Chris Bonington

He was knighted to Sir Chris Bonington but he kept his feet on the ground. The 80-year-old Briton, a true living legend in mountaineering, is still a friendly man who is always speaking frankly. I was able to verify this at first hand when I met him last week in Chamonix where he was awarded the Piolet d’Or for his life achievements in the mountains.

Chris, what does the “Career Piolet d’Or” mean to you?

It means a huge amount, because this is an award for my peer group. And in it I’m joining some of the finest and best climbers in the world [Walter Bonatti (awarded in 2010), Reinhold Messner (2011), Doug Scott (2011), Robert Paragot (2012), KurtDiemberger (2013), John Roskelley (2014)], many of whom of course are good friends as well. So it means as much as any award I ever had.

You are 80 years old and you are still climbing, most recently in Catalonia in Spain some weeks ago. Please tell me your secret?

I am climbing very modestly. And I think it’s because I always kept climbing. I think, this is the secret, for everyone. You actually see now more and more grey hairs climbing walls in the mountains and hills. My standard steadily drops, but that doesn’t matter. I still love climbing and being out in the outdoors. And I love the companionship with my friends.

Does it become more and more difficult to bring in line your body and mind?

(Laughs) Without a shadow of doubt! The greatest joy of climbing is when you are at the absolute height of your powers and you got all the kind of thrill that a good athlete has, so you got complete command of your body and you are drifting up climbs. As you get older, you creak up them. So that isn’t that kind of physical euphoria. But what there is, is still the love of the mountains. There is the enjoyment of actually being there. And I think you start savoring your friendships even more.

Bonington: Still the love to the mountains

On Shivling in 1983

You have done so many extraordinary climbs. What was the most important for you personally?

There is no doubt about it: Annapurna II which was the first Himalayan peak I ever climbed [in 1960], and it’s only a hair’s breath below 8,000 meters [7937 meters]. And in fact it’s a very fine peak, about ten miles as a crow flies from Annapurna I. Inevitably your first ever expedition to the Himalayas is very special. But when it’s such a fine peak and to be able to climb a peak that is only just under 8,000 meters on your very first expedition, that really is something.

Then leading the expedition to the South Face of Annapurna [in 1970] and then to Everest Southwest Face [in 1975], it was a huge organizational role. Certainly the Everest Southwest Face was the greatest intellectual as well as physical challenge that I faced. You are the organizer, the planner, the leader. I do it so because maybe I have a chance to go to the top but that was very low on my priority list.

And then just for sheer joy and fun it was a much smaller peak, a mountain called Shivling [in 1983]. I made the first ascent of the West Summit with a great mate of mine, Jim Fotheringham. This was a totally spontaneous ascent. We grabbed the opportunity through getting a free flight to Delhi to take part at a tourism conference and then we went to climb it. It was five days up in Alpine style, one day down, very committing, a beautiful sharp pointed peak. And that to me is what climbing is all about. I was very glad having led my bigger expeditions. In the last 35, 40 years I have really been going for much smaller expeditions, smaller peaks and the whole variety of wonderful adventures.

This year we’ll celebrate the 40^th anniversary of the first climb through the Southwest Face of Everest by Doug Scott and Dougal Haston. Back then, in 1975, was it difficult for you not being able to climb because you were the expedition leader?

No, because in a way the expedition was my baby. It was my vision and concept. Then I got together the group of superb climbers to actually complete it. And therefore I had always seen very clearly in my mind that my first priority was the success of the expedition and not just the success of getting to the top of the mountain, but also the success of doing so harmoniously. And from that point of view it was a wonderful expedition. And the only very serious cloud of course was the fact that in the second attempt we lost Mick Burke.

Bonington: The Everest Southwest Face Expedition was my baby

Till now there are only a few other routes through the Southwest Face of Everest – maybe because it’s too difficult?

It’s interesting actually. I think in addition to our route there is only the Russian one and one or two smaller variations. But I mean, the obviously challenge that nobody has done is a direttissima. That is to go straight up the middle of the rock band and thus straight up to the summit. The way we did was a bit like the way the North wall of the Eiger was first climbed. We found the easiest way, a kind of “serpentining” our way up the mountain. But still now I think there have been only four ascents even of our route.  

Many things have changed on Everest. What do you think about nowadays climbing on Everest?

