Mark Vallance

Mark Vallance (1946 - 19 April 2018) was a British rock climber, mountaineer and founder of Wild Country, a climbing equipment company.[1] He was instrumental in the design and development of a range of new equipment. A particularly successful design was a spring-loaded camming device branded the 'Friend'.[2] It was revolutionary as a form of climbing protection, enabling climbers to tackle routes involving parallel or flared cracks in relative safety.[3][4]

Wild Country rigid Friend cams: two from 1980's and one from 1990's.
David Callaway and Mark Vallance at Satpara Lake launching Broad Peak expedition

Mountaineering

Vallance was a member of numerous Himalayan climbing expeditions, including one to Broad Peak.[5]

Role in the development of UK climbing and mountaineering

Vallance was co-founder and part of the build team of the Foundry Climbing Wall in Sheffield — the first modern climbing wall in the UK. Vallance started the retailer Outside in the Peak District.

He served on the board of the Peak District National Park and was president of the British Mountaineering Council.[6][7][8][9]

Literature

Vallance's book, Wild Country: The Man Who Made Friends[10] was shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. The prize is awarded annually to the author or authors of the best literary work, whether fiction, non-fiction, drama or poetry, the central theme of which is concerned with the mountain environment.[11][12]

References
  1. "Mark Vallance, Founder of Wild Country, Dies at 72". Gripped Magazine. 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  2. "Mark Vallance – Recollections". Andy Christopher Miller. 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  3. "Mark Vallance: 1944-2018". www.thebmc.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  4. "Latest News - Climber Magazine". www.climber.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  5. "Mark Vallance". www.alpine-club.org.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  6. "Wild-country---a-brief-history-of-friends".
  7. "Addio a Mark Vallance". www.up-climbing.com. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  8. "Summit or nothing: How we took mountaineering to new heights". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  9. "Wild Country". Vertebrate Publishing - Wild Country - Mark Vallance. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  10. "Wild Country: The man who made Friends". www.amazon.com. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  11. "Mark Vallance - Peak District's `Man of the Mountains' (Tom Bates Derbyshire Peak District Author, Writer, Poet)". www.aboutderbyshire.co.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  12. "*SHORTLIST* Wild Country by Mark Vallance". The Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
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