Paul Pritchard is one of the most significant figures in British climbing. He became one of Britain’s leading rock climbers and mountaineers, with major first ascents across the UK, Patagonia, Baffin Island, Yosemite, Kyrgyzstan and the Karakoram. His first ascent of the West Face of Mount Asgard in 1994 remains one of his defining achievements.
He was also the first author to have won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature twice — for Deep Play, and later, The Totem Pole.
In 1998, everything changed.
While climbing Tasmania’s Totem Pole, Paul was struck in the head by a falling rock, sustaining a near-fatal brain injury that left him with hemiplegia. He spent the next year in hospital and has described the decades since as his longest project: healing, adapting, and learning to live one moment at a time.
And yet today, Paul says he gives thanks to the Totem Pole every morning.
This is not simply a comeback story. It’s a conversation about mortality, fear, acceptance, freedom, identity, and what happens when the life you expected disappears.
We talk about why losing choices can sometimes make us freer, why fear doesn’t need to disappear before we act, how aging changes the need to prove ourselves, and Paul’s idea of the “dignity of risk.”
If none of us knows how much time we have, what are we still postponing?
REFERENCES
Paul's excellent books:: Deep Play | The Totem Pole | The Longest Climb | The Mountain Path on his website at https://www.paulpritchard.com.au/books
Paul's Instagram: @paulpritchard
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Topics: longevity, fitness over 40, endurance training, aging athletes, recovery, injury prevention
Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older.
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