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Michael Fowler (born 1956) is a British rock climber, ice climber, mountaineer and climbing author. He is internationally noted for his alpine climbing and was awarded the Piolet d'Or three times, with Paul Ramsden, in 2003, 2013, and 2016, for alpine style first ascents of faces in the . Fowler was one of the first British rock climbers to free an E6-graded traditional rock climbing route ( Linden, 1976), and the first ice climber to free a consensus grade VI mixed climbing Scottish winter route ( The Shield Direct, 1979).
In the British Isles, Fowler is also noted for unusual and esoteric climbing including crumbling sea cliffs and sea stacks and using mixed climbing techniques on chalk cliffs. In 1989, Fowler was voted the "Mountaineers' Mountaineer" in a poll of his peers by The Observer. Fowler stayed as an amateur climber and maintained a full-time job in the HM Revenue and Customs for almost forty years. Many of Fowler's awards were earned climbing Himalayan peaks during his annual holiday leave from the Revenue.
It is for alpine climbing that Fowler came to international recognition and the application of the alpine style (i.e. small teams carrying all their own equipment with no support) to high-altitude Himalayan faces. In his autobiography, Fowler recounts that by 1981, he completed his "tick list" of the European alpine classic north faces including the Walker Spur (1979) and the north faces of the Eiger (1980) and the Matterhorn (1980), when he met Alan Rouse who recommended he leave Europe and visit Peru. Fowler took his advice and learned to squeeze more ambitious expeditions into his 30-day annual leave from the Revenue. By 1987, Fowler and Victor Saunders, won international acclaim for their groundbreaking alpine-style ascent of the "Golden Pillar" on Spantik in the Karakoram (Fowler called it the "Walker Spur" of the Himalaya), as a milestone in high-altitude climbing.
After the success of the "Golden Pillar", Fowler continued to focus on making important alpine-style ascents of high-altitude Himalayan new routes including the Northeast Buttress of Taboche (1995) and the Northwest Face of Arwa Group (1999). In 2003, Fowler and climbing partner Paul Ramsden, won the Piolet d'Or for their 2002 alpine-style ascent of the Northwest face of Mount Siguniang; they were the first British climbers to win mountaineering's most prestigious award. The duo would win a second Piolet d'Or for their 2012 alpine-style ascent of the dramatic Northeast Buttress (the "Prow") of . In 2016, they won a third Piolet d'Or for their alpine-style ascent of North Face of Gave Ding.
In 2005, The Telegraph said he was considered "a legend by other climbers, not least because of his ability to climb hard and remote mountains", but that by remaining an "amateur climber", he achieved his reputation on "all in the annual 30 days he gets off work". In 2018, The Sunday Times newspaper called him "the world's greatest amateur climber". Fowler said that he avoided the eight-thousander peaks as the circa 8-weeks of acclimatization would not fit into his 30 days of yearly holiday allowance from his full-time job. He said that he had considered turning professional at times, but that he was concerned more regular exposure to climbing would dull his enthusiasm for the sport.
Fowler married his artist wife Nicola ("Nicki") Duggan in 1991, they have two children.
In 2017, Fowler underwent treatment for anal cancer which required him to use a colostomy bag; however this did not stop him from climbing in the Himalayas in 2019, and on make first ascents of new routes on sea stacks off the Irish coast in 2023.
Other climbing
In 2010, Fowler was elected to serve as president of the Alpine Club, which was a 3-year term from 2011 to 2013, after beating Henry Day in the first-ever contested election in the organization's 153-year history. In 2014, Fowler was appointed as a Patron of the British Mountaineering Council.
Climbing author
Fowler has written three books on his climbs and life as a climber, Vertical Pleasure: The Secret Life of a Taxman (1995), On Thin Ice (2005), and No Easy Way (2018); all three were shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature (never winning outright). Fowler won the Jon Whyte Award for Mountain Literature at the 2005 Banff Mountain Book Festival for On Thin Ice, and a compilation of Fowler's writings about his climbs with Victor Saunders by Eric Vola, titled Les Tribulations de Mick et Vic, won the Grand Prix Award at the Passy Book Festival in France in 2015.
Legacy
In a 1989 poll carried out by the British newspaper, The Observer, amongst British climbers, Fowler was voted the "mountaineer's mountaineer". In 2005, Chris Bonington elaborated on The Observer poll saying "... it reflected climber approval of his highly original approach to the sport – explorations on chalk sea cliffs, alpine north faces, Scottish crags in winter and summer, and his first expeditions to major ranges which resulted in superb climbs ...". Bonnington said Fowler had delivered on this early vote of confidence by becoming "one of our greatest mountaineers". Fowler, with climbing partner Paul Ramsden, won the Piolet d'Or three times, a feat achieved by only four climbers.
Personal life
For almost 40 years from 1977 to his retirement in 2017, Fowler worked full-time for HM Revenue and Customs rising to the position of Assistant Director in the Shares and Assets Valuation Division, which is based in Nottingham (Fowler relocated from the Revenue in London in the early 1990s);
Notable ascents
Traditional climbing
Ice and mixed climbing
Mountaineering and alpine climbing
Awards and honours
For climbing
For writing
Bibliography
Books
Journals
External links
Categories: 1956 Births, Living People, Sportspeople From The London Borough Of Brent, English Mountain Climbers, British Rock Climbers, Ice Climbers, Piolet D'or Winners, Recipients Of The Albert Mountain Award, Presidents Of The Alpine Club, English Non-fiction Outdoors Writers, English Male Non-fiction Writers, 21st-century English Male Writers, 20th-century English Male Writers, Civil Servants In Hm Revenue And Customs, People From Wembley, Climbing And Mountaineering Writers
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