Paul Pritchard

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Quick Info

From: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Gender: Male
Hardest Sport (Worked): 7c+
Hardest Trad (Worked): E8
Hardest Trad (Onsight): E7
Notable Partnerships
Adam Wainwright

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
88 contributions since 19th January 2021.
TdG
27 contributions since 22nd September 2025.

Quick Info

From: United Kingdom 🇬🇧
Gender: Male
Hardest Sport (Worked): 7c+
Hardest Trad (Worked): E8
Hardest Trad (Onsight): E7
Notable Partnerships
Adam Wainwright

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
88 contributions since 19th January 2021.
TdG
27 contributions since 22nd September 2025.

Podcasts

Library

View all library items

Pics + Vids

No pics or vids yet.

Ascents

24 recorded ascents.

This timeline is missing some ascents where the date of the ascent is unknown.
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Climb Grade Style Ascent Date Suggested Grade
Follow the Prof 7c+ Lead | worked Oct 1989
First ascent.
Seventh Aardvark 7b Lead | worked 1985
First ascent.
The Crimson Crimp 7b Lead 1988
First ascent.
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.

Paul worked a similar line, sharing the crux and following a different line in the upper section, but was unable to finish it due to bad weather.

References

[1] Mountain 133, page 17 /library/11117/mountain-133

Paul is credited with the second ascent in Dawes's autobiography.

References

[1] https://dmmwales.com/blogs/ambassadors/paul-pritchard
First ascent. With Johnny Dawes.

References

[1] Mountain Issue 112, page 18 /library/11111/mountain-112
Perimeter Walk E7 Solo | worked 1986
First ascent.
First ascent.

References

[1] Mountain Issue 112, page 18 /library/11111/mountain-112
First ascent.

Only one runner, a sling once past the the rather tricky crux (above the frame of the photo). I used a rope so that if I did fall off and went unconcious (I had heard that hitting still water could be like hitting concrete), Nick would have been able to pull me out on the rope and save me.

Even so I recall giving Nick a rock which, in the event I should fall, he was to throw it in the pool to break the surface tension! [1]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DKgY5ntT6-r/
Surgical Lust E7 Lead | worked 27th May 1987
First ascent.
The Unrideable Donkey E7 Alternate Leads | ground up 12th Jul 1987
First ascent. With Nick Dixon.
The Scoop E7 Alternate Leads | worked Aug 1987
First ascent. With Johnny Dawes.
Cure for a Sick Mind E7 Lead | worked 27th Nov 1987
First ascent.
A Wreath of Deadly Nightshade E7 Lead Before 27th May 1990
Second ascent.
Rubble E7 Lead | onsight Oct 1991
First ascent.

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CuvDptFyfp-/
First ascent.

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

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=117802933009926&set=a.117799293010290
Heart of Gold Direct E6 Alternate Leads | onsight 12th Oct 1986
First ascent. With Trevor Hodgson.
Truncheon Meat E6 Lead | worked 20th May 1987
First ascent.
First ascent.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/esgair_maen_gwyn_scimitar_ridge-706/king_wad-3775
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/

Paul's first new route in 26 years!

References

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