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Joe Brown Dies 17-Apr-2020 At 8:53:05 PM Ithomas

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Like Kieran, I remember stumping around dripping wet British cliffs and feeling like I was walking in the footsteps of giants. In Lanberris someone pointed out JB to me and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Hero worship. Only three JB climbs under my belt, each being a certified classic; Cenotaph Corner and later on the two Unconquerables. Joe Brown’s great climbing partner, Don Whillans latterly climbed with the famous lakes country climber Bill Peascod, who by the way lived in Australia for over 20 years and did some very passable climbing in NSW and Queensland in the 1950’s, so there is a faint Australian connection with the great men. Whillans was a favourite with rebellious youth but Brown was everyone’s hero. The Americans of the 60’s had the sun and a certain technical appeal but Brown and Whillans were ‘ard’ and had ‘brass’. Some people here will have personal stories about Joe Brown. In Tasmania, Jim Duff and Les Wood knew him and maybe Wilbur King, Russ Kippax and Bryden did as well? Joe Brown put up the hardest climbs of his era with good humour, a fag, a pint and an overflowing bucket of skill and boldness. He was the best in the West. Modern climbing began with him and even though he has now passed, history will remember his legacy long after the latest bolt ladder has rusted away.