The Big History
With over 120 years of combined heritage, we’ve got quite a story to tell….
“Apart from it’s nearness to Snowdon, Llanberis has one other tourist attraction: Joe Brown’s shop. It is not large but, with it’s slate floors and stripped pine fittings, it seems disproportionately fancy for it’s situation. So do it’s contents: racks of down jackets, shelves piled with sleeping bags and expensive sweaters, a room lined with boxes of mountain boots, brightly coloured ropes hanging in coils from the ceiling, a wall festooned with carabiners, nuts, pitons, slings and chalk bags, shelves of climbing guides and assorted mountaineering literature. It is a kind of Aladdin’s cave for mountaineers and most weekends, particularly when the weather is bad, the place is packed with young hopefuls covetously fingering the goods and gossiping in the close-mouthed, bristly way that is peculiar to the climbing world.”
Al Alvarez, Feeding the Rat (1988)
Gear shops have always played a very important part in the lives of climbers and hillwalkers. The Joe Brown shops in Snowdonia and The Climbers Shop in Ambleside are proud to uphold the good old fashioned retailing legacy of our original owners; not just a place of work where we make our living but thriving social hubs, welcoming customers into an environment where they can talk about what they have been up to, discuss their favourite piece of kit, glean advice and meet like-minded people. Many of our customers tell us of their great memories linked to our shops interwoven with trips, gear and talking about getting out and doing what they love – today, it’s just the same. It’s just our Aladdin’s caves have even more gear to choose from.
Climbing has never been a mainstream sport, so it’s hardly surprising that the original owners of our shops, Frank Davies and Val and Joe Brown’s, paths crossed over the years but just how important both businesses were to the other is a story only recently discovered. Much is known of Joe Brown and his climbing exploits but the story behind how both The Climbers Shop and the Joe Browns shops have become and maintained their place as iconic specialist independent shops is a tale that belongs to two lesser known individuals, that of Frank and Val respectively.
They say, it’s all about location. In Ambleside, our shop on Compston Corner has been a recognised focal point for climbers since Frank Davies first started trading there in the early 1960’s. Some of our older local customers can remember what is now our front climbing room, as Fell Jenkinsons Ladies Outfitters in the 1930’s before it became Taylor and Bispham’s Cycle and Radio shop.
Source: Ambleside History Society Website.
Val Brown remembers well her first climbing trips to Langdale in the 1940’s before she met her (soon to be famous) husband Joe. From the age of 16 until starting college at 18 she used to hitch hike to Ambleside almost every weekend. There were no buses on the route from her home town of Blackburn so unless there was a crisis in the bank where she worked, she would meet up with other climbers at the café in the shed next to Ambleside bus station, before hitching a lift or walking into Langdale for a weekend’s climbing. One of her Langdale trips has stuck with her for obvious reasons: when she was sitting in the Old Dungeon Ghyll someone whispered to her that Joe Brown was sitting over in the corner. Smiling at the memory, she explains; “Well, of course, it was of no significance to me at the time.”
Source: Ambleside History Society Website.
Wall End Barn in Langdale was well known among climbers of the day as the place to crash after an evening spent in the warmth of the legendary pub. Then Landlord, Sid Cross was an active climber and played a key part in the creation of the Langdale Mountain rescue Team. With the majority of their climbing centred around the Peak District and Wales at that time, Joe Brown & Don Whillans were infrequent visitors to the Lakes, so when they arrived in Langdale, the climbing scene took notice. It was in the Old Dungeon Ghyll that another whispered conversation was overheard, as Joe describes in his book, The Hard Years:
“One weekend Nat (Allen) arrived at the camp-site in Langdale. He had just been to the Old Dungeon Ghyll, and whilst in the pub he had overheard a whispered conversation between two climbers who thought that he was me. The conversation went as follows:
“That’s Joe Brown over there!”
“No it’s not, it can’t be. Brown has bandy legs, teeth like tombstones and hands like bunches of bananas.”
This amused us so much that we faked a photograph to fit the description!”
“…….bandy legs, teeth like tombstones and hands like bunches of bananas…..”
An old copy of the original photo, still owned by Val and Joe, popped up 60 years later in a bag of Frank Davies papers at The Climbers Shop!
In the 40’s Ambleside was still very much a market town offering a variety of shops supplying everyday clothing, food, furniture, household linen etc. Mr Wilf. T .Nicholson’s shop had opened it’s doors in 1935 and became the first shop in town to sell outdoor clothing, proudly advertising “Anoraks in Profusion” over the front door but Frank’s was the very first dedicated outdoor equipment shop to open in the town in 1959, as remembered by local resident Joan Newby on the Ambleside History website:
“Outdoor shops were virtually unknown before the war, people went climbing in hobnailed boots, tweedy clothing and cumbersome waterproofs, we young ones just had our ordinary clothing, if the weather was inclement we left the hills alone, we could not have afforded to buy the items of clothing on sale today. As I can remember the first………was Frank Davies at the top of Compston……after the war, now I dare not think how many we have.”
Frank’s wife Cate pointed out the original shop on Millan’s Park, now a Japanese restaurant, a much smaller premises, explaining how he had opened with £500 worth of stock which even in those days, didn’t stretch very far. After a trip to the walking boot wholesaler in Manchester, Frank would keep as many empty boxes as possible so they could stay on display and hint at the vast size range he might have available. Local climber and writer for The Guardian, Tony Greenbank remembers Frank first setting up in a tiny kiosk (now selling ice cream) with an anecdote from his first day’s trading that might have been enough to have most new business owners hanging up their hat:
“Frank Davies launched the Climbers Shop in 1959. This was the year the Lake District experienced a summer so hot tar melted on the roads as late as October and waterfalls ran dry. For Stock Ghyll bisecting the older part of Ambleside to be so impoverished took some doing. On the auspicious day Frank first opened for business the rocky bed of Stock Beck was snuff dry. Drought conditions prevailed. Newspaper headlines read: “Phew! What a scorcher!” Tourists trailed passed the door licking ice creams. But nobody called. Yards away was Lakeland's most popular tourist magnet, the Bridge House that spans Stock Beck. It was a reason Frank had broken the bank to start up here. To be sure few passers-by looked like mountaineers. You never knew. He had anoraks and balaclavas to sell.
A shadow fell across the doorway. Who should appear but Ambleside's Street Fighting Man? “Oh, no!” he thought. “Not Barry Kershaw!” Didn't he once grin after being struck by lightning? Thought he was having a selfie taken. And hadn't he misspelt the name of one of his routes when entering the details in the New Rock Climbs book (kept in Ambleside's Royal Oak)? Phaeton. No, not “a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage” as Scrabble players will explain, but a description of the one activity Barry Kershaw most liked doing.
Frank duly produced the rope he requested. Flipping open one end of the carton, Kershaw slid out the factory-fresh Viking nylon climbing rope wrapped as solid as a bottle of wine. Within minutes he had re-coiled it round a knee as was then the fashion and slung it in propriety fashion over a shoulder. Only then did he break the news. “Sorry, pal, I'm skint. Here, have my guitar. I'll collect it when I bring you the dosh tomorrow.”
True to his word, he redeemed his pledged guitar the following day and paid up.
