Chris Bonington

Sir Chris Bonington (born 1934) is a British mountaineer whose career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, four of them to Mount Everest. He first began climbing in 1951 at 16, was educated at University College School in Hampstead, joined the Royal Fusiliers, attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was commissioned in the Royal Tank Regiment in 1956. After three years in North Germany he spent two years at the Army Outward Bound School as a mountaineering instructor. He was part of the party that made the first British ascent of the South West Pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in 1958, and in 1961 made the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney on Mont Blanc with Don Whillans, Ian Clough and Jan Dlugosz.