Paul Pritchard

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Quick Info

From: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Gender: Male
Hardest Trad (Worked): E8
Hardest Trad (Onsight): E7

Paul Pritchard is a British rock climber and mountaineer. He was a prominent figure in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in and around North Wales.

On the 13th February 1998 he suffered a traumatic brain injury while climbing on The Totem Pole in Tasmania which left him with hemiplegia.

Bibliography

(2012). Deep play: Climbing the world’s most dangerous routes (2nd ed.). Vertebrate Publishing.

(2000). The totem pole: Surviving the ultimate adventure. Robinson Publishing.

(2005). The longest climb: Back from the abyss. Constable and Robinson.

(2021). The Mountain Path: A climber’s journey through life and death. Vertebrate Publishing.

References

[1] Features in 80's Birth of Extreme

[2] A Kind of Homecoming by Martin Crook, On The Edge Issue 87, page 18

Contributors
14 contributions since 19th January 2021.

Quick Info

From: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Gender: Male
Hardest Trad (Worked): E8
Hardest Trad (Onsight): E7

Paul Pritchard is a British rock climber and mountaineer. He was a prominent figure in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in and around North Wales.

On the 13th February 1998 he suffered a traumatic brain injury while climbing on The Totem Pole in Tasmania which left him with hemiplegia.

Bibliography

(2012). Deep play: Climbing the world’s most dangerous routes (2nd ed.). Vertebrate Publishing.

(2000). The totem pole: Surviving the ultimate adventure. Robinson Publishing.

(2005). The longest climb: Back from the abyss. Constable and Robinson.

(2021). The Mountain Path: A climber’s journey through life and death. Vertebrate Publishing.

References

[1] Features in 80's Birth of Extreme

[2] A Kind of Homecoming by Martin Crook, On The Edge Issue 87, page 18

Contributors
14 contributions since 19th January 2021.

Podcasts

Library

Pics + Vids

No pics or vids yet.

Ascents

15 recorded ascents.

This timeline is missing some ascents where the date of the ascent is unknown.
Sort
Climb Grade Style Ascent Date Suggested Grade
The Porphyry Chair 6c+ Lead 19th Jul 1996
First ascent.
Climb Grade Style Ascent Date Suggested Grade
Climb Grade Style Ascent Date Suggested Grade
The Super Calabrese E8 Lead | worked Between 16th Oct 1986 and 29th Jan 1987
First ascent.
Perimeter Walk E7 Solo | worked 1986
First ascent.
Come to Mother E7 Lead | onsight 1986
First ascent.
The Enchanted Broccoli Garden E7 Lead | worked 28th Aug 1986
First ascent.

References

[1] https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=117802899676596&set=a.117799293010290
I Ran the Bath E7 Lead | worked 27th Apr 1987
First ascent.
Surgical Lust E7 Lead | worked 27th May 1987
First ascent.
The Scoop E7 Alternate Leads | worked Aug 1987
First ascent. With Johnny Dawes.
Rubble E7 Lead | onsight Oct 1991
First ascent.
The 4th Dimension E7 Lead | did not finish

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CuvDptFyfp-/
Schittlegrüber E6 Lead | worked 16th Aug 1986
First ascent.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=117802753009944&set=a.117799293010290

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=117802933009926&set=a.117799293010290
Truncheon Meat E6 Lead | worked 20th May 1987
First ascent.
King Wad E6 Lead | worked 18th Jun 1987
First ascent.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/esgair_maen_gwyn_scimitar_ridge-706/king_wad-3775
Chewing the Cwd E5 Lead | ground up 14th Feb 1987
First ascent.

I was drinking whisky in the Padarn Lake Hotel with Gwion Hughes, who I was living with at the time, when suddenly I had a smart idea. ‘I have an excellent new climb to do. Why don’t we go climbing?’ The pair of us swayed and staggered up to the vast Rainbow Slab. The climb I had seen was a long hairline fracture splitting the left side of the slab. And I had the misguided notion to climb it on sight, without pre-inspection from a rope – and a little bit intoxicated. I threw a string of micro-wires, tiny brass-headed nuts, in the seam, without the least regard for my safety. The climbing was really quite difficult and became increasingly so. Nevertheless, I carried on with scant regard for my personal safety. I still remember attempting to pull on a depression into which you could place flat a fifty-pence piece: a strange, white pocket in a sea of blue-grey slate. I studied it for what seemed like an eternity and searched for my next hold. My shoe edges were set on mere ripples in the featureless slab. I began to slip and then accelerated down the slab, taking a twenty-five-metre fall. The rope burned through the lycra behind my knee. I came to a halt inches from the ground. [1]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CjvzOT-Shsf/
Jean HS (approx) Lead | worked Sep 2023

Paul's first new route in 26 years!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c_n7B8E6kM
Climb Grade Style Ascent Date Suggested Grade