Chris Bonington

Sir Chris Bonnington is a British mountaineer who started climbing aged just 16. Telling his inspiring stories around his expeditions, which include the first ascent of the West face of Everest, Sir Chris imparts wisdom on the themes of leadership, teamwork, resilience and planning, making Sir Chris an ideal after dinner or key note speaker.

Mountaineer, photographer and adventurer Sir Chris Bonington, who made the first British ascent of the North Wall of the Eiger, delivers inspirational stories about his challenging climbing expeditions, which he relates to businesses by looking at basic principles such as leadership, teamwork, planning and perseverance.

In 1951, school boy Chris climbed his first mountain, and a passion was born.

Chris was a popular and very sociable speaker with all of our guests. He very obligingly signed the books we purchased, including personalised greetings as requested.

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Straight from school into the RAF, he was soon flying solo. Climbing avidly throughout his military career, he started exploring the Alps when he was sent to Germany.

Having always harboured a strong interest in the sport, he has been climbing since the tender age of 16, he successfully completed the challenging and classical assent of the Alps in 1958.

Pioneering numerous slopes in the mountain range, it was only when he left the army that Chris decided to tackle his greatest challenge – Everest.

He took on Nuptse (7,861 metres), the third peak of Everest, making the first ascent by its dominant South Face, which was one of the most challenging climbs in the Himalayas at that time. Testing his limits, Chris reached the Summit of Everest at the age of fifty.

Continuing to climb, Chris seeks out challenges to overcome both mentally and physically.

Chris the author has written seventeen books, and wrote and presented the award winning TV series Lakeland. He is also the non-executive Chairman of Berghaus.

In 1996, he was knighted for his services to climbing and in 2010 was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for his services to the Outward Bound Trust.

Determined and skilful, Chris will motivate a corporate audience through his tales of treacherous environments and sheer perseverance.

For further information or to book Chris Bonington, call us on +44 (0)20 7607 7070 or email info@speakerscorner.co.uk

An Interview with Chris Bonington

We interviewed explorer Chris Bonington to find out about his corporate speaking…

Chris Bonington Video

What people said about Chris Bonington

One of the main things I took away from today was that team members want to be lead and look for that leadership and instruction - they are not necessarily interested in getting to the top themselves, they merely want to carry out their chosen function and be appreciated and feel part of the team. I started out in business treating everyone like I thought I wanted to be treated when I was an employee, but not all your team are like you (or they'd want to run the business too!) So, not everyone can or indeed wants to get to the top - they just want to play their part and feel appreciated for the work they do do. And also, you can be the leader and still not have to scale the dizzy heights all the way to the top yourself.

Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development

I only hope you all enjoyed Sir Chris Bonington as much as I did. There were so many relevant parallels to current situations within my business at the moment - superb. . So far I have taken each of my senior managers aside - out of the office - and underlined what their role and level of responsibility is. I have made clear what my expectations of them are. The various scenarios emphasised the fact that good leadership is essential if you want a winning team.

Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development