British mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington recalls his travel adventures, from conquering an unclimbed mountain called The Ogre to cruising the Galapagos islands
Sir Chris Bonington checks in to our travel Q&A
This week British mountaineer Sir Chris Bonington checks in to our travel Q&A.
He recalls his most memorable trip, climbing The Ogre in Pakistan, and his most lavish holiday to the Galapagos islands.
EARLIEST TRAVEL MEMORY?
While I was still at school, around the age of 16 and living in Hampstead, London, I went hitchhiking with a mate all the way to Snowdonia just so we could go climbing.
MOST MEMORABLE TRIP?
Climbing a mountain named The Ogre, which is 7,285 metres high, in the Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan. In 1977, it presented a superb unclimbed challenge.
One of our team, Doug Scott, slipped and fell on the first abseil from the summit and broke both his legs.
He crawled all the way down the mountain, helped by me, Mo Anthoine and Clive Rowland.
We went for around five days without food, first aid and painkillers yet somehow we survived.
LAST HOLIDAY?
Last year we drove to our second home in the South of France for the summer.
MOST LAVISH HOLIDAY?
The Galapagos islands in 2009. We were on a small cruise boat owned by a close friend of ours. It was in the early stages of my wife Wendy’s motor neurone disease, so she was still able to walk, and the Galapagos was somewhere she had always wanted to visit.
At the end of the cruise we stayed for a few days in a little estancia with no internet, then went to a hotel in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
We stayed up all night watching the election results when Barack Obama became U.S. President.
DREAM TRIP?
I would like to be transported to a satellite station in space, so I could get a distant view of Earth.
Sir Chris remembers cruising around the Galapagos islands with his wife
HOT OR COLD CLIMATES?
I much prefer colder climates.
PLACE EVERYONE SHOULD GO?
Rome, to see all the ancient artefacts.
ONE PLACE TO AVOID?
Disneyland.
ESSENTIAL TRAVEL ITEM?
I always travel with my Kindle.
ANY PACKING DISASTERS?
I once left a box of all my gear for an expedition on the platform at Euston.
- Sir Chris Bonington is a patron of the UK-based charity Community Action Nepal. To learn more, visit canepal.org.uk.
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