Paul Pritchard

Located in the UK, Paul Pritchard is a professional rock climber and mountaineer who was renowned for limbing around the globe, such as in Baffin Island, Himalayas, Karakoram and Patagonia. Paul received an award for his mountain literature, and spent the prize money on a round-the-world climbing tour. The tour would take him to Tasmania to climb the world’s slimmest needle of  rock famously known as the Totem Pole, on Cape Hauy, rearing out of the Southern Ocean.

However, this climb would end in disaster. A large sized boulder fell from the Totem Pole, catching Paul’s rope and crushing his skull, leaving him with a serious brain injury. Having to haul him thirty meters up the ledge Celia, Paul’s climbing partner, then ran 8 kilometres before calling for help. After hanging on the ledge for 8 hours, Paul was was finally rescued. 

The aftermath of the incident left him paralysed down the whole right side of his body, along with speech and memory difficulties. He spent a year in hospital relearning how to walk, feed and dress himself whilst struggling to take control of his seizures.

During this long year Paul was able to find the motivation to write an award-winning book, ‘The Totem Pole’. A very in depth and personal story told by Paul about his injuries and struggle with Hemiplegia, a condition characterised by paralysis on one side of his body. 

Despite his trauma, Paul continues to live an adventurous life, with the continued belief that his brain injury was “the best thing that ever happened to [him]”. Paul sees his horrific accident as a precious gift and films each of his challenges. Recognising this bravery, in 2017, Paul was nominated for Tasmanian Australian of the Year and soon after received the Australian Geographic Spirit of Adventure medal in 2018 as well as the Aspire award for literature in 2020.

His latest film, ‘Larapinta: End to end’ captures his concept of the ‘dignity of risk’, is a documentary following four adventurers with disabilities as they test their limits on an expedition through the Larapinta Trail in Australia. This documentary style film has been received in high acclaim in a multitude of international film festivals, screening in countries including Sweden, England and Germany. 

In 2016, 18 years after his accident, Paul came back to the Totem Pole, with the purpose to finally finish his climb. This return journey saw the emergence of the award-winning film, ‘Doing It Scared’. Paul is an enthusiastic believer that without challenges in life, he wouldn’t have learnt all the crucial life lessons he has. Paul’s story isn’t one of overcoming adversity, or being a hero, but one of humility and acceptance.