I mean, thank goodness, I got up it when I did. And also thank goodness that in 1985 when I finally did reach the summit of Everest with a Norwegian team, that was the last year that the Nepalese government only allowed one expedition on a route at a time. That meant, in 1985 we had the Western Cwm to ourselves. It was wonderful. I think now it is an inevitable development. I think you could compare it with the history of Mont Blanc. It seemed as inaccessible in the late 18^th century as Everest did to Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary in 1953. Then the natural development is: A first ascent is made. Then other ascents are made. Then there is a commercial opportunity and guides start guiding people up. And very quickly on Mont Blanc you got the situation that the ordinary route was being climbed regularly. And it was inevitable that exactly the same thing would happen on Everest. Whether just how you manage it, is the big problem. At the moment it’s a kind of anarchic situation where these hundreds of people are going for it every year and where is a certain amount of conflict, a lot of perhaps unnecessary deaths. But that, you know, will be sorted out in the fullness of time.

Bonington about nowadays climbing on Everest

Chris with Don Whillans (l.) in Patagonia in 1963

If you should give a tip to young climbers, would you say: Don’t go to Everest?

I’d say definitely: Avoid it! I’d say to young climbers: The joy of climbing in the Himalayas is exploration. And of course there are literally thousands of unclimbed peaks in the Himalayas. You are not going to get famous climbing them. The problem is, they haven’t got even names, and they are just spot heights. But you get all the joy of exploration by actually going up the valley where people haven’t climbed before and just find your way up and climb a peak.

You have lost so many friends in the mountains. Are climbers in a way forced to handle death more than other people?

It’s a very dangerous sport. If you have the adrenaline junkies which we are and if you want to take that to the extreme and go out to the outer limits inevitably there is going to be a high casualty rate. And there is a high casualty rate amongst extreme climbers at altitude as there are amongst for instance base jumpers, wingsuit fliers and so on. I think it’s not people who have got a death wish. It’s something that people are turned on by the huge excitement, euphoria of taking your body and yourself to the absolute limit to achieve an objective. I think that is the prize you’ve got to be prepared to pay. We may be selfish, we may be unrealistic, but I think you do need adventurers in the world.

Bonington: You need adventurers

Are you now thinking of your own death more often than in earlier days?

No, I don’t. I think I’m essentially an optimist. I’ve got to be one because there were at least ten times where I shouldn’t have come out of it. I’m not afraid of death, but I love life.

Sir Chris Bonington

No doubt, he fully deserves this honour. When the most remarkable ascents in 2014 will be awarded with the Piolet d’Or, the “Oscar” for mountaineers, in Chamonix and Courmayeur from 9 to 12 April, Sir Chris Bonington will be hounoured with the “Prix Walter Bonatti” for his really outstanding mountaineering career. The prize is awared for the seventh time. The previous prizewinners from 2009 onwards were Walter Bonatti, Reinhold Messner, Doug Scott, Robert Paragot, Kurt Diemberger and John Roskelley. “Chris Boningtons achievements have been significant in both the Alps and Himalaya”, the organizers of Piolet d’Or said. “An outstanding and passionate climber.”

Historic climbs

Last year Bonington celebrated his 80^th birthday by repeating one of his own famous climbs, the Old Man of Hoy, a spectacular sea stack in the Orkney islands, which he had first climbed in 1966. Later he did a great number of historic climbs like the first ascents of Annapurna II in 1960, of the Central Pillar of Freney on the south side of Mont Blanc in 1961 and of the 7285-meter-high Ogre in the Karakoram together with Doug Scott in 1977 (the second ascent followed only in 2001). Bonington also proved to be a great expedition leader. In 1970 he led the successful expedition to the South Face of Annapurna, in 1975 the expedition to Mount Everest, during which Doug Scott and Dougal Haston climbed the Southwest Face first. Bonington himself reached the summit of Everest in 1985 as a member of a Norwegian expedition. He was knighted by the Queen in 1996 for his services to the sport. A living legend!

“Everest no longer a place for pionieers”

Kongur Thak

Most recently I met Chris Bonington in 2013, at the diamond jubilee celebration of the first ascent of Mount Everest in the Royal Geographical Society in London and asked him – of course – about his thoughts on Everest. “It’s not a give-away, it’s still a tough game for those individuals, 2000 people at basecamp, 200 people going up the Lhotse face, 100 people going to the summit in a day aligned on a fix rope put up by the Sherpas. That’s something that happens”, Sir Chris answered. “Everest, if you like, is no longer a place for the pioneers. The pioneers have gone elsewhere.”

Sir Chris Bonington about commercial climbing on Everest

When we made the first ascent of the 7129-meter-high Kokodak Dome in the Kongur Range in western China half a year ago, I thought of Bonington. In 1981, he and the famous British climbers Al Rouse, Peter Boardman und Joe Tasker had scaled the 7719-meter-high Kongur Tagh for the first time. It is the highest mountain in the range, much more difficult than “our” Kokadak Dome.

