Spirit of Adventure with Mick Fowler

Ever sat in the Library, staring out of the window and wondering what else you could be doing? On the last day in January, Exploration Society helped fuel the imagination of adventure by hosting a talk by Mick Fowler.

Mick Fowler is a British mountaineer but not your ordinary mountaineer. He, as voted in a poll by the Observer, is “the Mountaineer’s Mountaineer” and has been described by Sir Chris Bonington as “one of the greatest mountaineers”. What does this mean? Well, he’s not just another climber who talks about nothing but climbing routes and makes a conversation about Physics seem more interesting. He is someone who takes adventure to new heights and inspires you to try something other than the latest console game during your free time.

I arrived at the talk to find a near-full Physics Lecture Theatre (LT1) and Mick standing at the front waiting to start. Mick began by informing the audience that he works for HM Revenue and Customs and enjoys exploratory climbing in his spare time. If you think we have already climbed all there is to climb, you couldn’t be more wrong. You just need to look around and see what is interesting.

During the talk, Mick relayed many stories of previous climbs and the experiences that surrounded them. In the 70s, when flares were in, Mick and two climbing partners pioneered the ascent of the White Cliffs of Dover by using ice climbing gear. This adventure was met by a small audience upon completion and was reported in the local media.

A 65ft ice stack at St Pancras station

My favourite tale involved Mick ascending the finest ice climb in London. You wouldn’t think London was great for its ice features, but on this occasion there was a 65 ft ice stack on the outside of St Pancras station. While “belayed to a handy parking meter” he ascended to find the ice stack had formed from a leaking toilet outflow. This landed Mick some attention by the media and police service. The ice flow was then axed by the fire service to prevent Mick damaging the building. Ironically, the fire service caused more damage than Mick had when climbing it.

Apart from the unusual, Mick has also obtained many first ascents of Himalayan Mountains. His last ascent was the Kajaqiao in China with Chris Watts. His previous ascent, of Siguniang in China with Paul Ramsden, won Mick the prestigious Piolet d’Or (France) and Golden Piton (USA) awards for his route. To date, Mick has achieved the first ascents of five conventional rock climbs, five sea cliffs, nine sea stacks, six ice climbs and eleven mountains. If you want to know more about Mick’s adventures, he has published four books.

Since 2010 Mick is also the Alpine Club President and is always enthusiastically encouraging all young active alpinists to join it! The AC is a great source of help and advice when planning your next (or first!) alpine adventure. (More information on www.alpine-club.org.uk.)

Mick comes across as a modest guy who just likes an adventure. I’d recommend his talk to anyone. So it turns out you can work in the tax office and be an incredibly interesting person!

With the opening up of the Himalayan Mountains, there are many valleys unexplored and summits unclimbed. Only a modest amount of the Himalayas has been summited, there is plenty of area to be explored and adventures waiting to be had...

Exploration Society organise many talks throughout the year from the world’s top explorers. The society is there for people to hear about other’s experiences, or who have the desire to explore themselves. There’s an adventure to be had everywhere!

The next talk will be on the adventures of an Imperial College Kayaking expedition to Sri Lanka. It will be on March 6 at 6:30pm in the RSM LT 1.31. Hope to see you all there!