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Joe Brown Dies

kieranl

16-Apr-2020
6:38:43 PM

UK Climbing reports that Joe Brown has died aged 89.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2020/04/climbing_pioneer_joe_brown_dies_aged_89-72275

I fondly remember my time in Britain in 1983 and some of his great climbs: Vember, Cenotaph Corner and Vector.

Vale.

MisterGribble

17-Apr-2020
9:03:03 AM

And look what he did on grit !!
A true gentleman to boot.
"Hand Jam" Joe also ticked the first ascent of Kanchenjunga - 3rd highest mountain in the world on the reconnaissance trip as Eric Shipton was going to go there the following year (he stole the route!) .
I must dust off my copy of 'The Hard Years' and read it during lockdown, god bless you Joe

gfdonc

17-Apr-2020
12:07:37 PM

Unfortunately the principal memory invoked by his name is that of my first climbing helmet, the Joe Brown model. Burnt orange and made of fibreglass, that thing weighed over a kilo and helped build up strong neck muscles.
Vale for a legend.

Ithomas

17-Apr-2020
8:53:05 PM

Like Kieran, I remember stumping around dripping wet British cliffs and feeling like I was walking in the footsteps of giants. In Lanberris someone pointed out JB to me and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Hero worship. Only three JB climbs under my belt, each being a certified classic; Cenotaph Corner and later on the two Unconquerables. Joe Brown’s great climbing partner, Don Whillans latterly climbed with the famous lakes country climber Bill Peascod, who by the way lived in Australia for over 20 years and did some very passable climbing in NSW and Queensland in the 1950’s, so there is a faint Australian connection with the great men. Whillans was a favourite with rebellious youth but Brown was everyone’s hero. The Americans of the 60’s had the sun and a certain technical appeal but Brown and Whillans were ‘ard’ and had ‘brass’. Some people here will have personal stories about Joe Brown. In Tasmania, Jim Duff and Les Wood knew him and maybe Wilbur King, Russ Kippax and Bryden did as well? Joe Brown put up the hardest climbs of his era with good humour, a fag, a pint and an overflowing bucket of skill and boldness. He was the best in the West. Modern climbing began with him and even though he has now passed, history will remember his legacy long after the latest bolt ladder has rusted away.

capt_planit

19-Apr-2020
9:13:22 AM

Nooo! A grim day indeed. View again the Old Man of Hoy with Bonnichsen thrutching his way up and Joe Brown, so neat, so clean, climbing so well. Vale. Sad Sad Sad Planit

E. Wells

20-Apr-2020
6:52:48 AM

Being an uneducated whipper snapper I endeavoured to read up a little and stumbled apon this gem. Im sure most of you have seen this , I could watch it on repeat. Its hilarious , particularly the climbers statements at the end of the film. Absolutely incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei3sKArFXf4

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