Joe Brindley
Guide – Technical Alpinism (North Wales) & Alps Expeditions
Find me on: Instagram
Joe put on climbing shoes for the first time at age five, and while his feet have grown since then, his enthusiasm for the mountains hasn’t changed a bit. He’s spent the last decade living in Chamonix and now splits his time between the Alps and North Wales, where his life revolves entirely around rock and snow. A full-time Aspirant Mountain Guide, instructor, and member of the British Association of Mountain Guides, Joe runs our Technical Alpinism course in North Wales and is a regular guide on our Alps expeditions — happiest when he’s sharing incredible experiences with others and showing them why these places matter so much to him.
Joe has climbed all over the world, from cold north faces in the Alps and wild mixed routes in Scotland to sun-baked desert rock in Jordan and big walls in Yosemite. Standout ascents include a sunrise-to-sunset push up Astroman in Yosemite, an onsight of Jihad in Wadi Rum, and — on the harder-edged side — the North Face of the Petit Dru twice in a single week one winter, alongside classics like the Walker Spur on the Grandes Jorasses and the South Pillar of the Barre des Écrins.
Away from the mountains, Joe is a keen Irish trad musician, playing with friends whenever he gets the chance — and occasionally turning up at gigs around Chamonix.
“I love the singular focus that climbing requires; it’s rare to find something so successful at blocking out everything but the next few moves in front of you.”
What’s the story behind Joe…
Why the mountains?
I was born into a family of climbers, and tried for years to rebel against it – it seems like I failed! The mountains give me a lot of the experiences in life that I spent a long time looking for, from calmness and tranquility, to wild excitement and high levels of physical effort. I love the singular focus that climbing requires; it’s rare to find something so successful at blocking out everything but the next few moves in front of you. Now, I get as much pleasure sharing this with others through my work, it’s a real privilege.
What’s the biggest challenge you face with the mountains?
Aside from the obvious of trying to force my fingers to get stronger every year, my biggest challenge is trying to find a balance between everything I enjoy in the mountains. There’s just too much out there! November is particularly hard, what do you mean I can’t sport climb by the sea, big wall climb in the US, go mixed climbing on big mountains, and start training my legs for ski season at the same time??? Not to mention trying to rest and recover, and find balance in all the other important things in life…
What’s your most epic experience to date?
In the Winter of 2022 I climbed the North Face of the Petit Dru twice in a week, it was unusually cold in the middle of town, and up on the wall it was about 20 degrees colder again. On each of the bivvies it was too cold to take off my gloves for long enough to change my contact lenses, so every morning I’d have to wake up, spend about ten minutes blinking my eyes inside my sleeping bag so that I could un-stick the lenses from my eyelids, and go again. Sharing those two massive routes with two great friends was pretty epic.
What does life outside of Outlier Ascents look like for you?
I have a massive love for Irish trad music, so when I’m not in the mountains or climbing (which realistically is about 90% of my life), I try to play as much music as possible with a few of my close friends. We occasionally play gigs in and around Chamonix, so feel free to come along for a dance at some point!
