Mick Fowler
Michael "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 was described by Chris Bonington in 1981 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 m-7000 m: he has never climbed an eight-thousander, as he is unwilling to take the necessary time off work from his job at HM Revenue and Customs (formerly 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, the second of which was shortlisted for the 2005 Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, 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 Alec.
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[edit] Notable ascents
[edit] Rock and ice climbs (first ascents)
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 (450 ft, XS) and Bukator (600 ft, XS) on the North Devon/Cornwall coast
- Monster Crack (500 ft, 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 (Ireland)
- Lovers Leap Rock (Ireland)
- Doonbristy (Ireland)
- The Needle (Hoy)
- Spindle (Shetland)
- Clett Rock (Thurso)
- Old Harry
- The Tusk
- Press Gang Pinnacle
Ice climbs:
- The Fly (VI) on Creag Meagaidh
- 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 65 ft ice streak created by a leaking toilet outflow at St. Pancras station[2].
[edit] Mountains
- Taulliraju (Peru), South Face, with Chris Watts
- Killimanjaro, Western Gully, with Caradog Jones
- Mount Kennedy (Yukon), N Buttress, with Andy Cave
- Taweche (Nepal), NE Pillar, with Pat Littlejohn
- Golden Pillar of Spantik (Pakistan) with Victor Saunders
- Hunza Peak and Bublimoting (Pakistan) with Caradog Jones
- 1993 Northwest Face Cerro Kishtwar (India) with Steve Sustad[3]
- 1997 North Face of Changabang in the Garwhal Himalaya of India, First Ascent with Brendan Murphy and Andy Cave(summit); with Fowler and Steve Sustad climbing to the summit ridge. A 1,600 m (5,250 ft) route which involved steep, sustained ice, mixed rock and ice, and hard rock climbing. Unfortunately Murphy was hit by an avalanche and swept off the face to his death on the descent.[4]
- Arwa Tower (India), NW Face, with Steve Sustad
- Siguniang (China), NW Face, with Paul Ramsden
- Kajaqiao (China), with Chris Watts
[edit] Bibliography
- Fowler, Mick (1995). Vertical Pleasure: The Secret Life of a Tax Man. London, UK: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340623217.
- Fowler, Mick (2006 (reprint)). Vertical Pleasure: Early Climbs in Britain, the Alps, the Andes and the Himalaya. Baton Wicks Publications. ISBN 1898573670.
- Fowler, Mick (1998). "A Touch Too Much?". American Alpine Journal 1998 (Golden, CO, USA: American Alpine Club) 40 (72): 53–68. ISBN 0930410785.
- Fowler, Mick (2005). On Thin Ice: Alpine Climbs in the Americas, Asia and the Himalaya. Baton Wicks Publications. ISBN 1898573581.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Chris Bonington, Quest For Adventure, p.220
- ^ http://www.firstascent.co.uk/b_person8.html Mick Fowler's Black Diamond Team profile.
- ^ Venables, Stephen (2001). Lost Mountains: Climbs in the Himalaya. New York, NY, USA: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1560253738.
- ^ Fowler, Mick (1998). "A Touch Too Much?". American Alpine Journal 1998 (Golden, CO, USA: American Alpine Club) 40 (72): 53–68. ISBN 0930410785.
