SIR CHRIS BONINGTON

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Born in Hampstead in 1934, Chris Bonington was educated at University College School, London & the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He was commissioned in the Royal Tank Regiment in 1956 & spent three years in North Germany in command of a troop of tanks & then two years at the Army Outward Bound School as a mountaineering instructor. It was during this period that he started climbing in the Alps, making the first British ascent of the South West Pillar of the Drus in 1958 & then the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney on the south side of Mont Blanc in 1961 with Don Whillans, Ian Clough & Jan Dlugosz. At that time this was one of the most difficult climbs in the Alps & even today is considered one of the great classics of the Mont Blanc region. He made the first British ascent of the North Wall of the Eiger in 1962.

On leaving the Army in 1961 Chris joined Unilever as a Management Trainee but after nine months realised that he could never combine a conventional career with his love of mountaineering. Now married to Wendy, a freelance illustrator of children's books, Chris made the decision to go freelance & since 1962 has followed a successful course as a writer, photographer & mountaineer. They have two sons, Daniel & Rupert.

Climbs:-

1961	First ascent Annapurna II (7937m) in Nepal with Dick Grant & Sherpa Ang Nyma.
1961	Second ascent Nuptse (7879m) third peak of Everest with Sherpa Ang Pemba. (First ascent by Dennis Davis & Sherpa Tachei the day before).
1961	First ascent Central Pillar of Freney, Mont Blanc with Whillans, Clough & Dlugosz.
1961	First British ascent, North Wall of the Eiger with Clough.
1961	First ascent Central Tower of Paine, Patagonia with Whillans.
1966	First ascent of Old Man of Hoy with Patey & Bailey.
1970	Leader, Annapurna South Face expedition. (Whillans & Haston made first ascent).
1972	Leader, British Everest expedition, reaching 8300m.
1973	First ascent Brammah (6411m) Kashmir with Estcourt.
1974	First ascent Changabang (6864m), Garhwal Himalaya with Boysen, Haston, Scott, Tachei & Sandhu.
1975	Leader, British South West Face of Everest expedition. (Haston & Scott made first ascent).
1975	First ascent of Ogre, (7284m) with Doug Scott.
1975	Leader, British K2 expedition to West Face K2.
1980	Climbing leader, British Mount Kongur expedition, making first ascent Mount Kongur (7700m) with Boardman, Rouse & Tasker.
1982	Leader, British Everest expedition, North East Ridge.
1983	First ascent, West Summit of Shivling (6501m), Gangotri with Jim Fotheringham.
1983	First British ascent (solo) Mount Vinson (4897m) - highest in Antarctica.
1985	Ascent of Mount Everest (8848m) as a member of Norwegian Everest expedition.
1987	Leader, Norwegian/British Menlungtse expedition.
1988	Leader, British/American Tibet expedition which made the first ascent of the West Summit of Menlungtse (7023m).
1988	Climbing leader, 'Greenland The Hard Way' expedition which sailed to Greenland in the Suhaili, skipper Robin Knox-Johnston & attempted 'The Cathedral', Lemon Mountains.
1992	Joint leader with Harish Kapadia, of Indian/British Kumaon expedition. (Graham Little made first ascent of West Ridge of Panch Chuli II - 6904m).
1993	Member British Greenland expedition to Lemon Mountains making three first ascents.
1993	Climbed Mont El'brus (5642m), highest peak in Europe & N.E. Ridge of Ushba.
1994	Joint leader with Harish Kapadia of Indian/British Kinnaur expedition which made the first ascent of Rangrik Rang (6553m) in the remote Kinnaur Himalaya of northern India.
1994	First ascent of Drangnag-Ri (6801m) Rolwaling Himal, as a member of the Norwegian Everest 10th Anniversary expedition.
1994	Exploratory expedition to North & South approaches to Sepu Kangri (9956m) in the Eastern Nyenchen Tanglha range in East Tibet.
1994	Leader British Tibet expedition to Sepu Kangri - reaching 6100m.
1994	Leader British Tibet expedition to Sepu Kangri reaching 6800m on main summit & making first ascent Turquoise Flower (6550m).
2000	First ascent Danga II (6190m) in East Nepal with his son Daniel, brother Gerald & nephew James.
2000	Expedition to South Greenland climbing 3 unclimbed peaks.
2003	First ascent Jaraun Peak, 5205m, Sainj Valley, Kullu.
2004	First ascent Pimu Peak, 5490m, above Pimu Pass between Jambu Nala & Pimu Nala, Menthosa Range, Lahoul.

