Mick Fowler

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Mick Fowler (b. 1956 in London) is a British mountaineer. He was awarded the Piolet d'Or and Golden Piton with Paul Ramsden for their 2002 ascent of Siguniang (6250m), was voted "the Mountaineer's Mountaineer" in a poll in the Observer, and has been described by Chris Bonington as "the most successful innovative mountaineer of the last twenty years"[1]. He specialises in on-sight climbing, and challenging, unclimbed lines on peaks of 6000-7000m: he has never climbed an eight-thousander, as he is unwilling to take the necessary time off work from his job at the Inland Revenue, where he is Assistant Director of Capital Taxes. He has also pioneered rock climbing on sea stacks, and the use of ice-climbing techniques on the soft chalk cliffs of England's South-East.

He has written two volumes of memoirs. Mick’s books have been shortlisted for the 2005 Boardman-Tasker award and he won the Jon Whyte Award for Mountain Literature at the 2005 Banff Mountain Book Festival[1].

He was introduced to rock climbing and mountaineering as a teenager by his widowed father George, who took him to the Alps in 1969 at the age of 13. In the 1980s, he was regarded as the driving force behind a group of London climbers who would regularly drive to the north of Scotland, a round trip of 1,300 miles, for winter weekends[2]. His record was 11 consecutive weekends.

He lives in Melbourne, Derbyshire with his wife and fellow-climber Nicki and their two children, Tessa and Alex.

Contents

[edit] Notable Climbs

[edit] Rock and Ice Climbs (first ascents only)

Conventional rock climbs:

  • Linden (E6) in 1976 at Curbar Edge in Derbyshire (As one of the first E6 climbs in Britain this received extensive press coverage)
  • Stone (E5) in the Hebrides
  • Ludwig (E6) at Gogarth
  • Stairway to Heaven (E5) on Skye
  • Caveman (E6) in Devon

Sea cliffs:

  • Henna (450ft, XS) and Bukator (600ft, XS) on the North Devon/Cornwall coast
  • Monster Crack (500ft, XS) (first free ascent of the chalk cliffs at Beachy Head)
  • Clo Mhor Crack (E3) (the only route on the biggest cliffs in mainland Britain, at Cape Wrath in Scotland)
  • BeriBeri (E4), on the Isle of Hoy
  • Big John (E4), on Hoy (the first one day, and first free, ascent of the biggest sea cliff in Britain)

Sea stacks:

  • Branaunmore (Eire)
  • Lovers Leap Rock (Éire)
  • Doonbristy (Éire)
  • The Needle (Hoy)
  • Spindle (Shetland)
  • Clett Rock (Thurso)
  • Old Harry
  • The Tusk
  • Press Gang Pinnacle

Ice climbs:

  • The Fly (VI) on Creagh Meaghaidh
  • Deep Gash Gully (VI) on Skye
  • The Shield (VI) on Ben Nevis (the first Scottish winter route to be given a guidebook rating of VI)
  • Cascade (V), on Craig Rhaeddr
  • Central Ice-fall Direct (VI) on Craig Rhaeddr
  • a 65ft ice streak created by a leaking toilet outflow at St. Pancras station[2].

[edit] Mountains

[edit] Bibliography

  • Vertical Pleasure: The Secret Life of a Tax Man (1996)
  • On Thin Ice: Alpine Climbs in the Americas, Asia and the Himalaya (2005)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chris Bonington, Quest For Adventure, p.220
  2. ^ http://www.firstascent.co.uk/b_person8.html Mick Fowler's Black Diamond Team profile.