MickFowler.

The two truths of Mick Fowler.

Mick Fowler is a man of two truths. One truth is Mike, an easy-going family man with a long and successful career in His Majesty's Revenue & Customs. The other is Mick, the relentless, almost fanatical climber who has spent almost 50 years finding and conquering some of the most incredible mountain ascents ever undertaken. For his entire life Mick has expertly juggled the two.

Intrepid exploration of the UK.

Mick was raised in the suburbs of northwest London. He discovered climbing with his father, George, on Kent's sandstone outcrops. Mick's childhood memories are peppered with trips to climbing spots around the UK and occasional visits to the Alps, in his father's Reliant three-wheeler.

And Mick spent a lot of the 1980s racing up and down M1 and M6 in the small hours, from London to Scotland and back over a weekend, bagging countless unclimbed routes in the West Highlands and mastering his craft.

The Greater Ranges beckon.

Inevitably, the search for bigger challenges eventually attracted Mick to the Greater Ranges, a handful of the World's biggest mountain ranges which include the Himalaya, Trans Himalaya, Hengduan, Karakoram, Kunlunshan, Hindukush, Pamir, Tianshan, the Great Tibetan Plateau, and, depending on who you ask, the Andes.

Mick's expeditions into mountain ranges beyond Europe started in 1982 with Taulliraju, a 5830m peak hidden deep with the Peruvian Andes. The expedition's perfect terrain and the sense adventure for a Brit travelling through South America during the Falklands War, ticked all the boxes. The experience of acclimatising for the climb also gave Mick the confidence that climbing 7000m peaks would be possible for him, despite having to fit his expeditions into his holiday allowance.

Subsequently, Mick's sights were set on the Greater Ranges of south and central Asia, the cluster of mountain ranges created by the Indian Plate impacting with the Eurasian Plate, that is home to the tallest mountains on Earth. Over the last 35 years, with climbing partners including Victor Saunders, Steve Sustad, Pat Littlejohn, Dave Turnbull, Andy Cave, Chris Watts and Paul Ramsden, Mick has claimed many astonishing first ascents on some of World's most spectacular mountain faces.

Mick's endeavours have earned him a place at the table of climbing's greats. He is hugely respected by his peers and the international climbing community. The Observer calling him the "mountaineer's mountaineer" and The Sunday Times once claimed Mick to be "the world's greatest amateur climber". Not that he places much importance on them, but he is also one of only four climbers to have been awarded the Piolet d'Or, mountaineering's most prestigious award, three times.

Juggling climbing with everyday life.

What makes Mick's achievements even more astonishing is the balancing act he has performed for the 40 years to fit his climbing around a busy work and family life. While it's typical for mountaineers to be battling against visa expiries, weather windows and finite rations, Mick's expeditions have always been limited by his 30-day holiday allowance at HMRC. It's the reason he never set his sights on the 8000m peaks; he couldn't afford the acclimatisation time. Despite his many commitments, Mick clearly still had too much time on his hands, which he used to write three books which recount his extraordinary adventures with great charm: Vertical Pleasure - The Secret Life of a Taxman (1995), On Thin Ice (2005), No Easy Way (2018).

A brief pause for cancer and back to climbing.

In 2017, within six months of retiring, Mick was diagnosed with cancer of the anus. Following unsuccessful non-evasive treatment, he underwent an ostomy, a significant surgery which included removing his rectum and anus and redirecting his bowel exit to a colostomy bag. Cancer is something he is remarkably matter of fact about, to him, like an unexpected turn of events on a mountaineering expedition, it is just another challenge to overcome.