Paul Prichard is a climber, adventurer, and author of four books, three of which have been nominated for major outdoor book awards, two of them winning the prize (the fourth was just released in December 2021)
In 1998, Paul was struck in the head by a television-sized boulder when climbing the famous seastack in Tasmania called the Totem Pole. This resulted in paralysis on Paul's right side, as well as some speaking and memory difficulties. But Paul's love of adventure continues on via climbing mountains, kayaking, and bicycling, but most of all through sharing new adventures with his son, Eli.
Explore some of Paul's adventures on his website (which include some wonderful videos) and read his beautiful writing and story-telling here on Common Climber (and see his son's first video in his Common Climber story Rock!)
Common Climber Contributions:
- Deep Play: Climbing the World's Most Dangerous Routes - Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, 1997 - Written prior to his life-changing brain injury, Paul Prichard reflects upon "the pressures and rewards of climbing some of the world's hardest and most challenging rock climbs."
- The Totem Pole - Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature & the Banff Mountain Book Festival Grand Prize, 2000 - "This Multi award winning book was written during the year which Paul Pritchard spent in Hospital. It was either that or go down to the day-room and watch re-runs of The Bold And The Beautiful. He painstakingly pressed one million keys with one finger."
- The Longest Climb - nominated for the Banff Mountain Book Festival, 2005 - "...a six-year struggle with hemiplegia and brain injury, slowly reassembling his world physically, emotionally and mentally. Progress is halting and painful, but also triumphant and often blackly humorous. Along the way he charts the small victories, the false hopes the necessary readjustments, and considers the world's perception of disability as he compares experiences with fellow handicapped climbers such as Jamie Andrew on Kilimanjaro - they are united by positive thinking and a refusal to sink into self-pity."
- The Mountain Path: A Climber's Journey Through Life and Death
- Book Review By Dave Barnes
In 1998, Paul was struck in the head by a television-sized boulder when climbing the famous seastack in Tasmania called the Totem Pole. This resulted in paralysis on Paul's right side, as well as some speaking and memory difficulties. But Paul's love of adventure continues on via climbing mountains, kayaking, and bicycling, but most of all through sharing new adventures with his son, Eli.
Explore some of Paul's adventures on his website (which include some wonderful videos) and read his beautiful writing and story-telling here on Common Climber (and see his son's first video in his Common Climber story Rock!)
Common Climber Contributions:
- Jean (By Paul Pritchard) - Paul Pritchard shares a beautifully written and emotive piece about his first traditional lead climb (which also happens to be a first ascent) since his climbing accident 25 years ago. "One may think I should not be doing this kind of thing, that it’s just too dangerous for a person with a disability. After all wasn’t it rock climbing that gave me a brain injury? But, I was an adventurer before the accident, and I am still. I can’t live half a life. I can’t show my kids that. I must be a full person."
- Rock! (By Paul Prichard) - Multi-award winning book author Paul Prichard shares a very special story about sharing climbing with his son Eli...The day had finally arrived when I could safely take my boy climbing. I had waited a long time for this moment. As a D.A.D. (dad with a disability) it takes a whole lot of planning to do anything adventurous with your kids. I have a brain injury, you see, after a climbing accident twenty-two years ago...