A Man for All Mountains: The biography of Jack Longland – mountaineer, educator, broadcaster

Sir John Laurence ‘Jack’ Longland (1905–1993) was one of the defining figures of British mountaineering and outdoor education in the twentieth century – a man whose influence reached from the highest mountains of the world to the classrooms, airwaves and policy rooms of post-war Britain. As a young climber, Jack Longland stood at the forefront of adventure. His eponymous climb on Clogwyn Du’r Arddu in North Wales in 1928 – the first on the crag’s imposing West Buttress – confirmed his standing among Britain’s leading rock climbers, while his 1930 ascent of Javelin Blade (E1) in Cwm Idwal was ahead of its time in terms of difficulty and boldness. Further from home, he was a member of the 1933 Everest expedition, gaining first-hand experience of the world’s highest mountain at a formative moment in Himalayan exploration; after helping to establish camp 6, he famously led his team of Sherpas down to the safety of camp 5 in a storm. His participation in the 1935 Greenland expedition further demonstrated a lifelong appetite for remote and demanding terrain. Yet Longland’s greatest legacy is how he connected mountaineering with public service.