Joe Brown

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First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent. With Fred Ashton.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent.

Nat Allen:

He had a go and got to the very delicate move. He had a really good go; he could have got across to the ledge, but he daren't. Then Wilf [White] had a top rope on it. The next week-end, Joe led it. He went straight for it and did it.

References

[1] Peak Rock, p.83

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent. With Don Whillans.

First ascent.

First ascent. With Ray Greenall, Fred Ashton and Slim Sorrell.

First ascent. With Don Whillans.

I led the first pitch and took a stance just above the holly tree and hung onto slings attached to poor spikes sticking out of the rock. This was the first stance in slings that we had taken. The position on the face was very sensational and frightening. I brought up Don [Whillans] and he was flabbergasted. "Christ this is a gripping place" he muttered hoarsely. Neither of us seemed able to move. Then it started to rain...All the way up little flakes of rock broke off when we pulled or stood on them. [1]

References

[1] Mountain Issue 104, page 16

First ascent. With Don Whillans.

First ascent.

First ascent. 2 points of aid.

Brown's first attempt finished at the niche below the crux where he dropped his peg hammer on his unfortunate belayer. By 1961 it was regarded as a trade route. Climbed free by 1968, FFA by persons unknown. Brown's piton above the niche survived until July 2024.

References

[1] https://climbing-history.org/library/7288/llanberis-pass

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rock_talk/ron_moseley_and_left_wall-127598

[3] https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/dinas_cromlech-4/cenotaph_corner-3195

First ascent. 1 point of aid.

First ascent. With Eric Price and Don Cowan . 1 point of aid.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent. With George Band. With supplementary oxygen.

Summited on 25th May as part of the 1955 British Kanchenjunga expedition.

References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_British_Kangchenjunga_expedition

First ascent.

First ascent. With Don Whillans.

Felt to be the hardest route in the Llanberis Pass at the time of the first ascent. Graded Exceptionally Severe.

References

[1] https://climbing-history.org/library/7293/llanberis

First ascent. 1 point of aid.

References

[1] On The Edge Issue 107, page 44.

First ascent. 1 point of aid.

Brown stood in a sling beneath the overhang whilst the crack above was cleaned.

First ascent.

With some tension (hence the name?)

First ascent.

Dave Cook:

The story goes that the 1957 guide­ book credited Brown with the ascent before he had even considered the route. Anxious that the guide should contain no misleading information, he led it to pul the record straight. [1]

References

[1] Mountain 26 (1973), page 30 /library/9630/mountain-26

First ascent. 4 points of aid.

First ascent. With Morty Smith. 8 points of aid.

First ascent.

Crux pitch (only?).

First ascent. 1 point of aid.

One sling for aid

First ascent. With Morty Smith. 4 points of aid.

First ascent. With Claude Davis. 2 points of aid.

First ascent.

Joe repeated the climb for the cameras.

https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/600eb7b53a53aa002791fbac

First ascent. 1 point of aid.

One sling for aid.

Brown managed to manoeuvre a big stone halfway up the crack from above and used this for aid to place a small chockstone higher in the crack as a runner. Above, it became a major test of crack technique with some desperate climbing round the lip of the roof which Brown overcame free. Despite the 'aid', Ramshaw Crack was probably the hardest gritstone crack of the 1960s. [1]

References

[1] 'Peak Rock', Vertebrate Publishing, 2013

First ascent. With Pete Crew.

First ascent.

First ascent.

First ascent. With Pete Crew. 10 points of aid.

First ascent. With Pete Crew.

Doing something like Red Wall you snapped some of the holds off. You could see that they weren't loose, they were just so thin and big that they snapped off like biscuits, and you very quickly got the hang of just smashing them off, so that what was left was thicker and stronger. [1]

References

[1] Gogarth (1990), page 268 /library/7294/gogarth

First ascent. With Pete Crew. 2 points of aid.

First ascent.

Pete Crew recalls

It was one of the few times I had seen the old man in trouble. [1]

References

[1] Gogarth South (2015) by Simon Panton, page 320

First ascent.