Awards:-

1974	Founder's Medal Royal Geographical Society
1974	Lawrence of Arabia Medal of the Royal Asian Society
1974	Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society
1974	Hon. D. Civil Law (Northumbria)
1974	Hon. D. Sc. (Sheffield)
1974	Hon. D. Sc. (Lancaster)
1974	Hon. Doctorate (Sheffield Hallam University)
1974	Hon. M.A. (Salford)
1974	Hon. Fellowship (UMIST)
1974	Hon. Fellowship (North Lancashire)
1986	C.B.E.
1996	Knighthood
2002	Hon. Doctor of Letters (University of Bradford)
2010	Hon. Fellowship (University of Cumbria)
2010	Commander of the Victoria Order (CVO)

Books:-

1966	I Chose to Climb
1970	Annapurna South Face
1972	The Next Horizon
1973	Everest South West Face
1974	Changabang
1976	Everest the Hard Way
1981	Quest for Adventure
1982	Kongur: China's Elusive Summit
1983	Everest: The Unclimbed Ridge (with Dr. Charles Clarke)
1986	The Everest Years
1989	Mountaineer - Thirty Years of Climbing on the World's Great Peaks
1992	The Climbers
1992	Sea, Ice & Rock (with Robin Knox-Johnston)
1994	Great Climbs
1999	Tibet's Secret Mountain: the Triumph of Sepu Kangri (with Dr. Charles Clarke)
2000	Boundless Horizons - Omnibus edition of the 3 auto-biographical books
2000	Quest for Adventure - Remarkable Feats of Exploration & Adventure 1950-2000
2002	Chris Bonington's Everest
2003	Everest Expeditions
2003	Omnibus edition of Everest South West Face
2003	Everest the Hard Way
2003	Everest the Unclimbed Ridge
2005	Chris Bonington's Lakeland Heritage (with Roly Smith)

Honorary Appointments:-

1985-	President, Lepra
1986-	President, British Orienteering Foundation
1986-	President, National Trust Lake District Appeal
1988-1991	President, British Mountaineering Council
1992-1999	President Council for National Parks
1992-2001	Chairman, Corporate Forum, Council for National Parks
1996-1998	President, The Alpine Club
1997-2009	Trustee, Outward Bound
1997-2009	Chairman, Outward Bound Risk Management Committee
1997-2009	Trustee, Himalayan Environment Trust
1997-2009	Signatory, Mountain Wilderness Association
1999-2001	Chairman, Mount Everest Foundation
2000-	Trustee, Mountain Heritage Trust
2002-2006	Chairman, Mountain Heritage Trust of the BMC
2004-	Deputy Lieutenant, Cumbria
2005-	Chancellor, Lancaster University
2009-	Vice Patron Outward Bound
2009-	Vice President Army Mountaineering Association
2009-	Vice President, Young Explorers Trust
2009-	Vice President Youth Hostels Association (England & Wales)
2009-	Vice President, British Lung Foundation

Professional Appointments:-

Chairman (Non-executive) Berghaus

Visiting Fellow, Cranfield Business School

Television:-

1985 Chris devised, wrote & presented an award-winning Channel 4 TV series Lakeland Rock, which won the Golden Shot award at the Portoroz European Sports Film Festival 1986, for the best sports documentary. This was a world event with entries from America & Australia as well as Europe. The series also won a Bronze Medal at the New York Film & TV Festival in 1986.

Everest Years was an hour long TV documentary based on The Everest Years book & won the Gold Medal for sports programmes (highest award) at the 1988 New York Film & TV Festival. It also won the prize for the Best Mountaineering Film (the top award in the mountaineering category) at the Banff International Mountain Film Festival, which is the premier world mountain film festival.

Chris narrated & participated in The Climbers, a six-part series shown on BBC TV about the history of mountaineering & wrote the accompanying book, The Climbers.

Chris also wrote, narrated & fronted Everest - Blood Sweat & Tears, filmed in Nepal around Everest Base Camp, to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest.

Management Training:-

Chris Bonington completed a very successful management training video, Leading to the Top & for several years has lectured to the Sloan Programme of The London Business School & Cranfield University where he is a Visiting Fellow. He has become increasingly interested in the study of leadership, starting with his own experience as a successful expedition leader & using this to explore a wider application.

Listed below are some of the companies Chris has addressed over the years on leadership & team building using a sophisticated live presentation illustrated by slides of his own ascent of Everest & short sound bites recorded at the time:-

Apple Irish Telecom Barclays Bank Jardine Matheson British Aerospace Kodak British Airways Management Centre Europe British Telecom Marconi BP Minit International Cadbury Morrison Construction Cedel National Power Civil Service College National Gas Compaq Computers Prudential Insurance Credit Lyonnaise Quality Scotland Foundation Hewlett Packard Reed International Digital Searle Pharmaceuticals General Motors Shell Guinness Smith Kline Beecham Gulf Petroleum Sunlife IBM Woolwich Building Society Institute of Personnel Management Volvo

 

For more information on Sir Chris Bonington, Contact Arena. Tel: 0113-239-2222