On Thin Ice by Mick Fowler

On Thin Ice by Mick Fowler

First published at the height of a remarkable era in British alpinism, On Thin Ice, Mick Fowler’s second volume of climbing memoirs, is a vivid, wry and gripping account of life on the world’s steepest, coldest faces.

Following on from Vertical Pleasure, On Thin Ice charts a decade of audacious expeditions undertaken alongside the demands of work and family. From Taweche and Changabang to Arwa Tower, Mount Kennedy and Siguniang, Mick and his partners – including Pat Littlejohn, Andy Cave and Steve Sustad – pursue elegant, uncompromising lines in remote ranges, travelling light and accepting uncertainty as part of the game. The climbs are described with characteristic modesty and dry humour, yet the danger is never far away: hard ice, savage weather, exhaustion and the long, fragile business of getting down.

At the heart of the book is the 2002 ascent of Siguniang with Paul Ramsden, a dazzling achievement that earned both a Golden Piton and the Piolet d’Or, the Oscars of the mountaineering world. But On Thin Ice is more than a record of prizes or summits. It is a portrait of judgement under pressure, partnership in extremis and the stubborn pull of adventure.

Compelling, humane and often very funny, this is mountaineering writing at its finest – and an enduring testament to one of Britain’s greatest alpinists of modern times.

Mick Fowler was introduced to alpine climbing by his father when he was thirteen and soon developed an unstoppable enthusiasm for the mountains. Every weekend through the winter climbing season he would make the long drive from London to tackle new winter routes in the Scottish Highlands, always managing to be back behind his desk in the tax office on Monday morning. His dedication paid off and his climbing career broadened to the extent that he has been at, or near, the top of the field in a wide variety of climbing disciplines. He was one of the first to rock climb at the E6 grade and established the first Scottish winter climb to have an undisputed grade of VI (Shield Direct on Ben Nevis). He has established major climbs throughout the UK on mountain cliffs, outcrops, sea stacks and sea cliffs not to mention a frozen drainpipe at London’s St Pancras station. Along the way, he achieved a reputation for mastery of loose rock and helped to develop a whole new style of climbing on the chalk cliffs of Dover. But it is for mountaineering that Fowler is best known. He has made challenging climbs across the globe, earning him a King Albert Award for ‘Outstanding Mountaineering Achievement’, three prestigious Piolets d’Or – the Oscars of the mountaineering world – and the title of ‘Mountaineer’s Mountaineer’ in a poll in The Observer. Remarkably, much of his climbing has taken place alongside a full-time job at the tax office, squeezing major mountaineering objectives into his holidays. He retired from life as a taxman in 2017 but his enthusiasm for exploratory climbing remains undimmed. Mick has served as president of the Alpine Club. He is a patron of the British Mountaineering Council, an honorary fellow of the University of Cumbria and an honorary doctor of the University of Derby. He is an ambassador for Berghaus, B. Braun and the Mountain Heritage Trust. He has written four volumes of memoirs: Vertical Pleasure, On Thin Ice, No Easy Way and Eternal Alpinist. Literary awards include the Jon Whyte Award for Mountain Literature (Banff, Canada), Best Book Prize at the Bormio Mountain Festival in Italy, and Best Outdoor Book at the Golden Rhino Awards in China.