Chris Bonington
Acting
Biography
Chris Bonington, born on August 6, 1934, in Hampstead, London, is one of the most influential British mountaineers of the 20th century. He discovered climbing as a teenager, learning his craft on the crags of Wales and Scotland, before quickly making a name for himself in the Alps. By the late 1950s, he had participated in major ascents, such as the Bonatti Pillar in Les Drus in 1958. He established himself as one of the most talented members of a generation of British climbers, alongside figures such as Don Whillans, Ian Clough, and Joe Brown. His career is marked by iconic first ascents: the central pillar of Frêney on Mont Blanc in 1961, the Central Tower of Paine in Patagonia in 1963, and the right pillar of Brouillard in 1966. From the 1960s onward, he also distinguished himself in the Himalayas, reaching the summit of Annapurna II in 1960, then Nuptse in 1961, before leading and participating in nineteen Himalayan expeditions, including four to Everest. In 1970, he led the British expedition that achieved the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna, one of the great Himalayan faces still unclimbed at the time. Five years later, he organized and led the first ascent of the southwest face of Everest, an expedition that would go down in mountaineering history. Bonington didn't just climb: he planned, organized, and devised teams and objectives, becoming a leading expert in the logistics and management of major siege-style expeditions. He also alternated with lighter, more challenging alpine-style ascents, such as the first ascent of the West Summit of Shivling in India in 1983, which he considers one of his greatest adventures, driven by the sheer joy of climbing. Throughout his career, Bonington also faced tragedy, losing numerous climbing companions on expeditions, as well as a young son and, later, his wife of more than fifty years. Despite these hardships, he remained deeply attached to the mountains, which he saw as a place of beauty, wildness, and challenge, and continued to climb and explore long after his most famous exploits. In 1985, at the age of 50, he finally reached the summit of Everest, becoming the oldest person to have successfully climbed it at the time. Alongside his adventures, Chris Bonington pursues a career as a writer, lecturer, and photographer, sharing his passion and experience through numerous books and public appearances. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996, in recognition of his major influence on mountaineering and his contribution to mountain culture. A true living legend, he embodies a generation of mountaineers for whom the mountains are at once a playground, a place of accomplishment, and a space of brotherhood, despite the risks and losses. Chris Bonington received the Piolet d'Or Career Award in 2015 at the 23rd edition of the Piolets d'Or. This distinction honors his entire career and his major influence on world mountaineering, celebrating an exceptional career marked by numerous first ascents in the Alps and the Himalayas.
Known For
People experience adventures on mountains all around the world. Personalities, fascinated by the world of the mountains, bring us closer to the freedom many people experience in such breezy hights.
Bergwelten
"The Climbers" is a six-part documentary series tracing the history of mountaineering. Directed by Chris Bonington and Richard Else, it was produced by the BBC and broadcast in 1992. The series recounts the evolution of mountaineering and the traditions of climbers in Great Britain and on the European continent: the former developed a free climbing technique, while the latter used aids such as keys, pitons, and drills to ascend otherwise inaccessible routes. The program includes archive footage of the pioneers of the sport, from the emergence of free climbing as a distinct discipline in the late 1970s and 1980s to the advent of competitions.
The Climbers
Many mountaineers as part of their activity have used cameras and films to allow us to participate through images in their adventures and their emotions. Many of them have become true film professionals: Joseph Vallot, Lionel Terray, Marcel Ichac, Renè Vernadet, Jean Afanasieff, Pierre Royer, Denis Ducroz, Kurt Diemberg and many others are among the conquerors of the image of the mountain. The film depicts the passion of these men on the highest mountains in the world... behind the lens.
When the Mountaineers Make Their Cinema
Based on a true story about a mountaineer named Lucy Walker who becomes the first woman to climb the Matterhorn in 1871.
A Dangerous Kind of Love
Chris Bonington and Jim Curran trace the history of K2 expeditions from 1903 to the disastrous loss of life in the summer of 1986, when 13 climbers died on K2, climbing tragedies that aggressively carved the epithet the 'savage mountain' into the public consciousness. Jim Curran was hired by the British 'Fuller’s K2' team to document their attempt on the unclimbed NW Ridge, so he was at the mountain, all summer. Inevitably, his documentary ended up drifting into a gripping narrative from the front line of the disastrous and tragic summer that killed 13 climbers on K2.
K2 - Triumph And Tragedy On The Savage Mountain
Documenting the endless pursuit of staying outside for longer.
A Cold Embrace
Brian Blessed plays George Mallory in this intrepid recreation of his ill fated 1924 climb to Everest. Meeting Sir Chris Bonington, Rheinhold Messnerhe learns of the pitfalls that await him before setting off for his epic struggle with the mountain. Against all odds he reaches 26000 feet on the North face of Everest, and is a changed man
Galahad of Everest
This entertaining film documents the first ascent of the very difficult South Face of Annapurna, a huge Himalayan wall that the right team could achieve the seemingly impossible. The ascent of the South Face of Annapurna in 1970 was one of those breakthrough ascents - both technically and psychologically. Chris Bonington assembled the cream of British mountaineering and American Tom Frost for the attempt. The documentary is punctuated by wry observation, understatement and cutting humor from a by-gone age when the game of taking huge risks was matched by a determination not to take it too seriously.
