The father of modern mountaineering, Sir Chris Bonington, is making his only Australian public speaking engagement in Sydney on July 11 and you could be there.
He will be presenting a lecture he wrote and presented for the Royal Geographical Society in London at Joe’s Basecamp on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. The lecture is a powerful and emotional audio visual presentation that covers his amazing, rich and adventurous life. A journey of firsts, of successes and also terrible tragedies as Chris has lost many of his friends and peers to the mountains.
Who is Chris Bonington?
Chris Bonington, is one of the worlds most honoured mountaineers, his illustrious climbing and mountaineering career has seen Bonington awarded the Royal Geographic Societys Founders Medal in 1974, appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1976 in recognition of the previous year’s successful ascent of Everest and was knighted in 1996 for his services to the sport.
He was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in the 2010 Birthday Honours for his services to the Outward Bound Trust and in his 80th year became the 7th person to receive the Piolet Dor lifetime achievement award.
He has also held many honorary appointments and currently is President of the British Orienteering Federation and LEPRA (The British Leprosy Charity), Honoury President of Mountain
Wilderness, a Trustee of Outward Bound, Chairman of its Risk Management Committee, Chancellor
Designate of Lancaster University, Chancellor Designate 2005 onwards and Deputy Lieutenant of Cumbria2004 onwards. He is also Chairman of Berghaus, Britain’s leading Outdoor manufacturer.
But wait, there’s still more! He has written 18 books a number of which were best sellers. His best selling text Everest the Hard way became a template of both adventure writers and a step by step guide of how to o
rganize an expedition.
Did we mention that Chris has summited over 60 peaks, 45 of which were climbs of note? Of the 19 Himalayan Expeditions he has been on 18 were by new routes, first ascents or first winter ascents including his conquest in 1975 of the the supposedly impossible South West Face of Everest
His grandfather was a merchant seaman and jumped ship to become the harbourmaster of the Andaman islands. His father joined the Australian Army and went on to become one of the first members of the SAS during the second world war.
Chris was then evacuated during the war and started going on adventures and climbing at an early age. After a brief stint in the army he became one of Britains leading Rock Climbers and European Alpinists and accomplished the first British ascent of the North wall of the the eiger.
His adventures weren’t confined to mountaineering either, Chris became an adventure photo journalist in the early sixties, covering stories such as the first exploration of the Blue Nile in Africa, living with the descendants of Alexander the great, the famed Hunza people of Pakistan and living with the Innuit eskimos in Canada.
His Mountaineering career has spanned sixty years and he is still going strong. Last year he climbed the Old Man of Hoy, a 137m Sea stack off the coast of Scotland. Chris was responsible for its 1st ascent in 1966 and climbed it again 48 years later.
Want to hear more? Then head to Joe’s Basecamp on July 11 at 6.30pm.
Tickets to Sir Chris Bonington’s speech are available from Joe’s Basecamp for $35.