Source: Climbers Club Journal 1962
Source: Climbers Club Journal 1963
Source: The Climbers Shop First Mail Order Catalogue
As business started to grow and adverts came to include photos, Frank enlisted the help of his friend Joe Brown as a kit adviser and model who he had met when he joined the famous Rock and Ice climbing club while living in Manchester. Tony Greenbank takes up the story:
Manchester-based, he heard climbers met at the YMCA. “I went along, all psyched up,” he recalled. “A few lads were playing snooker and ping pong and drinking mugs of tea. I left.” He later learned those “lads” had been Rock and Ice members, the new hot-shot breed of working-class climbers in contrast to the upper and middle class professionals who had previously totally dominated the sport. Joe - “the Human Fly” - Brown (later to become a CBE), Don - “the Villain” - Whillans, Nat Allen, Don Chapman, Don Cowan, Doug Belshaw, Ron Mosely and so on often attended these YMCA meetings. Frank duly returned, pitched in and subsequently became a Rock & Ice member.
Initially a cyclist like so many other climbers in the days when bikes had steel frames with wrap-around lugs, no suspension, no V-brakes and crap gearing, he'd long wanted to go cragging. Now he did just that with Rock and Ice compatriots. Post war petrol rationing ended in 1950. Climbers began to arrive on Triumph Tiger 100's, Ariel Square Fours, International Nortons and so forth. Then came the A35 Austin van, giving shelter and cooking space too. Not liable for purchase tax, it was the cheapest commercial vehicle on the road. The great outdoors was in vogue. The 50s was the right time to retail outdoor kit.
Source: The Climbers Shop First Mail Order catalogue circa 1965
It certainly was, The Climbers Shop positioned itself at the very pinnacle of technical products and supplied a number of expeditions including the 1962 Anglo-Soviet Pamirs Expedition led by Sir John Hunt of Everest fame and including Malcolm Slesser, Wilfred Noyce, Robin Smith, Ian McNaught-Davis and Joe Brown. With Joe’s advice, Frank worked with manufacturers to create equipment designs that were both practical and commercial successes – one of these being the Joe Brown rucksack. Karrimor pioneer and OMM founder Mike Parsons remembers when Frank approached him:
“Frank came to see us at Karrimor Weathertite Products Ltd at our workshop in Rawtenstall, at the back of our retail store, C H Parsons, The Outdoor Shop (we sold bikes, packs, ropes, tricouni nails, sleeping bags and tents, everything in fact) before he opened, to agree supplies to him. We were making slim, frameless, climbing packs like, the Pinnacle, Chamonix and OB. The Joe Brown pack came later when Frank asked for a special, but Frank also started getting Outward Bound /schools /outdoor centre business, which boomed from this date onwards. I never met Joe until later. There were many generations of the JB pack and I went down to see Joe about some of them.”
The tough canvas Joe Brown pack became a familiar design out in the hills as customers embraced the rugged frameless design and you can see one of the early generations, kindly donated by a customer, on permanent display in our Capel Curig shop window. From it’s humble beginnings behind the small family firm, Mike Parsons led Karrimor to the very forefront of technical equipment working with many of the greatest climbers of their generation:
“Around 1972 a guy called Don Whillans called in the shop (which was effectively our front door) and said; yer making a pack for a friend of mine Joe Brown, could you make one for me?”
Rucsacks sold like hotcakes, business prospered and Franks climbing lead to adventures in sailing and a love of driving cars. His driving was infamous among friends but respected on the rally circuit. Conversely, having always enjoyed mid-grade climbing there is one little known story where he took so long to lead a route that his belayer; Ian McNaught-Davis, set light to a ledge to hurry him up!
Peter Hall (left) and Frank Davies. Source: Frank Davies Collection
In 1964, his attention turned to The Three Peaks Challenge and he teamed up in his Mini Cooper S with Barrow fell runner Peter Hall to see if they could beat the record for the climbing the Three Peaks in under 24 hours – they did.
The original signed Climbers Shop business cards and time sheets of Peter Halls record breaking run.
Peter ran a scorching three legs with Frank driving…er…swiftly in between. So swiftly in fact, that after more stringent speed limits were introduced, Norris McWhirter wrote to him explaining why his record would no longer appear in the Guinness Book of Records.
Source: Frank Davies Collection
But Frank he knew he could do it faster.
Deep in the archives of a long dead British Racing Company there is a black and white photo of Cumbrian fell running legend Joss Naylor. He is looking tired, dressed in running shorts and a string vest, sitting on the bonnet of a specially prepared rally spec Ford Vita 6 Capri drinking tea out of a china cup. The date is 1971 and leaning across the bonnet towards him is a smiling chap covered in considerably more clothing – the driver; Frank Davies.
Source: Mountgreen Website (British Auto Vita History)
Current Climbers Shop Director Cathy Casey takes up the story:
“Sitting on Joss’ sofa discussing the poorly lambs visible from his lounge window, I clutched a cup of tea made for me by the legend himself. It is a china cup because: “Yul be wantin’ a laedies cup” was the decision he came to before I could understand his broad dialect let alone answer. I am an unmistakeably soft southerner who runs a bit. Joss, on the other hand grew up among the fells of Wasdale, was born a shepherd and has a stream of British and International fell running records to his name. One of which is unbreakable.
“I wussn’t avelable fust time so he drove Peter Hall from Barrow” Joss explains when I ask whose idea it had been to make the record attempt. On this trip Frank and Peter had smashed the 1964 record with the scorching time of just over 12 hours but Frank was convinced that with Joss as his runner they could beat it. So, on the 7th July 1971, after milking the cows and seeing to the farm Joss met Frank at The Climbers Shop and they set out for Fort William in a borrowed 3.0 litre V6 mk1 Capri complete with a specialist long range fuel tank. It’s fair to say that the car played a key part in this story, as did the new, modern and comparatively empty motorway network. Any other variables couldn’t possibly be commented on.
Heading into Glasgow, Frank wanted to be sure of the route through the city through which they would shortly be returning in the dead of night. They were so busy memorising street names that it was only on the third passing of a police officer they noted his queer look and thought it best to get on their way. It was early afternoon when they arrived at Glencoe and starving hungry, stopped at a roadside caravan offering hot dogs and tea. Joss describes both as being rank, throwing the hot dog away after just one mouthful and muttering to Frank; “They want putting out of business.” The next thing he knew, Frank had backed up to the caravan hatch, threw the car into second gear, dumped the clutch and zoomed off leaving a cloud of dust and grit and likely a choking and cussing owner.
It was to be another four years before the Ballachulish Bridge was built so, rather than driving around Loch Leven, Frank had worked out it was five minutes faster to take the ferry and after ensuring the ferry would be at the right side of the Loch at the right time they continued onto Fort William to sort out the issue of who might officiate Joss’ arrival on the summit of the Ben. As luck would have it, Frank knew of 2 Scottish lads, just out of the RAF who had decided to open their own gear shop in Fort William. Frank decided to take them out for dinner and exchanged some of his retailing knowhow for sitting on top of Ben Nevis to clock Joss in. They must have paid attention because Nevisports is still trading to this day (although the original owners have since retired).
At 9pm the following evening, July 8th, Joss was witnessed touching the sea water below Ben Nevis, the time was duly noted on a hand typed schedule and they were off driving through Fort William to Glen Nevis. Joss describes the weather as “dreich” when he left the car for the 4,406 feet climb, running almost the entire route in darkness, battling through storm force winds and driving rain while following the route entirely from memory. The red typed record signed by the Nevisports boys shows his arrival on the summit as 22:05.
