Climbing defined Paul Pritchard’s existence and sign-posted his horizons. He earned international respect as a cutting-edge climber and mountaineer.  He has published two books:

During a planned year-long trip climbing around the world, Paul suffered an appalling head injury whilst climbing the “Totem Pole” in Tasmania.  He suffered hemiplegia, a paralysis of one side of his body and lost power of speech for many months.

Since his accident Paul has continued to lead to lead a challenging life climbing Mount Kenya, and Kilimanjaro amongst other mountains.  He has written three books.  “Deep Play” won the prestigious Boardman/Tasker Award for mountain literature (link) in 1997 and the “Totem Pole” won both the 1999 Boardman/Tasker Award and the 1999 Banff Mountain Book Festival Grand Prize.

He is the only author to win the Boardman/Tasker award twice.  The Longest Climb is the sequel to the Totem Pole epic.

He has also devoted a considerable amount of time to raising money and awareness for charities including Headway and the Upendo Leprosy Centre.