Siopau Joe Brown Shops 60th Anniversary
In the Spring of 1965 Joe Brown was working as an Instructor in the Peak District where he lived with his wife Val. En route to a holiday in the Alps, their close friends, and founders of The Climbers Shop in the Lake District, popped in to visit . 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.
Years later, Val Brown related the full story to our current Directors Paul and Cathy Casey:
“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.”
The Climber magazine March1966
With Val running things behind the scenes, Joe’s fame meant both the Llanberis and later the Capel Curig shop became essential stop offs for climbers, hillwalkers and mountain runners visiting Eryri/Snowdonia keen to buy imported climbing equipment, Welsh made flannel shirts, Norwegian woollen jumpers and the best quality walking boots. Eventually, a whole range of Joe Brown branded items were available from baselayers to Gore-Tex jackets, a specialist mountaineering rucksack made in conjunction with Karrimor, the iconic Joe Brown helmet (early ones handmade by Joe himself) along with a range of sewn climbing equipment including slings and harnesses.
Mountain Magazine No.8 March 1970
A chance conversation with Karrimor founder Mike Parsons, in the Autumn of 2025, produced a copy of a collaborative advert from an old copy of Mountain Magazine selling Joe Brown Helmets, Karrimor Joe Brown Extendable Rucsacks and the Mountain Equipment Redline jacket – three pieces of equipment representing the pinnacle of technology of the day.
We knew we already had a helmet and a pack in our loft, donated by customers and a quick call to Mountain Equipment confirmed they had an original Redline jacket in their archive - an idea for celebrating our 60 year anniversary began to grow……
Mountain Magazine
Our Llanberis history window celebrates the early days of the Joe Brown shops, with a copy of the original advert from Mountain Magazine no. 3 May 1969, alongside all three original, iconic pieces of equipment on display. Above the product descriptions and prices, the advert shows a black and white image of a climber, Dave Alcock, then Principle of Plas Y Brenin and a climbing partner of Joe’s, climbing Black Ladders in the Carneddau. The image was used on the first cover of Mountain Magazine to be printed in colour, shown on the left of the window display. Dave was wearing all three of the items advertised along with winter climbing hardware, Dachstein Mitts, leather mountain boots (likely Scarpa Fitzroys included in the window) and strap on crampons – probably with “new” neoprene straps riveted at the shop (the original riveter is still in our loft!). All of which you can see in the window.
Mike Parsons owned Karrimor at the time and kindly provided an excerpt from his technical catalogue describing Joe’s experience and involvement in the Extendable Pack:
“Twenty-five years ago, Joe Brown impressed the climbing world with a series of hard routes in Britain and abroad. With Don Whillans, he made the 3rd ascent West Face of Petit Dru and 1st ascent West Face of Aiguille Du Blatiere. With the late Tom Patey, the first ascent of Aiguille Du Sans Nom and Aiguille De Argentiere. With Ian McNaught Davis he ascended Mustagh Tower in the Karakorum and has been involved in expeditions to Mount Communism, El Toro (peru), Roraima, and only this year, Trango Tower. Since moving to live in North Wales, where he has two mountain equipment shops, he has pioneered new rock routes on the sea cliffs, particularly on Craig gogarth in Anglesey. A very full quarter-century of sustained high grade mountaineering. It is our pleasure to have a close association with Joe Brown, the sac we made to his own specification has altered little over the years and yet is still the best all round mountaineer’s sac for hard moments or hard years.”
All three items were available to buy from the Joe Brown Mail Order Catalogue, you can see the relevant pages from the 1969 version on display in the window along with our original hand painted shop sign and one of our original carrier bags – if you think the shade of green looks familiar; Val decided that if green was a good enough colour for Harrods then it was good enough for Joe Brown’s too!
