Deep Play

Born on top of a quarry and a teenager at a time when work was scarce in the UK, Paul Pritchard represents the quintessential unemployed climber, someone who lived by climbing and financed by unemployment benefits. Reviled by some for not living a more traditional lifestyle, in Deep Play Pritchard justifies state investment with an eloquent and compelling account of the pressures and rewards of modern climbing. Pritchard's growth as a climber took shape gradually, from his early days in England's Peak District to his move to North Wales, where he began to make a name for himself on the cliffs of Anglesey. In 1987, in Scotland with Johnny Dawes, Pritchard free climbed The Scoop, the route opened using aid on the overhanging face of Sron Ulladale. In 1992 with Simon Yates, Noel Craine and Sean Smith, Pritchard left for Patagonia where he created a new great route on the East Face of the Central Tower of Paine. Other climbs followed, notable repetitions, first ascents and sometimes semi-defeats on the edge of death, on Mount Asgard, in Yosemite, in Bariloche, on the Trango Towers and on Meru; new trips to Patagonia and other new routes in the UK. But if his CV as a climber is impressive, his talent as a writer is no less brilliant. He manages to involve the reader in his experiences with vivid and surprising imagination, with a fast prose style that breaks every rule and leaves you breathless.