Chris Bonington
Born in Hampstead, LondonBorn on 6th of August 1934
Died in 000
Chris Bonington is a famous British mountaineer. He was born in Hampstead and educated at University College Hampstead. He enrolled into the Royal Fusiliers and subsequently was at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. After graduation he joined the Royal Tank Regiment in 1956. He was a mountaineering instructor at the Army Outward Bound School.
While still in the army, Bonington was in the party that made the first British ascent of the South West Pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in 1958. In 1960 he was part of the joint British-Indian-Nepalese forces expedition which made a successful assault on Annapurna II. In 1961 Bonington was also in the team which made the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney on the south side of Mont Blanc along with Don Whillans, Ian Clough and Jan Dlugosz.
Bonington left the British Army in 1961 and joined Van den Berghs, a division of the multinational company Unilever. Commerce obviously wasn't for Bonington and he left the company after only nine months. He then decided to focus on a career as a professional mountaineer and explorer. In 1966 the Daily Telegraph magazine commissioned Bonington to cover several expeditions, including climbing Sangay in Ecuador and hunting Caribou with Eskimos on Baffin Island. In 1968 Bonington was with Captain John Blashford-Snell and his British Army team in the attempt to make the first ever descent of the Blue Nile.
During his long career as a professional adventurer Bonington has been on nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest and was there for the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna.
Bonington is married to Wendy, a freelance illustrator of children's books. They have lived in Cumbria since 1974 and have two sons named Daniel and Rupert.
Links:
http://www.bonington.com/ Straight from the horses mouth
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