By 10:36pm Frank was driving them away from the Glen Nevis youth hostel towards Scafell Pike and Joss was ready for a drink. “I’d popped a salt tablet inta some orange juice but top flew off!” The tablet had reacted with the citric acid and the two or three mouthfuls he’d drunk before he realised it was off upset his tummy enough so that he didn’t eat for the rest of the run. Heading back towards Carlisle they got caught up amid the lorries that had come off the ferry at Stranraer in the sheeting rain and spray. “Eet was a bit hairy meeting wagons like” explained Joss, Frank had been concentrating hard, consuming Mars bars to keep up his energy levels and didn’t take kindly to any comments Joss made regarding the car or his driving.
As Frank brought the car to a halt at Seathwaite in Borrowdale, Joss climbed out of the hard rally seats and shot off at 2:45am to arrive on the summit (3209 feet) exactly one hour later. After a swift drink from Alan Evans and he took the path back down to Langdale at such a pace that he was back on the road with Frank 55 minutes later heading towards Snowdon.
Roadworks on the M6 meant that they had to drive through Liverpool before taking the A5 to Betws Y Coed. It was so foggy when they arrived at the town that Joss opted to change from running up the Pyg Track to following the Llanberis path to ensure he didn’t get lost. Frank stopped the car at 7:30 in Llanberis with Joss running off a cramp and counting down the railway sleepers in very limited visibility, arriving with Eddie Hammond at 8:14am. The summit was in a glorious temperature inversion with all 14 of the Welsh 3000 peaks poking out in brilliant sunshine above the soft white cloud. While Eddie had been waiting in his peaceful eyrie, he said he could hear the roar of the Capri’s engine come all the way through Capel Curig, over Pen Y Pass and down into Llanberis!
The last leg was back down the railway to the waiting car at 8:35am ready for the drive to Caernarvon to finish the challenge and turn off the clock. Frank explained that they had plenty of time, and as all of the kids will be on their way to school he followed the speed limits to the castle where Joss dipped his hand in the sea precisely 11 hours and 54 minutes after leaving the Scottish loch.
Total driving distance: 474 miles
Total driving time: 7 hrs 24 mins
Total running time: 4 hrs 30 mins
And this time Frank made it into the record books.
Source: Frank Davies Collection
“Joss was 81 years old when we met and I swear he recounted the entire story in real time as if he were still there running it. I put my tea cup down exhausted at the insane running times and processing just how little he’d eaten and drunk throughout the entire event but then this very same man has been known to complete a fell run wearing a plastic farm bag as a waterproof.
“I did it ugen twenty one year laiter” he said. Frank was at the wheel again on this trip which Joss completed to raise money for a local childrens charity. This time Frank had a friend along, Grant Edmondson; “They were like kids, nivver stopped talking about rally driving.”
It was a true passion of Frank’s, he certainly loved his cars. In fact one of his red convertible sports cars was a key player in the story of how Joe Brown shops came to be…….
Val and Joe had met in the Peak District after Val had completed her teacher training at a college chosen specifically because of its location to Black Rocks. By the time of their wedding in 1957 Joe was so famous that he thought there were more reporters than guests at their reception and both were surprised to discover their wedding pictures in print while reading the papers on their honeymoon! Joe worked as a self-employed builder before taking a job as an Outdoor Instructor at Whitehall near Buxton in 1961.
Alan Marsden, a customer of the Joe Brown shops got in touch with us a couple of years ago to share his memories of Joe as an instructor:
“I remember climbing with Joe during a week at Whitehall, Buxton back in '64 as well as a 2-week trip away to the Isle of Skye climbing the Cuillins. Happy days. I recall whilst we were there we were bunked in dormitory style accommodation. Joe came in one evening and gave a us a demonstration of freestyle climbing. He deftly circumnavigated the room by effortlessly hanging from the picture rail in a performance similar to the creature in Alien. I swore he had suckers on his hands and feet...
Source: Alan Marsden
Source: Alan Marsden
In the Spring of 1965 Frank and his first wife Ivy, dropped by Whitehall, where the Browns were now living. They were en route to the Alps for a holiday. As they pulled away in their gleaming new sports car Val turned to Joe and asked:
“How come Frank and Ivy are able to go away on holiday while we always seem to be scraping money together for your next trip?”
Joe flashed his famous tombstone smile and replied:
“Well, if you want to run a shop we could try.”
So, they did. Val Brown takes up the story:
“A climber friend, who happened to be an estate agent in North Wales, pointed out two shops to us; one in Betws Y Coed and the other in Llanberis. We both liked the Llanberis one and bought it, moving in in December 1965 – the building was an ancient ruin! Joe and two climbers, Richard McHardy and John “Gluey” Gloose (who moved in) worked 12 hour days together along with many other climbers who came to help at different periods while I worked on the upper floor which became our home. I remember using 57 rolls of wallpaper and 12 gallons of paint to decorate the flat from top to bottom - all while I was pregnant! With all of the kind people who helped we were able to have the shop ready for opening the last week of March 1966.”
Original metal shop sign 1966 - the image is taken from a photo by Edgar Siddall of Joe climbing Tramgo on Castell Cidwm.
The shop on the High Street was born. The slate crazy paving that you walk on in the Llanberis shop today was originally laid by Joe and the original stripped pine panelling adorning the walls is home to modern equipment and pictures of Joe on expeditions and trips. In fact, it was while researching this history that we discovered a typo in the name of one of Joe’s first ascents. The black and white image of him climbing Tramgo on Castell Cidwm has hung on the shop wall incorrectly labelled for years – the route, seconded by Chris Bonington was originally named Trango. A bit of detective work by ex-staff member Rob Greenwood at UK Climbing decided that the error had likely come about in a 1967 edition of New Climbs and has appeared in guidebooks ever since. Joe, incidentally, isn’t bothered either way. Val and Joe’s old flat above the shop is now storerooms and office space but back in the day it was a hub for climbers from all over and there is a fantastic old recording of a group of them singing together, including songsmith and climbing hardman Tom Patey voicing the “The Legend of Joe Brown”. The recording was discovered on an old CD in the company safe and for years it’s source remained a complete mystery until early in 2020 ex-staff member Ed Wright uploaded it digitally for everyone to listen to.
“This was rescued by me from an old reel to reel for Joe from stuff he had in his loft from way back when. No one was sure how to get at it but luckily, I managed to briefly misappropriate a Revox for a few hours from a nearby University's Ethnomusicology archive. “
Sung and played by Tom Patey and the text can be read in Tom's book "One Man's Mountains: Essays and Verses". Other voices on the tape are Val Brown and (possibly) "RustyBailey.”
With both businesses keeping pace with the growth in outdoor sports, the shops themselves became regular haunts for climbers and hillwalkers as a base to discuss routes and adventures and to ponder where they should go next. Some of our staff team in Ambleside can remember having to hang up a range of rucksacks outside the front every morning and removing them every night. The packs became more and more faded as the years went on – Frank never keen on replacing them, in fact if you look above the front door to the left the hooks are still there. These, along with an old pair of wooden ski’s were nailed over the front door to announce the range of equipment available inside.
