A fearsome cancer to fight, and an expedition to the Pamir this summer with fellow Englishman Simon Yates that nearly went horribly wrong: in recent years, life has not spared Mick Fowler, now 67. Known as one of the great mountaineers of the modern era, we wondered how the man coped with his illness, and whether in Tajikistan, the climber awarded three Piolets d’Or had crossed certain limits. Fowler’s spirit and answers in this unfiltered interview.
With Victor Saunders in the autumn of 2016, English mountaineer Mick Fowler once again succeeded in climbing a virgin peak: Sersank (6,050 m) in the Indian Himalayas. The two partners, famous since their first ascent of the Golden Pillar at Spantik (7,028 m, Pakistan) in 1987, opened up the 1,100 metres of the north pillar before descending the summit via the south and west faces. It was a technical and challenging 8-day round