A MAN from Colwall, near Malvern, has travelled to a remote mountain valley in central Asia to visit a memorial commemorating the death of his father, who died there in a climbing accident.

Jeremy Noyce journeyed to the Garmo valley in Tajikistan, where he saw a memorial cairn commemorating Wilfrid Noyce, who died there in 1962.

Wilfrid was a member of the expedition that first conquered Mount Everest in 1953, a founder member of Malvern Writer’s Circle, and a teacher at Malvern College from 1946 to 1950.

He and another British climber, Robin Smith, were taking part in a joint Anglo-Soviet expedition to climb the highest mountains in the Pamirs range, and were killed while descending from the 6,595m summit of Peak Garmo in July 1962.

A memorial cairn was set up commemorating their tragic deaths.

To reach the memorial from the capital, Dunshanbe, Mr Noyce and three companions travelled for two days by off-road vehicles along rough mountain tracks, then trekked for two more days with pack-horses and local guides up the wild and uninhabited Garmo Valley.

The memorial was located close to the site of the original expedition’s base camp, and Mr Noyce was pleased to find it in excellent condition 47 years on.

“It was quite an emotional moment visiting the monument.

“It had been a long time coming and I was fairly young when my father died,” said Mr Noyce.

“It was good to get some sort of closure on it.”

A new plaque has also been attached to the memorial marking their visit.

On their return to Dunshanbe Mr Noyce and his party met the British Ambassador to Tajik-istan, Trevor Moore.