Ascent

I am no climber, and never will be but have enjoyed, both vicariously and with envy, the adventures of Bonington though it is now over 30 years since I read Bonington’s ‘The Everest Years’ that lead me to go on to read his other autobiographical works – ‘I chose to Climb’ and ‘The Next Horizon’. I was dubious whether a new autobiography would add much to what I had already read, other than to refresh my memory, especially as ‘The Everest Years’ had ended with the then 50-year-old author’s summiting of Everest it was unlikely that age would bring greater adventures. How wrong I was.Of course, there is familiarity in his re-telling the tales of the Eiger, Annapurna, K2, the Ogre and Everest adventures but not only did the author continue to climb in the Himalaya in his sixties and elsewhere – notably in Morocco - into his seventies (indeed the book opens with his climbing the Old Man of Hoy aged 80 in 2014) but this is also a more personal book than his earlier autobiographies. There is much more here on the author’s earlier life with many gaps filled in by his mother’s unpublished autobiography. The early unconventional (for the 1940s) family life is covered with honesty – his father’s desertion and his mother’s arguments with her own mother, her same sex relationship and attempted suicide are all here. Also here is the story of his own long 1st marriage to Wendy and the support she gave not only to her often absent husband but also to the partners of the many climbers lost on expeditions – the roll call is long as Bonington, in reflective mood, notes that ‘Four of the eight lead climbers on Annapurna’s south face died in the mountains, all of them great friends. Of the four of us who climbed Kongur, I have been the only survivor for over thirty years, after Al Rouse died in 1986.’As Bonington was a trailblazer for the professionalisation of Mountaineering in Britain – and one of the 1st to make a reasonably good living from it, not only has he been the face of Mountaineering in the British media for 50 years he has had to work to maintain that position in order to continue to earn his crust. It was this logic that drove him to be a reporter covering the Eiger Direct climb and after a stint of photo-journalism covering Blashford-Snell’s 1968 expedition that led him back to lead expeditions in the Himalayas in the 70s and early 80s. In that time, the nature of the game changed from siege to Alpine style climbing and for most of this period Bonington was away from home and at the same time Bonington’s fame, if not fortune, grew. When asked ‘how I justified it when I had a wife and two sons. There is no justification; it was my thirst for adventure, undoubtedly selfish, that drove me on’ Bonington is honest but I feel a little too hard on himself – after all he did need to earn his crust though undoubtedly his family paid a price. With frank honesty he discusses that price that was paid as he chronicles his oldest surviving son’s late teenage drug habit and run ins with the law. This could be laid at the feet of an absent father but happily Joe is today himself a successful businessman in outdoor adventure so, perhaps, his father’s influence has been more favourable than he credits.The final chapters of this superb book are both poignant and inspirational. They tell of the tragedy of the developing illness (MND) and loss of his wife, Wendy and the intense grief that this brings but they also tell of the development of a new romance and that love is never closed no matter one’s age. This is an enthralling and inspirational book that should make anyone’s Christams reading list – you don’t need to be a climber , or even an outdoors person to enjoy it. The final words I shall leave to Sir Christian Bonnington:“What I wanted was to make every single day of my eighties mean something, get out and climb and walk, enjoy my grandchildren, keep working and make life as rich and exciting as it possibly can be.”

I always liked Chris Bonnington and happened to come across this book while shopping for something different. It is very well written. What a life. What you take away from the book though is that he is just lucky to be alive. Most of his climbing friends died one way or another, either falling off the highest walls in the world, hit by rockfall, just falling into a crevasse right next to base camp... The list is endless. As a child I went to a slide show by Pete Boardman and Joe Tasker...both disappeared on a Bonnington expedition on Everest. If you like mountain climbing stories, it is worth reading.

What a man! I'm roughly the same age as Chris Bonington and he's always been a part of my mountain landscape. This is a very human and often touching account of his life. The mountain details are concise (read his other books for those) but the emotions and the relationships that made the real man are here. This is not just another book about mountaineering; it's a journey inside the mind of our arguably greatest ever mountaineer. Please read it if you care about the people who climb mountains, human ambition and capability, or simply the capacity of one person to break the boundaries.

I do not climb and never will. I'm scared of heights! But for some reason I have read several books by climbers including a few previous ones by Bonington. Perhaps it's the fascination of wondering why on earth they do it? This seems to be a final book chronicling his whole life and overlapping some of his previous novels. He is good as describing his enthusiasm and the landscape whether in North Wales or Everest, and the dangers are brought home when so many of his friends have died on his adventures. He has certainly led an interesting, well travelled life....often at the expense of his family which he acknowledges....and this would be a good one off never for those who want a brief resume of his life and climbs. The photographs on Kindle are not as good as a real book of course, which is a shame, but nevertheless an enjoyable read about someone who made a career out of climbing.

'I Chose to Climb', CB's first book, was a classic. Since then his books have been dull and very predicable, topping up the CB bank account rather than scintillating readers. I had hoped that this, presumably his last book, would be an 'end of term report', looking back on and evaluating his career and that of the many other mountaineers he knew. Sadly not. It is another typical CB book, at times embarrassing in its frankness (for example of his son's trial for burglary and his love for his new wife), but not addressing at all the issues I had hoped. It does however throw a new light on his awful childhood, and is perhaps worth reading just for that.

Really enjoyed it a very deep book taking you into the mind of a Mountaineer and a man. Huge personal losses of friends and family shape this book. Getting old takes a bit of getting to grips with but Chris opens his heart to it!I did enjoy it stay fit and wellChris !

A very enjoyable read. Chris Bonington is a very lucky man surviving so many adventures in the mountains. I had no idea how busy he has been with other selfless acts and amazing achievements. A fascinating biography which I had difficulty putting down. Highly recommended.

Very interesting for a non climber. One gets a feel for the danger and the uncomfortable places! He is very lucky!! What a full life! What stamina! It seems he never had to learn to climb; Did it all come naturally. I thoroughly enjoyed it!!