Joe Brown has been appointed a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2011 New Year Honours list for his services to rock climbing and mountaineering.
Originally from Ardwick in Manchester, he said receiving the award was like being recognised for “doing something he loved every day”.
Joe had a visionary eye for new climbs and is responsible for making the first ascents of some of the UK’s most famous and highly sought-after rock climbs, such as Cenotaph Corner in the Llanberis Pass. In 1955, he became the first man to reach the summit of Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. His name is synonymous with the imposing cliff of Clogwyn Du’r Arddu on Snowdon and gritstone crack climbing test-pieces in the Peak District.
Not only was Joe at the cutting edge of rock climbing in the fifties and sixties but he was also an accomplished alpinist and mountaineer. His 1955 first ascent with George Band of the notoriously difficult Kanchenjunga, the world’s third highest mountain, made him only one of two Britons to have made the first ascent of an 8000 metre peak.
Joe moved to Snowdonia in the sixties and together with his wife Val he set up Joe Brown outdoor shop on Llanberis High Street in 1966. Although he’s no longer involved with the business it still proudly bears his name. Last September he turned eighty and until a few years ago was still leading rock climbs graded Extremely Severe.
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