Sir Chris Bonington is 90 today – and he has marked this big birthday with a vow to fulfil a promise to his late friend Doug Scott. Britain’s most famous mountaineer has pledged to complete the work on a major Himalayan community project, which was started by fellow climber Doug before he died of cancer in 2020.
Over seven decades of adventure, Sir Chris led, or was part of, many expeditions to the Himalaya. None of these would have been possible without the contributions of the local Sherpas. The projects included the South West Face of Everest expedition in 1975, which saw the first Brits, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston, reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
On that expedition, the head Sirdar (lead Sherpa) was Pertemba Sherpa, who went on to support Sir Chris and Doug on many other trips. He remains a close friend of Sir Chris.
Doug subsequently founded the charity, Community Action Nepal (CAN), to improve the standard of living in remote Himalayan communities and to give something back to the mountain people who had helped him to achieve his mountaineering goals.
In 2015, the Sherpa Heritage House, which is in the village of Khumjung in the Khumbu region of Nepal, was badly damaged in an earthquake. The house is the ancestral home of Pertemba Sherpa and, following the disaster, Doug promised him that CAN would raise funds to rebuild it and also increase its support of the local people in other ways.
CAN has so far raised £150,000 for the house and completed phase one, the construction of the complex religious wing. Sadly, Doug died before he was able to fulfil his promise.
The work continues, with funding needed to complete phase two, which will see the house transformed into a museum, photography gallery and tea house to raise the income of the local community.
Sir Chris pledges to continue Doug’s work
Sir Chris said: “I can’t climb like I did anymore, but that doesn’t mean that my spirit of adventure has diminished. My dear friend Doug made a promise to our great friend Pertemba and I intend to see that it is kept.
“Community Action Nepal has been doing wonderful work for 30 years and the restoration of the Sherpa Heritage House is of critical importance. I was so fortunate to be immersed in the traditional Nepalese and Sherpa culture during my expeditions to the Himalaya. It is vital to preserve that during a modern era where so much about climbing has changed.
“We must never let the pivotal role that the Sherpa community plays in Himalayan expeditions go unseen. The house is a physical demonstration of that and a crucial part of sustaining the relationship between visiting climbers and local Sherpas, which plays such a fundamental role in the Nepalese economy.”
Sir Chris – a legend of mountaineering
Reflecting on reaching the age of 90, Sir Chris, who has played a major role in the outdoor industry, working closely with Berghaus for 40 years, as an athlete, ambassador and consultant on product, said: “I’m grateful that I’ve had such a full, and fulfilling life, and have been able to spend so much of it indulging in my love of climbing and the outdoors.
“Through that, I have met so many great people and organisations and formed some deep friendships. Having reached the age of 90, I have seen a huge amount of national and political change, and I think that gives me a balanced view of the challenges that we all face today.
“As for my birthday celebrations, I look forward to spending time with my wife Loreto, my wonderful family, and some of my closest friends. We all share a love of the outdoors, so I’m sure that they will join me for a Lakeland walk at some point during the day.”
If you would like to make a donation to the work of CAN, see www.canepal.org.uk/support-us.
Sir Chris Bonington’s climbing highlights
1951 – His first “proper” climb was Ash Tree Gully, at Dinas Bach, with Tom Blackburn.
1952 – His first new route was Temporia, on Quinag in Assynt, Scotland (graded VS).
1960 – the first ascent of Annapurna II. This was Chris’s first Himalayan trip, the British, Indian, Nepalese Services Expedition to Annapurna II. At 7937 metres, the mountain is only just below that magic height of 8000 metres. During the expedition, the team was probably the first group of Europeans to complete the Annapurna circuit.
1962 – first ascent of Central Tower of Paine in Chile with Don Whillans (by the west face), in an expedition led by Barrie Page.
1966 – first ascent of the Old Man of Hoy. With Tom Patey and Rusty Baillie, Chris completed the first climb of the iconic sea stack in the Orkneys.
1967 – second ascent of the Old Man of Hoy for the famous BBC outside broadcast over three nights, which was coordinated by Chris Brasher and had around 15 million viewers. This involved three pairs of climbers: Chris and Tom repeated their original route, while two new lines were climbed by Joe Brown, Ian McNaught-Davis, and by Pete Crew and Dougal Haston.
1970 – the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna. This was the first expedition that Chris led and at the time was the biggest and steepest face to be climbed. Chris was leading a group of the best British climbers of the period and they only just succeeded in their objective when Dougal Haston and Don Whillans made it to the summit.
1975 – the first ascent of the south west face of Everest. Led by Chris, this was the first expedition to put a Brit on the summit of Everest, by a pioneering new route. Although Chris didn’t reach the roof of the world during this expedition, his management of the project and inspirational leadership ensured that his team succeeded.
1977 – the first ascent of the Ogre. Chris and Doug Scott made the first ascent of the Ogre in the Karakoram Himalaya and had an epic six-day descent, with Scott crawling all the way as he had broken both his legs soon after leaving the summit. Chris also had a fall and broke a rib, they ran out of food and when at last they reached base camp, starving and exhausted, it was only to find that their companions had given them up for lost and abandoned the camp.
1984 – joins the Berghaus team. After having used some of the brand’s gear (e.g. Yeti gaiters) as part of his expedition kit list for a few years, Chris was persuaded to officially join the athlete team by Berghaus founders Peter Lockey and Gordon Davison.
1985 – reaches the summit of Everest at the age of 50. Finally, at the age of 50, Chris reached the summit of Everest as part of a Norwegian expedition to the mountain. For a short while, he was the oldest person to have successfully climbed Everest.
1987-88 – led expeditions to Menlungtse in West Tibet. During the second, Andy Fanshawe and Alan Hinkes reached the west summit by the west ridge and face.
1996-98 – led three expeditions to Sepu Kangri in Tibet.
2014 – return to the Old Man of Hoy. Just weeks after turning 80, with fellow Berghaus climber Leo Houlding, Chris completed a route on the Old Man of Hoy, 48 years after he made the first ascent. He made the climb to mark his 80th birthday and to raise awareness and funds for motor neurone disease (MND) charities in memory of his wife Wendy, who had died of the condition.