Joe Brown

Nepal was the destination of Joe’s next trip, in 1977, although this time he was involved in supporting a BBC television expedition mounted to hunt for the Yeti. Despite weeks spent travelling the area no incontrovertible evidence was turned up.

In 1978 Joe, partnered by Davy Jones was beaten (by Mick Pointon and Phil Kershaw) by a matter of hours to the first ascent of what is perhaps Wales finest ice route (at least it would be its finest, if it formed fully!) — the Devil’s Appendix in Cwm Idwal.

In 1979 Joe was involved in two trips. The first was with Hamish McInnes and Yvon Chouinard to South America. Hamish had come across a well documented tale of native gold hidden at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, a story that was backed up with a map purporting to show its location. Although they knew that the chance of finding the treasure was remote this was combined with a plan to climb Cotipaxi (19,347ft.). At first the details of the map could be followed, and features related to the topography. Like all the best quests they crossed a plateau of the quaking bog before reaching an area of dense arrow grass. This grew so closely that the only means of progress was for one of them to stand with arms outstretched and palms together while the next man pushed them forward through the grass. But it quickly became evident that they were not sufficiently equipped or supported to make much further progress here. By climbing onto the ridge tops travel became much easier — indeed other animals had created paths there — and they spent some days exploring their surroundings. Among discoveries was an old mine by a black pool. Years later a large and extravagantly equipped American expedition on a similar quest discovered and dived this pool and recovered some Mayan gold objects, although not the large treasure for which they were searching. For Joe's group the second objective was Cotopaxi. Local information was that, given familiarity with the area some people had managed to climb it in a weekend trip from Lima. They hired a jeep for two days and drove as high as they could and then walked up to an unoccupied mountain hut. After a few hours sleep they again set off for the summit, making fast progress. This was reached without problem, they descended, and amazingly returned the jeep within 24 hours of having hired it!

The second trip that year was to Brammah 2 (21,079ft; 6425m) in the Kistwar. As has often happened Joe was invited to join an expedition which had already been planned. None of the expedition members had actually visited the area so the objective had been selected unseen, mainly because it was one of the highest summits of the region. The route chosen was an unclimbed line via the S.W. col. The walk in, which involved several days slog up the glacier, gave sight of numerous splendid towers which would have provided excellent alpine style objectives, while Brammah 2 itself proved a disappointment. Although higher than the towers it was a rounded dome which offered little in the way of technical challenge, but was guarded by complex crevassed snowfields. Under the prevailing conditions of heavy snow cover route-finding through these proved very difficult and frustrating, and the expedition ground to a halt without reaching the top.

The year after Joe, Hamish McInnes and Mo returned to the Llanghnates rain forest in South America, this time with a larger group which included local guides, and equipped for an extended expedition. Again peaks, quaking bogs and other features could be related to the treasure hunter’s map. This brought them to the edge of the rain-forest. The transition was abrupt and total. Suddenly visibility was reduced to only a few feet, and progress slowed to a crawl. The natives had abandoned them so all their supplies now had to be carried in relay. Generally two members would cut a path through the forest, while the others ferried the stores. Progress was slow averaging only 2 miles a day, and the denseness of the vegetation meant that they could have passed within feet of the treasure without seeing it. After 42 miles and 21 days they emerged at a river on the far side of the forest. This provided an easier and faster means of travel and they following it, soon reached a native village. Although the expedition had been a failure in terms of its objective no one had really expected to find the gold, and Joe actually remembers it with great fondness, as one of his most enjoyable expeditions. Indeed, so much had they enjoyed it there they decided to return for a shorter trip the following year, but this time accompanied by Hamish’s girlfriend and Mo’s wife Jackie. But, as can happen, the magic of the previous occasion was not there and could not be recaptured. This time they started from the village where they had emerged from the forest the previous year. Following the river upstream from here they reached a track into the jungle that led to the remains of buildings discovered since their previous visit.