Vertical Pleasure Early Climbs in Britain, the Alps, the Andes and the Himalaya or, the Secret Life of a Taxman

This is the first set of mountaineering memoirs of one of Britain's leading mountaineers that was shortlisted for the Boardman/Tasker Award and published in Britain and the United States. Fowler describes his full development as a climber initially under the tutelage of his widowed father, then with school friends in London, then to Britain's more esoteric haunts, (sea stacks and far flung ice climbs) and finally in the Alps, the Andes and the Himalaya. Mick Fowler, who works for the Inland Revenue, is now recognised throughout the world as one of the most innovative and widely travelled mountaineers of his era. With job and family life making all the normal demands, his big climbing ventures have to be squeezed into tight holidays. Despite this he has pulled off some of the finest climbs and first ascents of recent years that are envied by his fellow mountaineers for their shrewd esoteric selection, grandeur and bold challenge.