Annapurna South Face
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Jill Lawrence and Gill Price, members of the women's climbing club Pinnacle Club, made the first female ascents of difficult routes, laying the foundations for what would develop in the 1980s. In 1984, in the Lake District, Gill Price and Jill Lawrence were filmed climbing Empire E3 6a at Raven Crag, Thirlmere, for a Channel 4 program, Lakeland Rock, with Chris Bonington, broadcast on Channel 4 on 25 May 1985. This event marked a turning point in British women's climbing, as few, if any, women appeared on television climbing difficult sport routes.
Raven Crag - Closing The Gap
The legend of Hamish MacInnes began early. At 16 he climbed the Matterhorn. At 17 he built his first motor car – from scratch. He attempted Everest in 1953 with his friend Johnny Cunningham, and almost stole the peak before Hillary and Tenzing. As an explorer, expedition leader and engineer he achieved world fame. As inventor of the all metal ice axe, author of the International Mountain Rescue Handbook and founder of Glencoe Mountain Rescue he has been responsible for saving hundreds of lives, if not thousands. But at the age of 84, his accomplishments could not save him from being institutionalised against his will, suffering from delirium. After a spell in psychogeriatric detainment in a hospital in the Highlands of Scotland, during which he made many escape attempts – he emerged to find his memory gone. This film tells the story of his life by mirroring his greatest challenge: to recover his memories and rescue himself.
Final Ascent: The Legend of Hamish MacInnes
In October 2014, Steve Wakeford, a sports broadcast editor, fell 70 metres whilst climbing a mountain known as Les Petites Jorasses in the French Alps. It was a fall that required him to be airlifted out of the mountains suffering from a number of serious injuries and resulted in him being temporarily left in a wheelchair - he is lucky to be alive. At the start of a long journey of rehabilitation, he began to ask himself some serious questions - 'Regardless of injury or trauma, why are we drawn to the mountains in the first place? Is risk an essential part of what we do? Perhaps most importantly, why is it that I am planning to climb the same route from which I fell?'
Magnetic Mountains
Breathtaking climbing sequences. As a guide, none other than "The Rock Queen" Catherine Destivelle. Climbing companions of the caliber of Chris Bonington or Tom Livingstone, one of the greatest Himalayan climbers today... for the production of "Great Britain, Journey to the Sources of Mountaineering," Vincent Perazio and Bertrand Delapierre have proven themselves equal to a complex but fascinating subject: the British origins of mountaineering. A journey through time. Since the second half of the 19th century and the beginnings of the British writer Albert F. Mummery, who would become the first sport mountaineer, notably in the Alps and the Caucasus.
Great Britain, Journey To The Sources of Mountaineering
From his rock climbing days in the UK through to visionary ascents on the high peaks of the Himalaya and shares the remarkable and poignant life of one of the world's best-known mountaineers.
Bonington: Mountaineer
"Incantations," narrated by Chris Bonington, is a documentary about the first ascent of "Incantations" (E6-6b) on the Tophet wall in Wasdale, UK, by British climbers Pete Whillance and Dave Armstrong in August 1984. Directed by Paul Berriff in 1985 and produced by Border Television, it is part of the Lakeland Rock documentary series (5/6), which today constitute important documents of the history of modern free climbing and its evolution.
Incantations
First broadcast on Channel 4 in 1985, Lakeland Rock is a classic of climbing. Presented by Sir Chris Bonington, this 1990 documentary comprises four films that retrace five iconic routes, each representing a major milestone in a sport that reflects the social transformations of Great Britain. From the 1940s, when working-class people began climbing mountains, to the 1980s, marked by technological advancements, the rise of female climbers, and the soaring difficulty of sport climbing with its near-Olympic levels of physical preparation. In three of the films, the climbers recreate their first ascents, with a tribute to their deceased climbing partners, Don Whillans and Bill Peascod. Also included is the first filmed ascent of "Incantations" on Gable Crag by Pete Whillance and Dave Armstrong, which, rated E6 6b, was considered at the time to be the most difficult route in the Lake District.
Lakeland Rock
Everest Revisited 1924 - 2024, uses extensive historical footage, as well as interviews with Everest scholars and mountaineers, to tell the story of the 1924 Everest expedition and to ask questions about what the mountain means to climbers and Nepalis 100 years on from this famous expedition.
Everest Revisited 1924 - 2024
NOVA documentary inquiring into the fate of early Everest explorers George Mallory and Sandy Irvine
Everest: The Mystery of Mallory and Irvine
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On ne marche qu'une fois sur la lune
Sir Chris Bonington’s return to Torres del Paine, 62 years after the first ascent of the Central Tower. At 91 years old, and while living with Alzheimer’s disease, the documentary accompanies Bonington in a profoundly human return: an attemp to reconnect with memories that time has erased, but that the Patagonian landscape still seems to guard. During the filming, Chris once again set foot on the territory of Estancia Cerro Guido, closing a circle between past and present, between the epic of mountainneering and the fragility of memory.
Remember the Summit
Documentary directed by Neil Armstrong.