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2000
Sir
Christian Bonington (United Kingdom)
Born in Hampstead in 1934, Chris Bonington was educated at University
College School, London, and the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He was commissioned
in the  Royal Tank Regiment in 1956. He spent three years in northern Germany in command of
a troop of tanks and then two years at the Army Outward Bound School as a mountaineering
instructor. It was during this period that he started climbing in the Alps, making the
first British ascent of the South West Pillar of the Drus in 1958 and then the first
ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney on the south side of Mont Blanc in 1961 with Don
Whillans, Ian Clough and Jan Dlugosz. At that time this was one of the most difficult
climbs in the Alps, and even today it is considered one of the great classics of the Mont
Blanc region. Bonington also made the first British ascent of the North Wall of the Eiger
in 1962.
On leaving the Army in 1961, Bonington joined
Unilever as a management trainee but after nine months realized that he could never
combine a conventional career with his love of mountaineering. He made the decision to go
freelance and since 1962 has followed a successful course as writer, photographer and
mountaineer. Now married to Wendy, a freelance illustrator of children's books, they have
two sons, Daniel and Rupert.
Bonington is most noted for his expedition
planning and classic ascents of the world’s highest peaks. Some notable achievements
are the South Face of Annapurna — the "last great problem", the Southwest
Face of Everest, the Ogre, the West Summit of Shivling, the West Peak of Menlungtse, the
West Ridge of Panch Chuli II, the Northeast Ridge of Ushba, as well as Mount El’brus,
Rangrik Rang and Drangnag-Ri, Mount Kongur and Mount Vinson.
Bonington has been the planner and organizer
on the majority of his expeditions. Since 1960, he has also been invited to participate in
expeditions that have not only been organized by someone else but have often taken him to
different landscapes — excursions such as the British-Indian-Nepalese Services
Expedition to Annapurna II; a climb of the highest active volcano in the world, Sangay in
Ecuador; caribou hunting on Baffin Island; and a sailing expedition to Greenland
Chris Bonington has received many awards,
including a knighthood in 1996, as well as a number of professional and honorary
appointments. The documentary The Everest Years won the prize for the Best Mountaineering
Film at the 1988 Banff Mountain Film Festival as well as the highest award at the 1988 New
York Film and TV Festival. Bonington has written over fourteen books and produced or
collaborated on a number of films.
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