In Memory of
Kev Reynolds
Kev Reynolds 1943-2021 – a true gentleman, and an inspiration to all
Kev Reynolds, one of the country’s leading outdoor writers, died on Friday 10 December 2021
Kev was a leading Pyrenean expert, admired across the world. He knew the Alps from end to end as few do and explored Nepal and the Himalaya over the course of 20 extended trips. He also had extensive knowledge of Kent, where he made his home, and southern England.
Kev wrote over 50 books, mainly guides and inspirational titles to his much-loved mountains, and became a master-craftsman of this unlikely but challenging art. He said it was ‘the best job in the world’ and quickly became a leading practitioner with his guides published by Cicerone for whom he became a leading writer and counsellor.
He was a lifetime and then honorary member of a range of organisations including the British Association of Mountain Leaders and Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, whose lifetime achievement award he received in 2014. His work was widely recognised by his peers. He became a skilled lecturer, giving up to 50 talks each winter.
As well as his exploring, writing and talks, Kev was a devoted family man. His life-long love Min enabled his many adventures whilst bringing up their two daughters, Claudia and Ilsa during a full life running a youth hostel before Kev became a full-time writer.
Thank you Kev
Book Owner: Jonathan and Lesley Williams, on behalf of the family
Book Size:Â 500 Messages
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Craig Segall
In 2011, after a season of difficult family circumstances, a respite was sorely needed. Kev’s guidebook to the Via Alpina was just the thing, and soon had me on a sometimes-damp, sometimes-rainbow-filled, always lovely two week jaunt. He was remarkably kind and generous in response to email questions from a novice trekker, too. He opened the Alps for me, just as he doubtless did for thousands of others on dozens of trails. What a life and what a gift, to open the way into the mountains for so many….
Ian Cave and Rosy Nixon
Although we never met Kev, he has walked with us on so many alpine routes. He guided us through the dangers but more importantly encouraged us to explore more and more. We often said while we were on the path that Kev would have liked this bit or that he would have found the climb a lot easier than we did. His photographis book Alpine Points of View gavfe me the courage to get onto the Aletsch Glacier and I’m very thankful for that and the lasting memories it has given me. His book of short stories from his experiences in the mountains A Walk in the Clouds, allowed us to share some very special and intimate moments in those high, rugged places with the amazing people and animals he met along the way. Thank you Kev. They say, let your life speak. Yours has certainly spoken to us and we will be eternally grateful. Ian Cave and Rosy Nixon…
Judith Robertson
So sorry to hear the sad news. Kev you were a true friend and fellow mountaineer to my Dad, Ernst Sondheimer and I know he valued your friendship very highly. Thinking of Min and the family….
Judith
We fell in love with the Pyrenees when we walked a section of the GR10 in 1992, and then went back many times walking on both sides of the border. Thank you Kev for your inspiration and your guides. And when backpacking in the Pyrenees became more than we could manage, we followed you along the South Downs Way….
Daniel Aspel
Around seven years ago I had the joy of interviewing Kev about his work, and I still think back to our conversation regularly. He was so positive, so candid, and the experiences he described were so inspiring that it was impossible not to be left with a feeling that you too could travel and experience everything that he had. We kept in touch via occasional emails, and his replies were always interested, supportive and kind. For me, he was the archetype of the best kind of outdoor writer and traveller. He wanted to share everything he’d experienced. Not to celebrate himself, but to share the sense of elation and wellbeing that adventure and discovery can bring to us all. It seems that he touched many, many lives the way that he did mine….
Alistair Grier
Sad to hear of the passing of the modest but influential Kev Reynolds, a man who remotely guided thousands of us around the mountains. I still have my second edition of Walks & Climbs in the Pyrenees amongst other of his books. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones….
Ian Booth
Very sorry to hear of the passing of Kev Reynolds. I’ve read and used many of his books and found them useful and informative. I once wrote to him about a particular instruction in a local (Kent area) guide as I couldn’t make sense of it. I didn’t expect to hear from him but he replied to me. I still didn’t agree with his explanation, but I was very impressed that he’d taken time to respond to me which was very much appreciated. I’m pleased to see that he meant a lot to many people and it’s heartening to read the many tributes to a very talented man. I offer my condolences to his family….
