Like his father, he loved sports and he credited racquets-a form of squash-with later helping him quickly learn how to crack a whip over the sled dogs' heads in the Arctic.He also discovered that he didn't like Latin and Greek, so he switched to science.In his last year at Winchester, the future mountaineer took up roof-climbing, which was a common precursor to rock climbing in that era.George Mallory of Everest fame also indulged in this hazardous pursuit at Winchester.It involved scrambling up college buildings using drainpipes, mouldings, and other makeshift hand-and footholds.Young Geoffrey also took to long bike rides and country walksactivities more suited to a future contemplative Arctic personality than to a thrill-seeker.By the time he began Oxford University in 1941, Geoffrey was convinced that he was going to become a forester.He spent three summers working in the nearby woods with local woodsmen."These were some of the happiest days I

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