Chris Bonington

Sir Chris Bonington is one of the most successful expedition leaders in the history of mountaineering and has established a reputation as an outstanding motivational speaker. He uses the superbly illustrated story of his two major expeditions to Everest as a case study that is linked and tailored to the needs of the client. He has spoken to companies and organisations around the world.

He was honoured with the Founder’s Medal of The Royal Geographical Society in 1974, the CBE in 1976 and a Knighthood in 1996. He has held many honorary appointments and currently is President of the British Orienteering Federation and LEPRA (The British Leprosy Charity), Honoury President of Mountain Wilderness, a Trustee of Outward Bound, Chairman of its Risk Management Committee, Chancellor Designate of Lancaster University, Chancellor Designate 2005 onwards and Deputy Lieutenant of Cumbria 2004 onwards. He is also Chairman of Berghaus, Britain’s leading Outdoor manufacturer.

He has presented many television programmes including the award winning "Everest Years", "Lakeland Rock" and "The Climbers" and has written fourteen much acclaimed books, all of which have been bestsellers.

In 1970 he led the expedition that made the 1st ascent of the South Face of Annapurna and in 1975 achieved another 1st on Everest - the Hard Way, up its huge South West Face. Four strong expeditions had tried and failed. He reached the summit of Everest in 1985 at the age of fifty but the challenges that now attract him are the few exciting unclimbed peaks that are left in the World’s further ranges

Some comments on the impact of Bonington’s presentations

"Without doubt and by the common consent of all the delegates, your talk was one of the most inspirational and thought provoking that any of us have ever attended."

The Hon John Sinclare, Chief Executive, Granfel Holdings Ltd

"I really don’t recall receiving such a positive feed back from an audience following a speech. You made a very great impression on our people and managed to reinforce in a quite enthralling manner the points made throughout the day about vision, leadership and teamwork."

A.F Morrison, Chairman, Morrison Construction Group

"The parallels between the mountaineering process are vividly clear and the relevance of your experience to our business was very much appreciated by all me colleagues."

David Setchell, Managing Director, Gulf Oil (UK)

"Your multimedia study on Everest gave our senior management more insight into empowering leadership than all our books on the topic put together."

Professor Susan Vinnicombe, Director of Graduate Research, Craneld School of Management