Mail order catalogues for both businesses in the 1960’s
In Wales, Val decided that if green was a good enough colour for Harrods to use then why not use it as the colour of the new Joe Brown plastic carrier bags. It was also time to expand. Capel Curig already had a small climbing shop owned by Charlie Brennand, trading from the site of a blanket making workshop in a building behind the post office. When Val and Joe decided to take over the whole place Val explains how a major amount of work had to be done:
“Joe did all this – creating one large shop, an upper floor for storage, washing facilities and loos in a downstairs corner. The site was excellent with plenty of parking space, paths leading to hill walks to Ogwen and public loos, all ensuring that plenty of people had views of and access to the shop and also it was at the junction of the roads leading to Betws, Tremadoc, Snowdon and Ogwen. It couldn’t have been better.”
Prior to opening, Joe and Mo Anthoine had been creating Snowdon Mouldings, a small business making among other things, the famous Joe Brown climbing helmet. Legend has it they were “scientifically tested” in the back room of the Llanberis shop by someone climbing halfway up the office stairs and dropping a brick onto a helmet placed on the floor below, however, Val and Joe can confirm a more stringent testing methodology:
“When they were first created they were tested by the MOD at Farnborough and the British Standards Institute. Later the American magazine Alpinist (Issue 51, 2015) reported that when the German Alpine Club had tested 16 helmets in 1968 the Joe Brown helmet was found to be the best. Joe had taught himself how to work with fibre glass when we were living at Whitehall as the canoes there were in dreadful condition. He built a brand new fleet of 10.”
Source: Hooked On Granite Ltd Collection
Eventually, Mo took over the Snowdon Mouldings business when Joe found he was too busy with film and tv work - including working as a body double for Robert DeNiro in The Mission! Both shops were running smoothly and at last he was able to head off on expeditions again.
Founder of Rab clothing and equipment, Rab Carrington shares his memories of the early days of the Welsh shops:
“I started climbing in Wales from 1965 when I was a student at Glasgow University. We came down at Easter seeking warm weather and dry rock after the rigours of a Ben Nevis winter season. Joe Brown, along with Pete Crew were legendary at that time with their exploits at Tremadog and Gogarth very much the news of the day. I have very fond memories of the Padarn Lake Hotel thronging with climbers, the buzz of excitement of climbs accomplished and about to be done and at the centre of this hubbub, Joe and Crewy lording it over the dart board. At that time, climbing shops were not ubiquitous and so good shops had to be sought out. Joe Brown’s in Llanberis was one of the early shops and climbers travelled from Manchester and Liverpool clutching their week’s wages keen to buy the latest gear.”
With live television coverage of climbs like The Old Man of Hoy and Himalayan expeditions growing in the media profile, climbing was becoming cool and this was very good for business. Both the Davies and the Browns families enjoyed ski-ing holidays together and occasionally Frank and Joe climbed together although there was, of course, some disparity between their abilities which Joe alludes to in his book, The Hard Years. From his description it is clear that their ascent (and descent) of the North Ridge of the Peigne was bordering on what we term these days as “type 2 adventure”. Far happier on mid grade climbs, Tony Greenbank describes happy days cragging with Frank in the Lake District:
“We first roped up in 1968, Frank by then a successful outdoor equipment retailer, myself a freelance journo. Resembling Captain Birdseye, the bearded TV advertising mascot for frozen seafood products, he delighted in sailing his classy yacht; in comparison I was a somewhat impoverished gangling six-footer. We scaled many classics in the middle/lower grades, our first climb being Gatesgarth Chimney – graded “very difficult”. What an epic. On a cold November day, we started from the head of Buttermere up the track to Ennerdale over Scarth Gap. A perpendicular ascent followed to High Crag directly overhead. Finally sat below the rock face, we deposited our rucksacks so we could climb unencumbered, careful not to let them roll downhill. As we roped up we cricked our necks up at the black gash of the chimney: a classic, first ascended in 1913 - spiced with frost and spiders' webs. The final back-and-foot chimney is reminiscent of moments in the 1975 film, The Eiger Sanction, starring Clint Eastwood. Only Gatesgarth Chimney felt more scary. On top I urged Frank to hurry. “Getting dark, man!” Frank took exception to being chivvied; don't we all? Only time was pressing. “What's the rush?” he asked. My reply: “You left your car keys in your sack. We need to get down to the foot of the crag fast.” We stumbled over the sacks with the last glimmer of twilight. Phew. Having driven over Honister Pass, Frank stopped the car above Seatoller and asked me to check the road. Shot ice! And whoosh . . . The carpet slippers I wore in the car to ease my battered toes acted like skis. Bang! I hit a boulder after schussing yards downhill. Oh, no! Two broken ribs ensued. But what driving! To surmount icy Honister with hardly a twitch. No wonder Frank started competing in the RAC Rally.
Source: Tony Greenbank’s original Diary Entry for Tophet Wall, 1989
Certainly our best route together was scaling Tophet Wall, the eye-popping “hard severe” up the electrifying screen of rock above Great Hellgate screes. Tophet Wall receives an Orion's constellation belt of three twinkling stars denoting absolute quality in the Fell & Rock Climbing Club (FRCC) guidebook for Great Gable. “A magnificent mountain outing,” the guide reads, “winding its way up through very impressive architecture (like overhangs). Probably the best route of its grade in the Lakes.”The FRCC does not bandy such praise lightly. And hear this re the third pitch 130ft up the rock face: “A fantastic pitch! Semi-hand traverse 10 metres rightwards in a sensational position to a crack . . .” “What, climb up there?” exclaimed Frank staring at the impending wall adjacent to where the Peter Whillance and Dave Armstrong were filmed for Border Television climbing the overhanging wall of Incantations in 1985. “Who do you think I am? Joe Brown?”
Only Frank then pipped Tophet Wall when the very same Joe Brown (not yet quite a CBE) came to stay at the Davies residence near Cartmel over a weekend. The “Human Fly” took Frank up 300ft Eliminate “A” on Dow Crag, the one Lakeland “very severe” said by the cognoscenti to be well worth “four stars” (if only). Was FD made up! He told me Joe Brown hadn't taken the guidebook up the climb to consult en route as craggies usually do. “Think we can see where it goes,” the ex-Mancunian plumber had said laconically.
To paraphrase an extract from the FRCC guide's description of 300ft Eliminate “A”: “One of Britain's greatest routes. It follows a stunning line (up through the overhangs) of “A” Buttress. The climbing is continually interesting and the atmosphere is superb.” Just when all seems lost, a “secret” way leads the climber up through menacing overhangs. Joe Brown told me later in Ambleside's Golden Rule bar that that particular day on Dow with Frank was one of the best he'd had on Lake District rock.
In 1993 we pioneered a new route together high above the streets of Coniston, a lowly “mild severe” but awarded a single star in the FRCC guidebook (“a splendid climb that is absorbing throughout its length”). We called it Sunshine Boys. FD said “Tempus Fugit (Time Flies) might have been more apt”. Time was running out for both of us no thanks to medical reasons, but what climbs we had scaled. Here are a few - with comments quoted from the FRCC guidebooks;
Fisher's Folly gave us another buzz. “A fine little climb (featuring a pugnacious roof)” claims the guide. It was one of FD's favourites. On Walla Crag's very severe White Buttress (“an airy route”) we struggled. “Did you really do this with Frank?” asked a baffled Chris Bonington when later he failed on this Borrowdale bete noire. I had to nod. “Strewth,” said the great man. “Well climbed!”
The red-tinged final pitch of Little Chamonix, strikes up the impending rock of Shepherd's Crag above a bus stop on the Borrowdale road. Cool. We climbed it with the late Ray McHaffie, father of hotshot James McHaffie who is a British Mountaineering Council ambassador. Mac was recovering from being avalanched 1,000ft on Cust's Gully. During our ascent, FD broke a rib while helping him. Happy Days.