Sir Chris Bonington

When Everest was climbed first in 1953 Chris Bonington was a young English mountaineer of 17 years. Later he did historic climbs like the first ascents of Annapurna II in 1960, of the Central Pillar of Freney on the south side of Mont Blanc  in 1961 and of the 7285-meter-high Ogre in the Karakoram together with Doug Scott in 1977 (the second ascent followed only in 2001). But Bonington also proved to be a great expedition leader. In 1970 he led the successful expedition to the South Face of Annapurna, in 1975 the expedition to Mount Everest, during which Doug Scott and Dougal Haston climbed the Southwest Face first. Bonington himself reached the summit of Everest in 1985 as a member of a Norwegian expedition. He was knighted by the Queen in 1996 for his services to the sport. I met the 78-year-old climber last week at the diamond jubilee celebration of the first ascent of Mount Everest in the Royal Geographical Society in London and asked him – of course – about his thoughts on Everest.

Sir Chris Bonington, 60 years after the first ascent of Mount Everest, how do you feel about these pioneers? 

I’m a great believer in the heritage of our sport, looking back, enjoying and learning from what our predecessors have done. In a way that first ascent of the highest point on earth is one of the very, very great occasions. I think it’s story. How they succeeded and worked together, it was a superb team effort. It’s something very special. 

Hillary was a New Zealander, Tenzing Norgay a Sherpa living in India, but I think it was a great push for British mountaineering because it was a British expedition which was first successful on Everest. 

British and New Zealand, because George Lowe and Ed Hillary were two important parts of it. It was a Commonwealth expedition. But the key thing was that the individuals who came together were undoubtedly melted as a team by John Hunt who was a supreme leader. I think he provided a blue print of how to go about planning, organizing and leading an expedition. It was the achievement of all which of course Ed Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay kind of completed.

Has it been an initial point for your generation to do something more difficult?

That’s a natural progression going from the base what has been done in the past to take one step further into the future. And therefore naturally the next generation is trying to take it on other levels. When for instance we climbed the Southwest Face of Everest, that was the next thing to do. Reinhold Messner’s solo ascent of Everest from the north was an extraordinary step. There have been a whole series of developments on Everest and within the mountain as a whole.

But it seems to me that after this era there was a step back when commercial mountaineering took over.

No, it’s not a step back, it’s just natural evolution. You can see exactly the same thing happening in the Alps where mountains like the Matterhorn or Mont Blanc are guided. Hundreds of people go up every single day guided by professional mountain guides. It was almost an inevitable thing that was going to happen in the Himalayas and it has done. And it’s enabled hundreds of people to reach the top of Everest. It’s not a give-away, it’s still a tough game for those individuals, 2000 people at basecamp, 200 people going up the Lhotse face, 100 people going to the summit in a day aligned on a fix rope put up by the Sherpas. That’s something that happens. But what the elite of climbers are doing – and they do extraordinary things – is climbing Alpine style in very small parties, four maximum, usually two, very often solo. That is climbing adventure at its upmost. There are still thousands of unclimbed ridges and faces in the Himalayas on the peaks around 8000 metres. Everest, if you like, is no longer a place for the pioneers. The pioneers have gone elsewhere.

Sir Chris Bonington about commercial climbing on Everest

This spring brought a Sherpa attack against the European top climbers Simone Moro and Ueli Steck in Everest high camp. What do think about it? 

I think that was very unfortunate. I’ve got a great respect and liking for Ueli, I know him and Jon Griffith, the English climber (who was also involved in the brawl). They were doing a kind of acclimatization climb up the Lhotse face to the South Col, maybe dumping a bit of stuff there as well in preparation for what they were planning to do, which was actually to do an amazing ascent. They were trying to keep out of the way of the Sherpas. In no way they did interfere with them. I think there has been a lot of tension and resentment by the Sherpas perhaps feeling that they had not been paid enough. Lots of things that have nothing to do with what these three climbers were doing. But there was a configuration and the Sherpas attacked them. I think that was unforgivable, it was appaling and very unfortunate. But what it highlighted was that the whole system on Everest needs to have a serious look. What is needed is that the commercial expedition leaders, the government, the Sherpa community, all the various people involved on Everest, need to get together and have a serious talk about how can we improve the situation. There is something that needs to be done by consultation, talk and discussion. 

Sir Chris Bonington about the brawl on Everest

Would you say it’s a conflict that has emerged long ago and has now broken out? 

I think it has been simmering for quite some time. It’s the same with everything. When there are too many people, when there are two bigger crowds, when that kind of pressure is involved, when money is involved as well, that’s why things start going wrong.