Climbing for Meade...

[Gob]

Legendary climber Sir Chris Bonington - partnered by Leo Houlding - summited the Old Man of Hoy yesterday aged 80.



The iconic sea stack off the coast of Hoy in Scotland was first climbed in 1966 by Bonington himself along with Rusty Baille and Tom Patey. Thier original route (UKC Logbooks) has become a UK classic and is a sought after tick at the grade of E1.



Sir Chris commented on the Berghaus website:

“I am exhausted, but very happy. Climbing with Leo is always a pleasure and his support certainly helped me get up the more difficult sections. I’m definitely not as lithe or flexible as I was in the 1960s!"

Chris climbed the Old Man of Hoy to raise awareness and funds for motor neurone disease (MND) charities in memory of his wife Wendy, who died of the condition last month.

He commented:

“It was a very emotional moment at the top. I was delighted to have completed the climb, but of course I was also thinking about Wendy, who was my rock during all of my previous trips, whether near or far. I hope that people who hear about this climb will take the time to find out a bit more about motor neurone disease and help us to raise some money to fund research into finding a cure.”

Making the first British ascent of the north wall of the Eiger, Sir Chris led the 1970 expedition that completed 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 that made the first ascent of the south west face of Everest in 1975, which also saw the first British mountaineers reach the summit of the world’s highest peak in Doug Scott and Dougal Haston. In 1977, Chris and Scott made the first ascent of the Ogre in Pakistan. Their dramatic six days long descent, during which Scott broke both legs and Chris broke ribs, has become the stuff of climbing legend. The peak was not climbed again for another 24 years.

Sir Chris Bonington himself reached the summit of Everest at the age of 50 in 1985, as a member of a Norwegian expedition. He is still active in the mountains, climbing with the same enthusiasm as he had at the beginning of his career.

As an author he has written 17 books and fronted numerous television programmes, and was a key participant in the ground-breaking live television broadcast of the first ascent of the Old Man of Hoy in 1966. He has also lectured to the public and corporate audiences all over the world. Chris then received a knighthood in 1996 for services to mountaineering.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Just a big phallic symbol....

[Econoline]

Hoy veh!

[MajGenl.Meade]

Gob, I remember watching that climb on the old gogglebox.... not the entire thing because it was as boring as ... well as boring as my website.

[Lord Jim]

Gob, I remember watching that climb on the old gogglebox.... not the entire thing because it was as boring as ...

And this is from a man who finds cricket and Leonard Cohen engaging...

If a fellow with as high a threshold for boredom as Meade finds it boring, you can take it to the bank; watching rock climbing must be very, very , very boring indeed....

[MajGenl.Meade]

Old man ahoy!

[Gob]

Meade, wasn't it, or at least part of it, featured on "Blue Peter"?

Nice to see the old guy still can climb a route I would struggle on, E1 (US 5.10b to 5.11b Aus 17-19) is not an easy grade in those conditions.

[rubato]

Old man ahoy!

Training video for the American Academy of Pulmonology; advanced emphysema.



yrs,
rubato