Joe Tasker
Joe Tasker (12 May 1948 – 17 May 1982) was a British climber, active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He died while climbing Mount Everest. Early life Born into a Roman Catholic family in 1948, Tasker was the second of ten children and spent his early childhood in Port Clarence, Middlesbrough. The family later moved to Billingham and Joe attended Ushaw Seminary, County Durham between the ages of 13 and 20, in training to become a Catholic priest. Fascinated by The Climb Up to Hell by Jack Olsen, a book recounting harrowing tales of tragic attempts to climb the North Face of the Eiger, he started climbing in a nearby quarry in 1966. After leaving the seminary he first worked as a dustman before studying sociology at Manchester University, where he was an enthusiastic participant in the Student Union's gypsy liaison and soup-run groups. He improved his climbing skills during this time, graduating from rock climbing in Britain to harder routes in the Alps. Expeditions Tasker's first regular climbing partner was Dick Renshaw, whom he had met at university. Together they climbed the North Face of the Eiger in the winter of 1975. This was followed later that