Joe Tasker
Joseph Tasker (born May 12, 1948 in Hull , † May 17, 1982 on Mount Everest ) was one of the most talented British mountaineers in the late 1970s and early 1980s and a book author. He was one of ten children in a traditional Roman Catholic family. He spent his early childhood in Port Clarence , Middlesbrough, then attended Ushaw Seminary in County Durham from the age of 13 to 20 in preparation for becoming a priest and Jesuit .
Fascinated by a book about attempts to climb the north face of the Eiger , he began climbing in a nearby quarry in 1966.
After finishing school, he first worked as a garbage collector and then studied sociology at Manchester University . During this time he improved his climbing skills and came from rock climbing in his home country to climbing difficult routes in the Alps .
His climbing partner was usually Dick Renshaw , whom he had met at university. Together they climbed the north face of the Eiger in the winter of 1975. In the same year they managed the first ascent of the southeast ridge of Dunagiri (7066 m), a Himalayan peak in the northeast corner of India . Although they ran out of food and fuel, they were lucky to survive, but Dick Renshaw's fingers were frostbitten .
His first ascent of the west face of Changabang (6864 m), a neighboring mountain of Dunagiri, established his partnership with Peter Boardman . This ascent was recognized in large parts of the guild as a great achievement in mountaineering. They were both invited on an expedition to K2 led by Chris Bonington in 1978, who resigned after Nick Estcourt was killed in an avalanche. Following an unsuccessful attempt on the Nuptse in the autumn of 1978, a small team consisting of Tasker, Boardman and Doug Scott climbed the Kangchenjunga , the third highest mountain in the world at 8,598 m, via a new route from the northwest. This was also the first ascent of the Kangchenjunga without bottled oxygen. Georges Bettembourg was also a team member, but did not make it to the summit. A second attempt on K2 and a difficult winter ascent on the west ridge of Mount Everest both ended unsuccessfully.
Both Boardman and Tasker drew attention to themselves with brilliant books about their Himalayan expeditions; they had a very lively and humorous writing style.
In 1980 he met his partner Maria Coffey, who later wrote a book about her grief after his death ( Fragile Edge , ISBN 0-89886-737-1 ).
In 1981 he was part of a British team that made the first ascent of Kongur (7,649 m) in China , together with Chris Bonington , Peter Boardman and Al Rouse .
Joe Tasker disappeared together with Peter Boardman on May 17, 1982 on the northeast ridge of Everest in Tibet. Peter Boardman's body was found in 1992 in the area of the extremely difficult Three Pinnacles (“Three Peaks”); she rested over 8,000 feet in the death zone at the base of the second peak, but Joe Tasker is still missing. It is believed that he fell into the extremely steep and inaccessible east flank of Everest to the Kangshung Glacier .
In her memory, the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountaineering Literature was donated.
Web links
- Dick Renshaw's memories of Joe Tasker ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF, English; 33 kB)
- Voices from the Clarences Anne Davies interviews Joe Tasker, slide show about Joe Tasker and a BBC radio report about Joe Tasker's death
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Tasker, Joe |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Tasker, Joseph |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British mountaineer in the late 1970s and early 1980s and author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 12, 1948 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kingston upon Hull |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 17, 1982 |