Finally, though we enjoyed so many fine courses up Lakeland rock, one of the best routes was on Eden Valley sandstone on the banks of the River Eden. Flasherman, a VS up an open-book groove, vertical and unrelenting. Three stars in the guidebook. It was to be our last, and as Frank said, a fitting farewell.”
Frank Davies at Shepherds Crag. Source: Tony Greenbank
Aside from climbing and working in the shop Frank was also an early member of the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team in the 50’s, volunteering his time on rescues - he even helped rescue his friend Tony after a climbing fall. Rally driving remained a passion and Frank loved sailing, in fact not content with his Guinness World Record with Joss Naylor he set his sights on winning the Three Peaks Yacht Race too.
In 1977, Frank sailed one of seven yachts entered in the inaugural race out of Barmouth to Fort William, the only captain to have seasoned fell runners aboard; Alan Evans and Peter Bland. Unfortunately, he had to retire when both runners were pitched into the heavy seas as their dinghy capsized while they were trying to reach the shore at Ravenglass. Frank returned in 1978 again, one of seven entries. This time he had Ken Ledward and Tim Walker as his runners.
Frank, Captain of Mumeskara on the Three Peaks Yacht Race. Source: Ron Isles Collection
Ron Isles, founder of Dreamteam Television remembers:
“He won the race in 1978 because he was the first skipper to cotton-on to using fell runners. He brought along the legendary Ken Ledwood and Tim Walker. I always remember having a cup of tea in the Snowdon Summit Cafe with some of the mountain teams when we were surprised to see Ken and Tim actually running past us down the mountain, up to then the mountain teams mainly walked.
Incidentally in 1978 the competitors could choose any landfall for the ascent of Scafell Pike Frank chose Whitehaven rather than Ravenglass because he had runners who could cope with the 40 odd miles or so of running, and so consequently won the race.”
It was while researching Frank’s role in the Three Peaks races that current Director Cathy stumbled across an internet hint that Frank had driven a young Chris Bonington on his own Three Peaks Challenge; to climb them by their three hardest routes. In 1968, having completed ascents of the Orion Face, Central Buttress and White Slab within 24 hours (without the benefit of motorways) they made it into the Padarn Hotel in Llanberis just in time for last orders where Don Whillans was holding court. Legend maintains that upon enquiry as to what they had been up to, Don replied with characteristic dryness “Aye, we didn’t ‘ave much of a day either.”
“Eager to help, Sir Chris agreed to meet and at once dispelled the myth that Frank had driven the car on that particular occasion but did freely admit to being “scared ****less” while Frank was driving him along the edge of Thirlmere at over three times the current speed limit on a climbing trip in the Lakes.
He explained that he had, however, climbed on a number of occasions with Frank in the early days and dug out one of his first climbing diaries detailing the routes that he had climbed with him on a trip to Ogwen Cottage while aged just 17. I felt like I’d struck gold and had to remember to breathe as he thumbed fondly through his old battered red book, pausing every now and again as a memory was triggered before finding the relevant page. There, in concise blue script were the bare details of a route list showing Frank leading the easier Slab Route (D) on the Gribin Ridge before Chris went on to lead the harder Wall Climb on Bochlewedd Buttress (S). The year was 1951 and Frank, yet to embark on his business venture, began to dabble in climbing retail by selling Chris his first pair of rubber climbing shoes.”
Sir Chris Boningtons first climbing diary. Source: Hooked On Granite Ltd Collection
Thumbing through more pages, a cascade of famous climbing partners appeared in the margins along with a note about a new route that he had seconded during the summer of 1962: Trango/Tramgo. The leader had been Joe Brown. The very route used in the original Joe Brown shop logo which went on to be used on signs, mail order catalogues, carrier bags, adverts, stickers and equipment. Incidentally, the original Tramgo grade of XS noted in Chris’ diary below is now a modern grade of E5 6a!
Sir Chris Boningtons first climbing diary. Source: Hooked On Granite Ltd Collection
Back in the Lake District they climbed together frequently with Chris often popping into The Climbers Shop before they headed out to the crag together. His memory is of it being the best specialty climbing shop in the UK with Frank working hard to drive the fledgling trade by advising and in some cases being involved in shops such as Nevisport (Fort William) and Centresport (Leeds).
In 1968 Chris was commissioned by The Telegraph to write an article about ski-ing the Haute Route. Frank joined him and together they set off on the long drive stopping at a Doug Scott lecture en route to the Alps. While they were inside their car was stolen complete with all of their ski gear. They called the police who retrieved the car and it’s contents in full and were on their way again no fewer than four hours later! Frank is shown standing on the left next to Chris Bonington and Bob Brigham (son of Ellis Brigham, whose outdoor shops have been established since 1933)
Source: Saturday Telegraph Magazine
In the early 70’s, a young Graduate called Alan Hinkes remembers popping into “Frank Davies” as it was known, to buy rock shoes, walking boots, climbing gear and guidebooks.
“Frank Davies The Climbers Shop Compston Corner Ambleside & Centresport in the Merrion Centre Leeds are two of the first outdoor shops I remember from the 1970s. I bought my first Whillans harness & EB rock shoes in Centre Sport Leeds - I called in after doing my A Level Geology Practical exam at Leeds Uni. I would often visit The Climbers Shop or Frank Davies as it was known, popping in to buy rock shoes, walking boots & other bits of climbing kit & guide books.
One of my first memories of The Climbers Shop is after a long fell walk from Black Sail YHA via a Bivi on Mickledore & a walk down Langdale to the Ambleside YHA when it was in the centre of town – now the Queens Hotel. There was often a disco in Charlotte Mason College or a disco or band in the Sally (Salutation Hotel) I remember Brown Sugar blasting out by the Rolling Stones, amongst many other rock classics of the time. The disco & dance building is now a retail outlet & the Salutation is a fab hotel, well worth a stay.
In those days YHAs closed at 10pm, so when the disco closed after 11pm I had to climb up the drainpipe to get in. All good climbing practice. After that I was influenced by local climbers, some from Barrow in Furness who persuaded introduced me to bivouacking in the Park Shelter near the Lake.”
Alan still pops into the shop regularly to say hi and if you’re lucky, you might just find a recently signed copy of his book on the guidebook shelf.
The remainder of the 70’s passed in a blur of Ron Hill Tracksters, and brightly coloured ski-wear before technology lit a rocket under outdoor clothing and equipment in the 80’s. Unnecessarily vibrant lycra tights & headbands adorned the next generation of climbers while walkers sighed with relief as heavy duty, sweaty PU waterproofs were superceded by space age fabrics. In 1981, astronauts on NASA’s space shuttle mission were decked out in a new “breathable” fabric called Gore-Tex. Many can remember the corridor into the back room of the Ambleside shop being a solid rack of navy, green and red jackets with long hemlines, deep pockets and sensible wired hoods. Frank was quick to make sure his customers could buy (or hire) the very best from his shop.
