Joe Brown and Don Whillans and the face of rock climbing

Joe Brown, the youngest of seven children, was born on 26th September 1930, the son of Joseph and Mary Brown (nee Atwell). Life began in Ardwick, a working class area of Manchester.
http://www.joe-brown.com/biography-1930---1951.html

Don Whillans (18 May 1933 - 4 August 1985) was an English rock-climber and mountaineer. Born and raised in a two-up two-down house in Salford, Lancashire, he climbed with both Joe Brown and Chris Bonington on many new routes, and was considered the technical equal of both.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Whillans

Back in the days before the skilled technical art of climbing, before indoor climbing walls and the like, we used to try to emulate our two heroes; Joe Brown and Don Whillans, both from Lancashire.

Together, Joe and Don threw up first ascents on all the big crags of England, Scotland and Wales before going on to the Alps and the Himalayas. They were co-founders of the Rock and ice Climbing Club.

It was in Snowdonia, in Llanberis Pass, and on 'Cloggy' - Clogwyn dur Ardhu that the two lads made their names.

My favourite story is of the two young climbers, by that time already household names in climbing clubs and in the pubs of the Pass. They were on The Roaches, the crag that overlooks the Staffordshire moors near the market town of Leek. The day was wettish - not the best of days to do anything hard or too demanding.

Sure enough, Joe was leading up the Ordinary Route, a V.Diff well known to lads like me and my pals. A few other climbers watched as Joe and his pal did some easy climbing for a change.

Their looks of complacency turned to shock as Joe suddenly turned right under the overhang near the top of the crag and dangled like a sloth while he put in some protection before clinging to the rock above him and finally getting back into the vertical to complete the climb. The climb is called The Sloth, for reasons that are obvious, and to this day it is still a good test of a climber's strength and his nerve.

Joe and Don went on to much greater things together, but this feat was a good display of what the two could do - even on a wet day when everyone else had put their boots away.

They were both characters too. Don Whillans was once asked when he stopped drinking in training for a big climb. "After I pass the last pub!" was his reply.
Robert Leslie Fielding