Thomas Graham Brown - Alpinism

Alpinism

The east or Brenva face of Mont Blanc was the scene of his most famous first ascents, his three new routes – the Sentinelle Rouge, Route Major and the Pear Buttress – constituting "the most important new routes made by British climbers in the Alps in the inter-war years." In an article in the Alpine Journal, Graham Brown wrote

The great Brenva face of Mont Blanc de Courmayeur and Mont Blanc had not been climbed between the line of Güssfeldt's ascent of the Aiguille Blanche de Pétérey and the line of the Brenva route until Smythe and I had the good fortune to discover the 'Sentinel' route in 1927.

He climbed the first of these routes, the Sentinelle Rouge, with Frank Smythe on 1–2 September 1927. Smythe also accompanied him on the first ascent of Route Major on 6–7 August 1928. According to Claire Engel, "both expeditions were among the most notable of the century". The third route – the Pear Buttress – ascended the large rock buttress on the left of the face, and was made by Graham Brown, together with Alexander Graven and Alfred Aufdenblatten, on 5 August 1933.

Graham Brown was the editor of the Alpine Journal from 1949 to 1953.

In 1935, Graham Brown made the first ascent of Alaska's 5304 m Mount Foraker in company with Charles Houston and Chychele Waterston.

In 1936, Graham Brown was part of the joint British–American team that made the first ascent of Nanda Devi in the Indian Himalaya, though only two of the party, Bill Tilman and Noel Odell, made the summit.