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Joe Brown - 1970 - 1976
However, in 1970 Mo asked Joe if he would like to join a small group going to El Toro (5710m) in the Peruvian Andes. The expedition, which was sponsored by United Newspapers, had dual objectives, to make the ascent and to try and find a plane supposedly carrying gold that was thought to have crashed on the glacier below. Shortly before the expedition left there was a major earthquake in Peru; debris littered the roads en route to the mountain and the expedition suffered repeated aftershocks. The objective was a splendid peak with an impressive vertical granite face. To one side of this an ice couloir led to the summit ridge. From basecamp they followed a glacier to a camp below this feature. Because the mountain was near to the equator the heat of the midday sun melted the ice, making climbing impossible. The regular routine was therefore to rise early, climb until mid-morning and then descend. By this time water would be gushing down the couloir, and their ice screws would be melting out, making this procedure somewhat risky. By the following morning the ropes left in-situ would be frozen and encased in ice and the ice screws secure once more. At one point a deep crevasse cut across the couloir, and disappeared downwards to the underlying rock 40 feet below. The thought that the entire route below this might suddenly disappear in one of the aftershocks was not one anybody cared to dwell upon! The climbing went smoothly and they gained height steadily, in due course emerging from the onto the summit ridge. The snow here was of a type not uncommon in South America, a plating of brittle ice over unconsolidated powder. The climbers moved cautiously up the ridge, overcoming minor difficulties until about 100 feet below the summit. At this point they could clearly see the summit, but although no further technical difficulties remained the state of the snow was such that no one was prepared to risk their life just to stand on the true summit, so the actual summit remained inviolate for another generation.
The Dinorwic Slate Quarry had closed in 1969. In 1971 Joe, Claude Davies and Morty Smith established the first routes there, Opening Gambit (HVS, 4c, but altered by rockfall and described in the guide as "a typically bold venture on the biggest slate cliff") started things and was followed by Hamadryad (E3, 5a,5c,5a,4b, but originally with 2 points of aid) so pre-empting the slate climbing explosion by over 10 years.
In 1972 Joe was asked by Tony Streather, who had been with him on Kangchenjunga, to help with an expedition to Ethiopia. This was not a mountaineering expedition, but was to reward young helpers for their charity work in the U.K. and foster links with their peers in Ethiopia. In Addis Ababa they were joined by an equal number of Ethiopians, and then proceeded to the highlands in the north of the country. This area consisted of a dissected plateau, with deep valleys within which stood a number of rock towers which were the objective of the climbing part of the expedition. Camp was established on the plateau, so reaching the objective required descent rather than ascent! Unfortunately shortly after arriving Joe again wrenched his back and immediately became immobile. He knew from past experience that he would remain incapacitated for days if not weeks, and would have to be stretchered out. At first this seemed hopeless over such rough ground, with the stretcher party making very slow progress. However, the arrival of a party of local tribesmen completely altered the situation. Five, under the command of a leader carried the stretcher shoulder high and at a jog, covering the ground so fats that the rest of the expedition could not keep up — a quite remarkable feat. On his return to the U.K. Joe at last found a surgeon who was able to diagnose his back problem, and following an operation to remove the offending disc climbing suddenly became easier again, although he did lose some of the flexibility that had been a hallmark of many of his earlier exploits.
1973 saw a return to South America with the Roriama Expedition (9094ft.). Although not very high this prow of rock jutted from the rain forest at the junction of Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil, and had been the inspiration for Conan Doyle’s story of prehistoric survivals in ‘The Lost World’. In fact it could approached easily from the south, coming up a gradual slope, but because of its political significance Guyana were keen to support an expedition that approached from the north. Don Whillians and Adrian were joint leaders with Don, Joe, Mo Anthoine, Hamish McInnes and Mike Thompson being the main climbers. Also attached were a camera team, a radio operator, a doctor and a several officials. People either love or hate the jungle. Joe loved it; despite the wet, the scorpions, spiders, snakes and myriad other nasties that inhabited it he found things of interest everywhere. The climbing started only beyond camp 6 after a nine day walk-in. The prow itself was 1500ft. of vertical or overhanging sandstone. Much of the climbing was artificial, and almost without respite, although one camp was established in hammocks halfway up the face. Mo, who loved pegging, led the largest part of the route, and the four of them finally emerged on the top to find it a flat, but dissected area of bare rock.
In 1975 Joe led an expedition to Trango Tower (20,500ft.), a rock spire beside the Trango Glacier, a tributary of the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakorum. Mo Anthoine had made most of the arrangements, and the other lead climber was to be Martin Boysen, one the leading rock-climbers of his generation. The team was inexperienced at organising Himalayan trips, but soon discovered the frustrations and bureaucracy that besets all Himalayan trips. They suffered unanticipated delays, then a shortage of porters, then porter strikes and go-slows, which together resulted in the team reaching the mountain with less than three weeks of the trip left. The final straw came when Martin trapped his knee in a crack about half way up the tower. Eventually he released it, but it suffered considerable damage. With him ruled out of the climbing team the expedition ground to a halt.

The objective was a good one so the following year a return trip was arranged, with Jim Curran and Tony Riley coming along this time to film the ascent. With the experience of the previous year things ran more smoothly. Base camp was established on the glacier then advanced base at the foot of the tower itself. Old fixed ropes were replaced and the first camp established at a snow patch one third of the way up the face. Martin did battle with the infamous crack from the year previous and this time won. Above were two more days of hard climbing giving out eventually on to the snowy shoulder of the tower. Fittingly Mo and Martin made up the first summit party, with Joe and Malcolm Howells ascending the fixed ropes to the top in increasingly unsettled weather the following day. At the time, and indeed for a decade after this route rated as some of the hardest rock climbing ever achieved at such an altitude. Indeed, the Tower did not see another successful ascent for 11 years.
 
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