Piolet d'Or number four: Paul Ramsden interview

Piolet d'Ors are the most sought-after awards in mountaineering. Yorkshireman Paul Ramsden has just received his fourth, yet we know very little about him. It's always his climbing partners and fellow trophy-winners who appear in the climbing press. Sarah Stirling tracks him down to find out his opinions on his latest award-winning route, sponsored climbers and the media spotlight.

Paul Ramsden and Nick Bullock have just been awarded a Piolet d'Or for making the first ascent of a 7,000m peak in Tibet last year.

Previously, Paul and Mick Fowler received three Piolet d'Ors over their years as climbing partners: in 2003 for opening up the North Face of Siguniang in China, in 2013 for their ascent of the Prow of Shiva in India and in 2016 for climbing Gave Ding in one of the remotest regions of Nepal.

Paul Ramsden

When I go to Piolet d’Or award ceremonies I always meet climbers whose lifetime ambition is to win one. They tend to be the full-timers and the bloggers. I find it amusing I’ve got four and I don’t tell anyone about it! I had no idea I’d won one until you told me, and I think I’ll celebrate by cutting my lawn. I’m chuffed, though, don’t get me wrong.

I’m not a self publicist, but I wouldn’t say I’ve avoided media attention either. You’re the first journalist who has ever phoned me up! I don’t have a blog, I’m not on Facebook and when Rab asked if they could sponsor me I said, “As long as I don’t have to do anything in return!” They were a bit surprised but they went with it.

I find the idea of sponsorship a bit distasteful. I understand why people do it and I don’t have anything against it, but I personally prefer to go climbing and do my own thing. I’m self-employed, which means I can have as much time off as I like, but in reality I don’t get paid if I’m not working, and I have family and other commitments so I don’t take much time off.

I’m an occupational hygienist but no-one knows what that is! Essentially I make sure people don’t get exposed to chemicals, and if it does happen then I measure how much they have been exposed to. In recent years I’ve mostly worked in Saudi Arabia. It’s great training for the Himalayas — last summer temperatures reached 57 degrees there!

Back in 2003, Mick Fowler and I were the first Brits to ever win a Piolet d’Or, and we had absolutely no idea what it was. The award ceremony was huge. It was held in Paris back then and there must have been 1000 people. When we collected the award, we said something like, “Cheers.” I think they were used to more tears and thanking people!

I tend to do one big climbing trip a year. I’d not really climbed with anyone except Mick for years, but we had a natural parting of ways, so I shopped around for someone else to climb with. I’m 15 years younger than Mick and I wanted to find someone about 15 years younger than me, who could last a long time as a partner.

I asked all the obvious people but couldn’t find a partner who was interested, fit, experienced and committed. I’m not sure the style is popular these days, and the generation below me, quite a lot of them died in the Himalayas or became guides, which is kind of the same thing!

Then I contacted Nick Bullock, and he agreed to try the new route in Tibet with me. I’ve known him a long time — we first met in Namche Bazaar in Nepal. He was still working in prisons and was really intense and stary-eyed back then. Since then he’s retired. He’s been living out of his van for years and is more relaxed.

The granite was good, but there was thin ice and powder snow to contend with higher up. It turned out to be more poorly protected than I would have liked, which would have made descending the same way difficult. The ice wasn’t thick enough for a thread anchor.

The higher we got, the more it was better to keep going over the top and go down a different way. I think abseiling the line you climbed is a bit disappointing anyway. I prefer to descend a different way because it’s more aesthetically pleasing and a more satisfying adventure. Everything is going onto something new.

It snowed every day when we were on the mountain, and there was a lot of snowfall as we descended. Yes, it was dangerous from an avalanche point of view, but if you don’t have a plan B you just have to work out the safest line down. Inevitably you get close calls sometimes, but I try really hard to minimise those dangers.

I can’t claim it isn’t stressful for my family when I’m away on a trip like this but they do trust me. I’ve got to basecamp and turned around and said it wasn’t safe enough before. It’s disappointing at the time, but it does show to everybody that you have the right judgement.

On the other hand, I know from experience that I’ll be really happy afterwards if I push on and get to the top of a route. Retrospective pleasure is a great thing. There’s a fine line between knowing when to press on and when to back off, but I think I can judge now how likely I am to get to the top of something.

I’ve been climbing all my life, it’s intrinsic to me. I like the freedom and simplicity. Life is complex but when climbing you can just focus on one thing and not worry about all the other rubbish.

In order to make climbing as safe as possible I choose my line, partner and equipment really carefully. It’s about experience. I’d done all the famous North Faces in the Alps by the time I was 19, and I’ve soloed routes, but then I made a conscious decision not to climb like that any more.

I think there is only one outcome from continuing to solo, and trying to tick things off is another reason why people start dying. They are so driven to get to the top that they don’t make the right decisions. You have to sit and look at your climbing and decide: am I in this for today or for the rest of my life? And then plan your climbing accordingly.

Not many people keep mountaineering for a long time. They get tired, they get scared, they believe it’s not sustainable and they are going to kill themselves, but then there are people like me who learn to climb in a certain way that keeps you as safe as possible.

Safety is a complicated equation. Looking at yourself and your partner and thinking about how you’re feeling and thinking. Looking at the quality of the ice and how safe you can make it. If you can’t make it that safe then you need to be much more positive about what you are doing. On the other hand, if you are getting tired but protection is good then you can keep going.

I was meant to be going to Alaska today with Twid Turner but I’ve been refused entry to America. The rules changed a couple of months ago and my visa was cancelled because I’ve been on a couple of business trips to Libya. So that’s blown it for this year and next year I will go on another trip with Nick.