Eternal Alpinist

Mick Fowler was introduced to alpine climbing by his father when he was thirteen and soon developed an unstoppable enthusiasm for the mountains. Every weekend through the winter climbing season he would make the long drive from London to tackle new winter routes in the Scottish Highlands, always managing to be back behind his desk in the tax office on Monday morning. His dedication paid off and his climbing career broadened to the extent that he has been at, or near, the top of the field in a wide variety of climbing disciplines. He was one of the first to rock climb at the E6 grade and established the first Scottish winter climb to have an undisputed grade of VI (Shield Direct on Ben Nevis). He has established major climbs throughout the UK on mountain cliffs, outcrops, sea stacks and sea cliffs not to mention a frozen drainpipe at London’s St Pancras station. Along the way, he achieved a reputation for mastery of loose rock and helped to develop a whole new style of climbing on the chalk cliffs of Dover. But it is for mountaineering that Fowler is best known. He has made challenging climbs across the globe, earning him a King Albert Award for ‘Outstanding Mountaineering Achievement’, three prestigious Piolets d’Or – the Oscars of the mountaineering world – and the title of ‘Mountaineer’s Mountaineer’ in a poll in The Observer. Remarkably, much of his climbing has taken place alongside a full-time job at the tax office, squeezing major mountaineering objectives into his holidays. He retired from life as a taxman in 2017 but his enthusiasm for exploratory climbing remains undimmed. Mick has served as president of the Alpine Club. He is a patron of the British Mountaineering Council, an honorary fellow of the University of Cumbria and an honorary doctor of the University of Derby. He is an ambassador for Berghaus, B. Braun and the Mountain Heritage Trust. He has written three previous memoirs: Vertical Pleasure, On Thin Ice and No Easy Way. Literary awards include the Jon Whyte Award for Mountain Literature (Banff, Canada), Best Book Prize at the Bormio Mountain Festival in Italy, and Best Outdoor Book at the Golden Rhino Awards in China. Eternal Alpinist is his latest book.

• A bad start to retirementGetting worseGetting goingBack to the mountainsKeeping on tryingNew opportunitiesCovid climbingThird time lucky?Home-grown pleasuresNew partner, new countryA close shaveKeeping goingContented old men About the author