Rudolf Abraham
A legend and an inspiration. And I’m sure we’ll continue to hear the words ‘let’s see what Kev says…’ spoken by guidebook users across the Alps. RIP Kev. …
Peter Dixon
Like so many I never met Kev but we did correspond many years ago. I can’t remember the occasion but we did discover that we both shared a huge admiration for J Hubert Walker, the author of the original “Walking in the Alps”. The first mountains I ever saw were the wonderful photos that JHW had on the walls of the room where he taught geography when I was a schoolboy in the 1950’s. His black and white photos taken on a plate camera opened my eyes to the hills and Kev shared my youthful enthusiasm for images and words that turned out to be life enhancing. I have lost count of the routes I have walked that Kev described and every one has been a winner. His knowledge was amazing and his judgements impeccable. Other guide book writers are simply in a different league. We shan’t see his like again. We have all lost a friend….
Joyce, Monica and Cynthia
We were very lucky to have known Kev for over 50 years, meeting him in our teens working for Essex County Council. He soon left to pursue his love of travel and the mountains, but he married Linda (Min) our good friend and colleague and we stayed in regular contact. Kev was kind, humourous, a talented writer and speaker and truly a one-off. He will be very much missed and always remembered with great affection….
Grant Bourne
I never got to know Kev in person, but like anybody connected with Cicerone in some way, I had heard a lot about him. For some reason, I imagined Kev to be as enduring as the mountains he so expertly described and was therefore surprised and saddened to hear he was no longer with us. Like some other authors, the closest I got to meeting him was when he invited me to contribute to Cicerone’s 50th anniversary book. His mails in this connection were always friendly and encouraging. I am certain that he will be sorely missed by his friends, his family, and all who he inspired….
Tim Ford
Sadly my wife and I never knew Kev, but he has been a massive part of our lives for almost a quarter of a century since we first went to Switzerland together – The Bernese Alps. Since then he has been the inspiration for and companion on so many trips in The Pyrenees and especially the French and Swiss Alps. He opened up and gave us the confidence to encounter and enjoy a world of opportunities in these majestic mountains, and for which we shall ever be grateful. Over all those years rarely did we disagree with his assessment of a route or its instructions – something that few of us can say of other writers. In correspondence about the Haute Route over twenty years ago he was receptive to and generous about some suggestions I made about part of the route and kindly attributed those comments in a revision. Thank you, Kev, for being the architect of so much pleasure for so long for so many of us. I am confident that you will continue to be our inspiration and unseen companion for many years to come….
Chiz Dakin
Really sad to hear of this. The nearest I got to meeting Kev personally was by email, when (as Editor) he invited me to contribute to Cicerone’s 50th anniversary book, but he seemed a genuinely nice guy, helpful, kind and thoughtful – as well as being one of the most prolific and authoritative outdoor writers I knew of. I hadn’t realised until very recently that the Walkers Haute Route was his creation, just that it was an awesome route. However, completing this in 2000 formed one of the very earliest seeds of my own career as an outdoors writer and photographer. Many thanks Kev, for the creation of that route! I’m sure he will be much missed by the many who knew him a lot better than me….
Wannes Engelen
Dear Kev, I can remember like it was yesterday, how we met. “We met you three (you, Min and Claudia) on quite a hard day descending from fenetre d’Arpette. Lien and me were quite tired before arriving in Trient. In the Dormitory Claudia and Lien started almost immediately to talk, on the topic of hard days, to which she comforted us and said she could fully relate on hard days on the TMB. We met outside and started talking, enjoying a beer. A lovely older gentleman and his wife with a very big talent for telling stories. You asked me how I was enjoying it and I remember telling you that “I should rip half of the cicerone TMB guide out, because I only needed the pages explaining the route in 1 direction, not both”…. I didn’t realise the naughty look you both had in your eyes, keeping your smiles to yourselves. If I had known! That evening went to fast, and I felt quite a sting of sadness, having to say goodbye at breakfast. Fast forward 7ish hours and you’re walking by on the road with a big smile on your face, at Le Moulin, no coincidence for…
Lucy Rogers
As part of my job at Cicerone, I regularly bombarded Kev with queries and updates. His replies made me smile. Always friendly, always helpful; nothing was ever a problem. Among the work, we had a 4-year ongoing conversation about the weather – comparing the tropics of Kent with the arctic North – and family life. His signoffs were my favourite thing – kind and thoughtful, or sometimes he’d try to temp me away from my computer – “now go out and throw some snowballs!” Thank you, Kev….
