mick burke

I’ve recently been reading The Everest Years by Chris Bonington, during which he states that he was the 7th Brit to climb Everest. So who were the 7 and what were their stories?

On 24 September 1975, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston became the first two Brits to reach the summit of Everest, by a new route on the Southwest Face. Forty years later, on 24 September 2015, I had the privilege of hearing all about it from members of their team.

When you’ve put so much time, money and physical commitment into a climb, it’s never easy to turn around just fifty metres from the top. Here are some stories from Aconcagua which help to shed light on when that decision should be made.

Britain’s greatest living mountaineer is currently touring the country with a series of lectures about his life, and I was lucky enough to see one of them. An important World Cup qualifier was taking place that evening, but if Chris Bonington’s life were a football match it would be a 22 goal thriller which ended 11 goals all and went into extra time.

The first 7 British people to climb Mount Everest

The first ascent of the Southwest Face of Everest

To climb or not to climb? Those last 50 metres

Sir Chris Bonington’s life in 90 minutes