Geoffrey Bernard Creighton died suddenly and unexpectedly on July 7, at his home in North Vancouver.
Loving son of Pat (deceased 2005) and Berney Creighton, he also leaves behind siblings, Susan, Catherine and Sara, Brother-in-Law Tim, nephews and nieces David, Erin, Ellyn and Rebecca, extended family in Ontario and the Maritimes and a multitude of friends spanning Canada and the globe.
He will be greatly missed, especially for his outgoing personality and great sense of humour.
As a teenager, Creighton discovered climbing while on vacation in Scotland and there began a lifelong passion that consumed his personal and professional life, taking him on many climbing adventures including expeditions on some of the worlds greatest peaks.
Climbing new routes started back in he 1980s for Creighton. In 1985, he and Reg Smart made the first ascent of When I Put My Helmet On I Feel Like Superman 5.11+ at Metcalf Rock in Ontario.
The following year, he was out west and with Don Serl made the first ascent of the seven-pitch Madness 5.9 on Yak Peak in B.C.
On Mount Logan, he made the first ascent of the Thunderbird, a variation to the famed and unrepeated Hummingbird Ridge in 1990 with Dave Nettle.
He ended his story for the Canadian Alpine Journal about the climb with, “After all, we got up the thing, back down, and safely home…
“But a more brutal climb is difficult to imagine.”
In Marble Canyon, he and Iain Stewart-Patterson made the first ascent of the three-pitch Hanging on a Heart Beat WI6+.
In the Montreal area back in the early 1990s, Creighton made the first ascents of hard granite routes like Chalk Fight 5.11d at Baldy, Weeping Butt Crack 5.12b at the thin crack What About Bob 5.12bR at Rigaud.
In 1993, he wrote an article called The Crag Illusionists of the Great White in the Canadian Alpine Journal, which was about the climbing gyms of Canada at the time.
In his later years Creighton immersed himself in climbing wall design and construction and fall protection systems, starting his own company and working as a consultant with others in the field.
A private memorial will take place in North Vancouver this weekend with a celebration of life to follow at a later date.
