Ron Fawcett – Rock Athlete

Ron Fawcett is a natural-born climber. In 1969, while still at school in his
native Yorkshire, he tied into a climbing rope for the first time and was
instantly hooked. From that moment on, it seemed nothing else in his life
mattered nearly as much as his next vertical fix.

Ten years later, Fawcett was the most famous rock climber in Britain and among
the best in the world, part of a new wave whose dedication to training
transformed the sport, pushing standards further and faster than ever before –
or since. His legacy of new climbs ranks him alongside the very best in the
history of the sport.
He was also the first to style himself a professional rock climber, starring
in the landmark television documentary Rock Athlete, and appearing on the
covers of magazines around the world. But far from enjoying the fame, Fawcett
found the pressures of the limelight too much to bear, and at the end of the
1980s he faded from view.

Now, for the first time, he tells his extraordinary story, of how his love of
nature and the outdoors developed into a passion for climbing that took him to
the top – and almost consumed him.

Paperback edition