SIR CHRIS BONINGTON - Mountaineer

Sir Chris Bonington is a legendary, world-leading, mountaineer, an author, photographer and lecturer. He began climbing at the age of 16, in 1951. He made the first British ascent of the North Face of the Eiger and led the first ascent of The South Face of Annapurna, the biggest and most difficult climb in the Himalaya at the time. He went on to lead the successful expedition making the first ascent of the South West Face of Everest in 1975 and then reached the summit himself in 1985 with a Norwegian expedition. Sir Chris is still actively climbing and, in 2014, celebrated his 80th birthday by completing a climb of the 449ft vertical sea-stack, The Old Man of Hoy.

Chris has written 17 books, fronted numerous television programmes and has lectured to public and corporate audiences all over the world. He received a knighthood in 1996 for services to mountaineering, was president of the Council for National Parks for 8 years, is Non Executive Chairman of Berghaus and Chancellor of Lancaster University.

A highly successful expedition leader with an established reputation as an outstanding motivational speaker, Chris uses the superbly illustrated story of his two major expeditions to Everest as a case study that is linked and tailored to the needs of the client. He has spoken to blue chip companies and organisations around the world and is a visiting lecturer at Cranfield School of Management.