Almost 40 years after their first joint expedition, British climbers Mick Fowler and Vic Saunders are heading to Nepal to attempt a new first ascent this fall.
Fowler and Saunders were already leading characters in the UK climbing scene in the 1980s, thanks to their hard winter routes in Scotland. They then paired up on major expeditions beyond the island. Their best-known feat was the first ascent of Spantik’s Golden Pillar in Pakistan in 1987.
They have also forged impressive separate careers in exploratory, alpine-style climbing. Saunders — who quit his career as an architect to become a UIAGM guide and moved to Chamonix — has also guided in the Himalaya and summited Everest six times.
Partners again
They were not a regular pair for many years —Paul Ramsden became Fowler’s usual partner. But in 2016, the veteran duo teamed up again for another first ascent: the north face of 6,050m Sersank (also known as Shib Shankar) in the Indian Himalaya.
That was supposed to be the first of many climbs in their renewed alliance, but Fowler’s cancer diagnosis postponed their ambitions. We say postponed, not abandoned, since cancer has not defeated the hard-core climber. In 2019, he had recovered enough to rejoin Saunders, even though he had the added challenge of carrying a colostomy bag on his expeditions. They attempted Chombu (6,362m) in India’s Sikkim but did not succeed on that occasion.
Last year, Fowler attempted the north face of Patkhor in Tajikistan with Simon Yates. Fowler was 68 at the time. Far from slowing down, he said he wanted to make the best of the extra time he had after retiring.
As for Saunders, in 2017, he completed the sixth-ever ascent of Mount Tyree, Antarctica’s second-highest peak, with Richard Thurmer Jr, Maria Paz Ibarra, Seth Timpano, and Todd Tumolo. He is, by the way, similar in age to Fowler.
Hidden goal
Now in 2024, Fowler and Saunders are off for another Himalayan first ascent. But as is their custom, they won’t divulge their goal until they return home at the end of September. Yet Fowler has great expectations for their chosen mountain.
“[It] ticks a lot of the boxes that matter to us. The peak is the most prominent and attractive in its location, it is unclimbed, and it is in a remote area that has rarely been visited,” he told his sponsor, Berghaus.