An original Climbers Shop Gore-Tex jacket brought in by one careful owner. Source: Hooked On Granite collection
Meanwhile, the Joe Brown collection of chequered flannel shirts and helmets grew. Our longest serving staff member Alex Martucci can remember additional products in the 80’s including Meraklon zipped polo and crew neck tops in bottle green and navy. Both had a small Joe Brown embroidered label. There were also original Joe Brown sit harnesses. Slightly different from the Whillans, they came in different colours according to their size. If Joe was away (he made them by hand) a lady called Cindy sewed them in the outbuilding of a nearby mushroom farm in Pen Y Groes and Alex would go and collect them. We discovered a reel of the original embroidered labels in the Capel warehouse but are still waiting to add an actual harness to our historical collection…..
British brands Karrimor, Berghaus, Mountain Equipment and Wild Country were all the rage and Javelin Jackets became the body armour of anyone serious about the outdoors. In the Lake District a young Becky Heaton-Cooper (Grand Daughter of Fell and Rock Member and renowned artist W Heaton-Cooper) remembers her parents bringing her to the Climbers Shop so that the whole family could get kitted out in matching red ones.
Member of Langdale Mountain Rescue Team and part time staff member Will Betts can also remember his Dad telling him about the time he came to Charlotte Mason college to discover climbers testing out their new Terrordactyl climbing axes on the trees in the grounds. They had swapped the laces from their walking boots to new red perlon cord which looked so smart that Will’s Dad lost no time heading down to The Climbers Shop to get some! Climber and founder of Rab clothing and sleeping bags, Rab Carrington remembers what it was like selling to the shops at the time:
“In 1981, when Sue and I set up RAB, a lot of our early contacts were through the Independent Shops owned and run by climbers who we all knew and had deep friendships with. The likes of Nick Estcourt’s, Tut Braithwaites, Tanky Stokes, Don Morrisons were all run by our friends and climbing partners. This gave me a very good toehold when trying to get RAB into the shops. However, with Joe Brown’s it was different. Though the name above the door may say Joe Brown, Joe was never seen at Trade Shows. Instead the formidable, Val and her team had to be dealt with. This situation meant that we had to sell to Joe Brown on merit rather than through friendship.
I didn’t spend so much time in the Lakes and Frank Davies always seemed to be the “elder statesman” of the Independents. Unlike with Joe, I never climbed with Frank nor did we meet up in the Pub. So once again with the Climber’s Shop, no favours asked, it was selling on merit.
Those initial years in the Trade were fantastic with many company’s being run by climbers for climbers. RAB identified itself with the new young generation of climbing companies: with DMM, Wild Country, Mountain Technology and we measured ourselves against the establishment of Berghaus and Mountain Equipment. New products and materials would appear for every Harrogate show; the introduction of Goretex, Camming devices, Quick Draws all came into being around that time. Exciting times.......”
But there was a key piece of new kit that was noticeably absent on the shelves of the Llanberis and Capel shops: chalk. Joe wouldn’t allow it and it was a long time before it appeared on the shelves!
The 90’s saw Frank selling The Climbers Shop to his friend Ben Lyon who, as the UK distributor of Petzl had built up the specialist outdoor distribution company Lyon Equipment. It must have been quite a wrench leaving the shop, which had been such an important part of his life and he took with him a memento in the form of the front desk. In Wales, Val’s thoughts turned to retiring too and after turning down several offers, in 2004 she finally settled on a buyer she knew would continue the company on the strong foundations she had built.
Current Director Paul Casey remembers the long negotiations, mindful of the heritage the new team of Directors would be taking over and fully aware of the key role the business had played in Val’s life:
“We knew that Val had refused offers from a number of people simply because they just didn’t feel right. We also knew that our vision of the shops future very much included the history that she and Joe had created together. I can remember, a long way into negotiations, when Val invited us around to her house to talk things through. Cathy and I entered the hallowed hallway of their home and swallowed our disappointment that Joe himself wasn’t home, he had, however, cooked some soup for lunch. We were sitting in their kitchen and Val left the room to get some paperwork when Cathy and I looked at each other, giggled like children and exclaimed “We’re in Joe Browns house! Eating Joe Browns soup!” Even if the negotiations hadn’t been successful, we thought we’d already won!”
The deal went through and Cathy and Paul Casey along with Val’s long term business manager Sue Peyton became the new Directors of Hooked On Granite Ltd. Trading under the Joe Brown name they changed only the stock computer system before building a website to give Joe Browns an online shopping presence alongside Rock & Run, Outside, Needlesports, The Outdoor Shop, Peglars, and other key shops of the time.
Opportunities came to open additional shops in Wales and for a time Joe Browns had the highest gear shop in the UK at Pen Y Pass below Snowdon as well a more general outdoor gear shop further along the High Street which had also, mysteriously once been used for an old photograph involving a portaledge.
Source unknown
Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
Yet the link with Val Brown remained with regular updates to her and Joe and invitations to our Christmas dinners. It was at one of these dinners that Val told the story of how the Joe Brown shops came into being and the direct link with The Climbers Shop. Joe himself would regularly pop into the Capel Curig shop for a chat on one of his weekly trips out to the Siabod Café with his old climbing buddies.
After expanding the Llanberis shop to include a dedicated boot room, talks with Ben Lyon led to the acquisition of The Climbers Shop in Ambleside in 2010. Hooked On Granite Ltd was now responsible for almost 90 years of outdoor retail heritage – no pressure there then! By this time Frank had created the Frank Davies Trust now known as the El Rio Foundation; for the prevention of poverty, advancement of education and lifesaving health improvement. Ownership of the Compston Corner premises was transferred to it so that today, our rent payment is split among charities that uphold these principles including Water Aid and Doug Scott’s charity Community Action Nepal. Our close link with CAN continues with a corner of the shop permanently given to selling Nepali handicrafts and signed prints of Doug’s mountain photo’s, every penny from these sales go directly to fund the UK arm of the charity so that more schools and hospitals can be built in Nepal.
As Sue Peyton retired from the business and Gill Barnicott took on the role of Financial Director, Val’s legacy continued in the new business since Gill had first worked with her when joining the Joe Brown shops almost twenty years before. More change was to come, however, when the heavens opened, quite literally. An overwhelmed culvert on Llanberis High Street flooded badly in 2012 and homes and businesses including the Joe Browns Corner Shop were left with a thick layer of mud, silt and goodness knows what else spread across its floors. It is testament to the wonderful community of Llanberis that we were back open and trading so quickly as local people, customers and staff pulled together to help clear up the mess. With their generous and invaluable help, we were miraculously back open and trading within three days.
Yuk! Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
When the 2015 floods hit Cumbria and two key roads into Ambleside were washed away the timing really couldn’t have been any worse. A planned expansion of a new Climbers Shop was already in motion and there was nothing for it; The Corner Shop in Llanberis was sold and all of the stock moved to the newest independent outdoor equipment shop in the South East. Current Director Cathy Casey explains the decision behind taking a little bit of the Lake District to Milton Keynes:
Our Milton Keynes shop on Stony Stratford High Street. Source: Hooked On Granite Ltd collection
“Back in the 90’s Paul and I had met while working at a gear shop in Stony Stratford. When I started work there, Paul was the manager and I’d had no idea that before I’d started, as the only female member of the staff team, he had read the riot act to all of the lads about how I wasn’t to be scared off by an unwanted romantic advances. Cheeky bugger – it turned out he was just making way for himself! I figured he was a keeper after we spent six weeks travelling around India without an argument and ran off with the boss. We moved up to the Yorkshire Dales to work at Lyon Equipment and began planning our first Himalayan expedition together.
