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.

In 1980, Tasker met Maria Coffey, the girlfriend who would write about her grief following his death in her book Fragile Edge. In 1981, he was part of the British team which made the first ascent of Kongur Tagh (7,649 m) in China, accompanied by Chris Bonington, Peter Boardman and Alan Rouse. He disappeared with Boardman on 17 May 1982 on the North-East Ridge of Everest. The body of Boardman was found in 1992, resting in a sitting position just past the second pinnacle in the extremely difficult area of the "Three Pinnacles" on the middle North-East Ridge of Everest.