The Hard Years

Joe Brown is one of the greatest names in British climbing. This book not only describes his many notable climbs, but reveals a most engaging personality with a highly interesting approach to his craft.

He was born in a Manchester slum, the youngest of seven children; his father died before he was a year old. The characteristics he showed as a child - a quite extraordinary self-reliance and an unexpected love of the countryside - are reflected throughout his life-story.

THE HARD YEARS is also the story of Joe Brown's climbs up some of the toughest mountains in the world.

“The climber of genius who led the way to new concepts of what might be possible on rock”

Times Literary Supplement

Born in 1930 in a Manchester slum, Joe Brown left school at fourteen to be apprenticed to a plumber. However, his exceptional climbing abilities soon became apparent and after his National Service, successful expeditions in the Alps and the Himalayas in the mid-1950s established him as a top British climber. He was employed by archaeological expeditions to open up seemingly inaccessible caves in Persia and at Petra. He worked as an instructor at an outdoor adventure school, before setting up his own climbing equipment shop at Llanberis, where he still lives. He was appointed CBE in 2011.

Joe Brown is one of the greatest names in British climbing. This book not only describes his many notable climbs, but reveals a most engaging personality with a highly interesting approach to his craft.He was born in a Manchester slum, the youngest of seven children; his father died before he was a year old. The characteristics he showed as a child - a quite extraordinary self-reliance and an unexpected love of the countryside - are reflected throughout his life-story.THE HARD YEARS is also the story of Joe Brown's climbs up some of the toughest mountains in the world.

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