Deep Play : Climbing the world's most dangerous routes

Winner of the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature 1997

Paul Pritchard's Deep Play is a unique, stylish and timeless commentary reflecting the pressures and rewards of climbing some of the world's hardest and most challenging rock climbs. Starting out in Lancashire before moving to join the vibrant Llanberis scene of the mid-1980s, Pritchard threw himself into the adventurous development of the Dinorwig slate quarries. Many of the new slate routes were notable for their fierce technical difficulty and sparse protection, and Pritchard took a full part in this arcane sub-culture of climbing, deploying his skills on the Anglesey sea cliffs to produce a clutch of equally demanding wall climbs.

Born with an adventurous soul, it wasn't long before Pritchard and his friends were planning exotic trips around the globe. In 1987, paired with Johnny Dawes, he made an epoch-making visit to Scotland's Sron Ulladale to free its famous aid route, The Scoop. The pair then attempted the Catalan Pillar of Bhagirathi III in the Garhwal Himalaya—a precocious first expedition prematurely curtailed when Pritchard was hit by stonefall. Later adventures took him to Patagonia's Central Tower of Paine, the West Face of Mount Asgard on Baffin Island, and expeditions to Yosemite, Pakistan and Nepal, resulting in a clutch of notable repeats, first ascents and some failures.

The failure list also included two life-threatening falls—one on Gogarth, the other on Creag Meaghaidh—which prompted thought-provoking personal re-assessments, in advance of his later near-terminal accident on The Totem Pole in Tasmania. A penetrating view of the adventures and preoccupations of a contemporary player, Deep Play stands alone as a unique first-hand account of what many consider to be the last great era in British climbing.