While we were working in Milton Keynes, The Outdoor Shop had recently expanded and was selling huge amounts of equipment to local schools and organisations. Sadly, by 2014 the business had changed owners and correspondingly it’s focus and closed its doors for good. We knew that with almost 40 years of trading history in that location, done properly, an independent gear shop with our unique heritage could thrive in such a vibrant and growing region of the country. But should we call it Joe Browns or The Climbers Shop? I can’t tell you how many hours were spent on that decision! We settled on The Climbers Shop mostly because it sounded so much like the original name and when we opened it felt like we were completing a circle personally. We had lived in the flat above the old shop and spent hours sitting on the balcony dreaming and planning our future business. “What if we could own our own shop? What if we could own more than one? What if we could own a few, keep their historic trading names but run them efficiently from behind the scenes?”......So when the opportunity to open in the exact same shop where we had both brought our first outdoor kit, worked, met and begun our life together; it seemed like the circle was complete.”
Source: Milton Keynes Citizen, 2017
While the shop premises were trading well, the swift change in shoppers buying habits online meant that internet sales were climbing rapidly. When another expansion opportunity arose in Wales there was an easy decision to make……..
After trading happily next to the public toilets for almost 50 years the Capel Curig shop was about to move onto the A5! Many customers got in touch to reminisce about buying their first walking boots there with one recently returning to purchase footwear for their Grandchildren and while we miss the old shop it’s still there – now it is our warehouse.
The old Capel Curig shop, 2015, Source: Hooked On Granite Ltd Collection
2016 marked the 50th anniversary since Val and Joe had opened their shops and after much discussion it was decided to mark the event with something never tried before; a competition that celebrated both Joe’s astonishing climbing career and local climbing hardware company DMM, a competition that required more than todays current “click to enter” ethos, a competition that would engage with our customers and ignite curiosity – a competition where many lucky winners would find some treasure. “The Hunt For Joes Golden Nuts” was born. Joe was delighted.
Fifty limited edition, Golden DMM Torque nuts were split between some of Joe’s finest first ascents in the Peak District and north Wales and hidden with clues posted on social media. Permission was sought from Sir Chris Bonington to use his photograph of Joe taken while climbing The Old Man of Hoy in 1967 (during the BBC’s first ever outdoor live broadcast) which they both signed. You can see the originals hanging in both of the shops today, but one lucky Golden nut winner got to have one to hang on their own wall.
Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
In 2017 we were honoured to welcome both Val and Joe, now in their late eighties, at our new Capel Curig shop. They were delighted with the transformation and how the business has grown as a whole, still receiving regular updates as well the hundreds of best wishes we receive via social media when it’s Joe’s birthday. Two years later, the owners of Pinnacle Stores next door decided to retire, Joe Browns took over the entire frontage of the iconic Capel Curig building and set about restoring some of our historic heritage amidst the stark grey and white of the bright new shop.
Source: Hooked On Granite Ltd
Source: Hooked On Granite Ltd
In May 2019, Ultra Running athlete Nicky Spinks set off from the rightmost column of our new Capel Curig shop on a bit of a run. There was no pomp, no ceremony, just a few onlookers and our staff ready to cheer her off. Our Warehouse Manager Brian Seery remembers how focussed she was: “I didn’t dare speak to her or even wish her good luck in case I caused her to lose her concentration!” Incredibly, when she returned to touch the column 47 peaks and 61 miles later, she was only half way! On 16th May, 57 hours after setting off, Nicky returned a second time to place her hand on the column of the Capel Curig shop becoming the first person ever to complete double rounds of the three classic British Fell Running routes; The Bob Graham, The Ramsey and now The Paddy Buckley Round. A hat trick that must count as one of the greatest sporting achievements in recent times. It’s a day that Nicky remembers very well:
“The reason I chose the shop was that it's iconic in the Paddy Buckley, being the traditional start/finish place. It's a lovely building and the columns outside make a good focal point for the start and finish. I have spent many a happy hour in the old Pinnacle cafe too. As I ran down the road, I was totally focussed on that first column as that was my finish. Touching it felt great and I would have hugged the column had not so many people been watching and filming. I have been passed the column since and just give it a little touch to remind me - like touching the top of a summit or Trig point.”
Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
So just how does a super athlete recover from 122 miles over 94 peaks and ascending roughly 56,000 feet? By popping into Joe Browns the following morning for a spot of shopping, of course!
2019 also marked the 60th anniversary since Frank Davies first opened his doors in Ambleside and to celebrate, we decided to create three unique events for our climbing, walking and ultra-running customers alike.
The shop has held the logbook for the Cumbrian Centurion Challenge since 1981 so it was dusted off to encourage customers embark on a multi-day 100 mile backpack around the Lake District taking in the three highest peaks; Scafell Pike, Helvellyn and Skiddaw. For runners we joined up with local charity The Brathay Trust to deliver the inaugural Ambleside Trail 60 while for our climbing customers we re-created a Lakeland version of our previous Snowdonia & Peak District treasure hunt with “Nuts of Legends”.
Enamel anniversary badges were given to all those who took part in the Centurion and we received lovely messages from everyone who took up the challenge, all surprised at how quiet the fells were away from the usual honeypots. We were extremely honoured to have Joss Naylor join us as Patron of our Ambleside Trail 60 run and he kept the audience spell bound the night before the race as he re-counted his Three Peaks run with Frank Davies. There was also an emotional re-union with Frank’s wife Cate and their son Ben as they met with Joss for the first time in many years. Ben even wore an original Climbers Shop jumper as he waved 175 runners across the start line in Rothay Park. He’d travelled all the way from his home in Columbia especially! Our Nuts of Legends competition was launched in May with the help of Sir Chris Bonington. He, along with Franks long term climbing partner and author Tony Greenbank, Joe and Val Brown, James McHaffie, Angela Soper, Doug Scott, the Fell and Rock Climbing Club, British Mountain Guide Adrian Nelhams and our staff team managed to whittle down the magnificent routes we have on our doorstep to just 60. Working with our good friends at DMM again we hid 60 uniquely laser printed Hexcentric Size 4’s throughout the summer. Our friends at the Heaton-Cooper studio framed a wonderful print of Scafell Crag signed by legendary Lake District climbers: Sir Chris Bonington, Doug Scott, Joe Brown, Leo Houlding, James McHaffie, Emma Twyford, Dave Birkett and Julian Cooper – the nephew of W Heaton-Cooper. You can see it on display in the stairwell of our Ambleside shop.
Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
170 runners setting off on the inaugral Ambleside Trail 60
Cate Davies, Joss Naylor and Ben Davies
All of our events were designed to work with and promote small local businesses as well as support charities such as Fix The Fells, Community Action Nepal and The Brathay Trust throughout the year while offering a fun way for our customers to engage with the Lake Districts world class mountain environment. In addition, we were very proud to build on our relationship with the Mountain Heritage Trust of whom Joe was Patron. With their kind permission we were able to display artefacts from historic expeditions to the Ogre and Everest – even having an exact replica of the clothes Mallory was wearing on his fated 1924 Everest Expedition. Even Doug Scott and Sir Chris Bonington were keen to help, loaning us personal equipment to complement our displays. It was a real success and helped us raise a fantastic £35,000 for charities across the business.
Source: Hooked On Granite Collection
Our four shops and the web business were growing and things were looking great.
Then along came 2020.
