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Joe Brown

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Joe Brown - Kangchejunga Mustagh Towers 1955 -1959
On his return from the Alps in 1954 Joe had a telegram awaiting him from Charles (later Sir Charles) Evans, who was to lead the 1955 Kangchenjunga expedition. Kangchenjunga was the third highest summit in the world (28,156ft.), and then the highest one to remain unclimbed. The expedition was intended primarily as a reconnaissance, but Charles Evans nevertheless wanted a strong climbing team to be able to make a sound judgment about a return expedition. All expenses were to be paid - Joe need bring only £20 for pocket money - Joe didn’t like to say that he didn’t have £20! This was a expedition in the wake of, and very much in the mould of the successful 1953 Everest expedition. A long journey by boat to Bombay, then by train to Darjeeling where six tons of gear was divided into sherpa loads. Although the ice fall proved difficult the expedition established camp 4 on the ridge above. Joe acclimatised well, and with George Band was selected for the first summit attempt. The summit was reached by them on 25th May 1955, although not without some difficulty as Joe had had to climb an overhanging crack in the final wall (the following day Norman Hardie and Tony Streather found an easy way around the obstacle and also reached the summit). At that time Kangchenjunga was the highest summit ever reached by a Briton - Everest having of course been climbed by a New Zealander and a sherpa. It was also probably the hardest climbing done at this sort of altitude until the Everest South West Face expedition some 20 years later
It was a weekend in April 1956 when Joe and Whillans returned home after making the first ascent of the Cromlech Girdle that Joe arrived back to find Ian McNaught Davies sitting in the front room waiting for him. Ian announced that he was off the unclimbed Mustagh Tower in the Himalaya in a fortnight - would Joe like to come? The Mustagh Tower (23,860ft.) had been described as "Nature’s last stronghold - probably the most inaccessible of all the great peaks, its immense precipices show no weakness in its defence" (R.L.G. Irving). So described it presented an immediate and compulsive challenge. This expedition was the antithesis of the Kangchenjunga one — much smaller and privately financed by its wealthier participants, although still shipping three tons of equipment. Joe of course could not have afforded to pay, but his credentials from the Alps and Kangchenjunga made him the first choice for lead climber for any cutting edge expedition.

An exciting flight got them to Skardu (the Dakota had an altitude ceiling of 13,000 much the same as some of the passes it needed to cross) which was followed by a walk up the Baltoro glacier. Much of the tower proved to be very friable, with sections of Alpine grade V climbing. At 23,000ft. a diversion onto the North face was required to turn a steep rock band. Above a short ice pitch they found themselves climbing unbelayed in deep unconsolidated snow for two pitches before finding a rock belay. Several false summits led to the true double summit. This came as a surprise as they hadn’t realised that it was not a single distinct peak. Not sure which was the higher they attempted to cross between the two. Joe fell through the cornice at this point and was left with legs dangling 7,000ft above the glacier below. In the face of such dangerous snow conditions and incredibly tired they abandoned their attempt to reach the other summit and retreated, biviouacing 200ft. below the summit. On the way down the following day they passed Tom Patey and John Hartzog making their summit bid - which, given better snow conditions, they achieved, reaching both summits, just six days before a French expedition reached the top via the South ridge of the mountain.

Over the next few years Joe continued to put up grit test-pieces such as The Rasp (E2,5b) on Higgar Tor, and the Hanging Crack (now E2,5b, but some aid originally used) on Dovestones Edge; then there were the usual round of trips to Wales, The Lakes, Scotland and the Alps. On Cloggy he continued to produce hard, quality routes with Taurus (E4,5c) climbed with Whillans in 1956, and one of the earliest routes of this grade; The Mostest (E2, 4a,5a,5c,3a) and November (now E3, 5a,5c,5a, but originally aided with chockstones) in 1957, Shrike (E1 5c,5b) in 1958 and Woubits Left Hand (E3, 5b,5b,6a) in 1959. But the Rock and Ice seemed to have lost some of their drive as members married or moved away. Indeed, Joe himself was married on 17th February 1957 to Valerie Melville Gray a primary school teacher, and inevitably also a member of the climbing fraternity, for nobody else could have understood or accepted the way of life that Joe and his contemporaries had established for themselves.
In 1959 Joe was approached to take part in a safety film titled ‘Hazard’ which was intended to get its message across through the medium of climbing. This was too good an opportunity to miss, offering five expenses paid weeks in the Dolomites. While there, Joe and Don Roscoe attempted the major Cassin Route on the Cima Grande, but ill-equipped and without a guidebook they failed to realise its seriousness. A major electric storm accompanied by hail hit them when part way up and they were forced to bivouac in sodden clothing. Retreat was the only option, but because of the overhanging nature of the climb they had to down climb pitches, since abseils would have risked them becoming marooned in mid-air on the end of the rope. Eventually, on vertical rock they started to rappel, passing another party on the way up. This retreat in itself caused a stir as it was not generally considered possible. Only one other party had ever attempted retreat from so high on the face, and they had suffered a fatality in the process.
 
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