Chris Bonington told the Hay Festival he was was sixteen-years-old when he attempted his first ascent: the looming peaks of Snowdon in Wales, which he managed to climb about halfway before he and his friend were “avalanched off”. Instead of deterring Bonington from further attempts it began an obsession that would snowball into a career.
His career has included numerous expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest and the first ascent pf the south face of Annapurna.
Bonington’s first commercial triumph was his ascent of the formidable North Wall of the Eiger, a success that led to his first book deal. Since then he’s been climbing and writing: his latest book Ascent was published just last year.
The conversation took an emotional turn as Bonington spoke about his family life. During a working trip to Ecuador in 1966 he received word that his five-year-old son had fallen into a stream and drowned.
The room fell silent as Bonington took a moment to compose himself, visibly upset. When Bonington was later asked about his wife who died three years ago, he became emotional once again but continued, and finished the story with a “happy ending” as the interviewer put it: a reference to Bonington’s second marriage.
A young girl from the audience raised her hand and asked the final question of the event: if Bonington could climb one last mountain, which would it be?
Bonington’s passion shone through as he answered simply that he was still entranced by the beauty of his local landscape and would climb “my modest lakeland hill.”