Joe Tasker
| Joe Tasker | |
|---|---|
| Born |
12 May 1948 Kingston upon Hull, England |
| Died | 17 May 1982 (aged 34) The North-East Ridge, Mount Everest, Tibet |
| Occupation | Mountaineer |
Joe Tasker (12 May 1948 – 17 May 1982) was one of the most talented British climbers during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Born into a traditional Roman Catholic family, Joe was the second of ten children and spent his early childhood in Port Clarence, Middlesbrough. The family later moved to Billingham and Joe attended Ushaw Seminary, County Durham between the ages of 13 and 20, in training to become a Catholic priest. Fascinated by The Climb Up to Hell by Jack Olsen, a book recounting harrowing tales of tragic attempts to climb the North Face of the Eiger, he started climbing in a nearby quarry in 1966.
After leaving the seminary he first worked as a dustman before studying sociology at Manchester University, where he was an enthusiastic participant in the Student Union's gypsy liaison and soup-run groups. He improved his climbing skills during this time, graduating from rock climbing in Britain to harder routes in the Alps.
Joe's first regular climbing partner was Dick Renshaw, whom he had met at university. Together they climbed the North Face of the Eiger in the winter of 1975. This was followed later that year by the first ascent of the South-East ridge of Dunagiri (7066m) in the Gharwal Himalayas. Running out of food and fuel on the descent, they were lucky to survive, although Dick Renshaw suffered frostbite in his fingers.
His ascent in 1976 of the West Face of Changabang (6864m), which neighboured Dunagiri, saw his first partnership with Peter Boardman, and was widely acclaimed as a bold, magnificent feat of mountaineering. Both he and Boardman were invited to the K2 expedition led by Chris Bonington in 1978, which was abandoned after Nick Estcourt was killed in an avalanche. Joe then made an unsuccessful attempt on Nuptse with Doug Scott and Mike Covington in the autumn of 1978.
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