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Tut Braithwaite

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Paul ("Tut") Braithwaite (born 2 June 1946) is a British rock climber, mountaineer and company director. With Nick Estcourt he climbed Mount Everest's almost vertical Rock Band which has been said to have been the key to the success of the 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition. He was president of the Alpine Club from 2007 to 2010.

Point Innominata (Aguja Rafael Juarez), a peak of Aguja Saint Exupery

Born in Oldham in 1946, Paul Braithwaite, always known to climbers as "Tut", took to rock climbing at the age of fourteen on rock outcrops in the Pennines. He worked as a painter and decorator, saving up to go on climbing expeditions in the Alps.[1] By eighteen he had climbed the Eiger and the Matterhorn.[citation needed] He went on to put up many new routes in Britain including Scansor on Stob Coire nan Lochan (a subsidiary peak of Bidean nam Bian) and The Cumbrian on the Esk Buttress of Scafell Pike. He made the first ascent of East Pillar on Mount Asgard on Baffin Island in 1972; of Pik Lenin in the Pamirs by its south-east spur route in 1974; and of Point Innominata (a subsidiary peak of Aguja Saint Exupery) in Patagonia also in 1974.[2][3][4][5] He made the first British ascent of Croz Spur on Grandes Jorasses.[2]

On the 1975 ascent of Mount Everest by its Southwest Face, he and Nick Estcourt climbed the Rock Band at about 8,200 metres (27,000 ft) setting up fixed ropes that allowed other expedition members to reach the summit of Everest for the first time by a route up one of its faces.[1][6] Not only was this a key aspect of the climb of the face but, by expending their efforts on this part of the climb, they made it unlikely that they themselves would be able to attempt the summit.[7][8]

In 1977 on an expedition to The Ogre (Baintha Brakk) he was injured by a falling rock.[9] He joined Chris Bonington's 1978 expedition attempting the West Ridge of K2 but had to withdraw due to ill health.[10] Braithwaite has been a trustee of the Mountain Heritage Trust and, since 2006, of Community Action Nepal.[11][12]

In 1975 he founded a sports shop "Paul Braithwaite Outdoor Sports" which he ran until he sold the business in 1999.[13] He is managing director of Vertical Access Ltd, a Mossley company he established in 1988 for developing techniques for working at height in a commercial and industrial environment.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Torr, Martyn (16 May 2011). "A Man to Look Up To". Oldham Evening Chronicle. Chronicle Online. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  2. ^ a b Wells, Colin. Willett, Maxine (ed.). "Braithwaite, Paul (1946-) known as Tut". Mountain Heritage Trust. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  3. ^ Scott, Doug (1973). "Mount Asgard" (PDF). Alpine Journal: 85–88. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  4. ^ Dickinson, Leo (1975). "South America, Chile and Argentina—Patagonia, Torre Egger and Innominata". American Alpine Journal. 20 (1): 184. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Agujas St-Exupery, Raphael & de la S (Patagonia)". SummitPost.org. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  6. ^ Lewis, Jon E. (2012). The Mammoth Book of How it Happened - Everest Everest. London: Constable & Robinson. p. 1903. ISBN 9781780337272.
  7. ^ Grant (10 June 2012). "Everest: The Hard Way, by Chris Bonington". Everest Book Report. Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  8. ^ Hunt, John (1976). "Foreword". In Bonington, Chris (ed.). Everest the Hard Way. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pp. 11–14. ISBN 0340208333.
  9. ^ Horrell, Mark. "Footsteps on the Mountain". markhorrell.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  10. ^ Curran, Jim (2013). K2: The Story Of The Savage Mountain. Hachette. ISBN 9781444778359. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  11. ^ "Patron and Trustees". Community Action Nepal. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  12. ^ "Trustees and Staff". Mountain Heritage Trust. Archived from the original on 25 March 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  13. ^ "A bit about Mountainfeet". Mountainfeet.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 May 2014. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
  14. ^ "Company Profile". Vertical Access Limited. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2014.


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