The arrival of Coronavirus forced us, along with hundreds of thousands of businesses to temporarily close, not only changing the way we shop but every aspect for our daily lives. In just three weeks we went from chatting with customers about the equipment they needed for their global travelling adventures to being locked down in our homes. Streets were empty as were the hills and crags. Nature boomed.
While still reeling from the reality of being in lockdown, on 19th April we received the extremely sad news that Joe Brown had passed away. He was 89. At a time when so many were dying alone in hospital, it was some comfort to know that Joe was at home surrounded by his family.
In the fifteen years we have owned the shops, the stream of customers continually asking after him has never ceased and the response at the news of his passing was overwhelming. After collating and printing all of the messages and photo’s we had received, we passed them on to for Val and her family to treasure. Only a handful of people could attend the funeral and as a friend of over 30 years, our Director Gill was honoured to join the families’ private mourning. Everyone in the cortège shed a tear as Joe left his final resting place at the Funeral Directors across from the Llanberis shop and our Llanberis based staff were lined up, socially distanced, outside to pay their final respects. It is testament to the inherent respect for Joe within both the climbing and local community that there were people lining the length of the High Street, out onto the bypass beyond the nearby DMM factory, parked in lay by’s and on roundabouts almost to Bangor.
Photo: Chris Watkins
By May, it was becoming clear that Covid-19 was not simply going to vanish and with a quarter of the globe in lockdown we had to face up to the fact that how we go about our daily lives was going to need to change. After consulting with our staff team, we were confident that we could re-open our warehouse to trade safely. This small step meant that we could begin to plan for the future of our company. However, no matter which way we looked at the figures, the reduced sales that we had to expect due to social distancing laws meant that our beloved Milton Keynes store would no longer be viable. It was a heart-rending decision, not least because of the hard work and energy our team of MK staff had poured into making the shop such a fantastic place for customers to visit – we even had one Australian customer who deemed us his local shop as it was the closest to Heathrow! For the second time in as many weeks we were overwhelmed with wonderful messages from customers – many of whom had known Paul and Cathy from the old Outdoor Shop days.
Some mountains are just too difficult to climb and knowing when to turn around is vital.
Every business has its challenges but through all the up’s and down’s we remain very proud custodians of our iconic shops and are honoured, along with our fantastic staff team, to continue the legacy of our founders by offering something that little bit different. By 2021, the global pandemic still dictated our lives and celebrations for the 55th Anniversary of our Joe Brown shops had to be tailored to suit our new normal. The answer came in digital form and during the winter lockdown the Joe Brown Outdoor Academy was born. Initially a sister website to our online shop, we are proud to continue Joe’s legacy of passion for the outdoors by offering a free to access portal for our customers to find Instructors, skills and a wealth of knowledge that is difficult to convey within the confines of a product description – it’s a bit like coming in and chatting with us in online form!
Once again, our friends at DMM made us an item of collectable climbing equipment – all stock of our bespoke Phantom Karabiners sold out in less than 24 hours!!! The really good news was that every penny from the sale of these karabiners was donated to Y Bartneriaeth Awyr Agored/The Outdoor Partnership.
More lovely messages came in from suppliers and customers alike – one from a very special customer:
“Of course, I shopped at Joe Browns when I lived in Wales, and with Frank when I moved to the Lakes so it’s good to know that sympathetic climbers are carrying on the names and traditions instead of a faceless conglomerate. I wish you the very best of luck, particularly now that restrictions have been lifted and people should come flocking back.
Sincerely Yours
Gwen Moffat”
Any business, however, is only as good as it’s team and in the winter of 2021 staff team member James Gibson made Lake District history by becoming the first person to complete a continuous round of all 214 Wainwrights in full winter conditions. That’s 252km and 36,000m of ascent. With the support of a fantastic crew of fellow staff, friends and strangers, James battled through snow and storms across 8 days to complete what many had thought impossible – becoming the fifth fastest overall!
Photo: Steve Ashworth Copyright
In December 2023, Neil Harrison continued our historic Joe Brown Staff links with local climbing by producing the Recent Developments Guidebook to Glyn Rhonwy Slate Quarry. Filled with witty descriptions of over 75 new and existing routes that had been omitted from recent guides the end result included images of and photos by a number of members of the staff team. Look carefully at the front cover and you will notice Neil sporting a classic Whillans harness and EB rock boots. Those of you in the know may well recognise the pose as Neil’s homage to the 1977 Peak District Recent Developments supplement.
Source: Hooked On Granite collection
It was in Spring 2024 that an 18 month project, sparked from our long term relationship with Rab, evolved into a new and exciting challenge for runners and walkers alike: The Mountain Goat Circuit is a 50km defined route that loops the skyline from our Capel Curig shop, over the highest peak in Wales, past our Llanberis shop, and finishes back along the Glyderau skyline at our Capel shop front door. With 3800m of ascent, it is a serious day out for your legs but arguably a magical immersion for your soul among the mystical Welsh mountain environment. Rab worked with us to create a beautiful film highlighting how we as a business and as a staff team are embedded in the mountain environment:
The 65th Anniversary of The Climbers Shop was celebrated with customers sending us postcards from all across the world - even Antarctica! By chance also the 30th work anniversary of Paul Cairns who began working at the shop back when Frank was still the owner. Paul can remember the days when Gore-Tex came in three colours and most technical clothing and equipment on the shelves were made in the UK. With his huge experience he is our in store guru for kit repairs and has helped thousands of customers with their returns, frequently earning rave reviews and a stream of heartfelt, appreciative messages.
Source; Hooked on Granite collection
As a specialist retailer, sharing knowledge is what we do. We pride ourselves on helping our customers make great decisions to buy, maintain and use the right kit for the activities they love. Our Joe Brown Outdoor Academy remains free to access and has been enhanced to include repair centres across the country and our buyers guides. While our absolute favourite is to chat to customers across our shops we can’t always convey the passion in the design, production and testing of the high end products we sell. We were honoured to join with Kendal Mountain Festival 2024 and very grateful for offering a us platform to shout about our Outdoor Gear Chat podcasts. If you have ever wanted to know how a glove is made, how waterproof jackets work, why walking boots are stiff or the kit you may need to climb an 8000m peak then just search in your favourite podcast provider…..
Photo: Kendal Film Festival
We remain a shop run by climbers for climbers but these days we offer gear for a much wider range of activities. When you visit our shops you might be served by a qualified Mountain Leader, a seasoned ultra-runner, a climber just returned from a dawn foray out on the crag, a backpacker, a triathlete or one of the owners with over thirty years of experience selling outdoor equipment. As Pro Dealers for Scarpa, La Sportiva, Mountain Equipment and Rab we offer the best ranges in the country and are assured by our suppliers that we have one of the finest selections of climbing equipment in Europe.
If you are buying from us online; ask your search engine for us by name – because these days, if you search for a product you’ll only be shown what their algorithms want you to see (i.e: who has paid the most to be placed in your eyeline) All the stock shown on our website is live – you can even see which shop it is in. If you can’t find what you are looking for then simply give us a call.
We could tell you about our passion for the outdoors and how it is in everything we do, if we allowed corporate speak in our business we could tell you in it’s in our DNA but we respect your intelligence and prefer for you to come and see for yourself. Pop in for a chat or give us a call, let’s talk and discuss what you’re up to, where you’re going and talk through what kit options might work best for you. Alas, we no longer take payment by guitar but if your name is McCartney, Springsteen or Sheeran we may be willing to make an exception……