Mountaineer, author and Trek & Mountain contributor Stephen Venables is giving a series of lectures on legendary adventurer Eric Shipton over the coming weeks. One of the greatest mountain explorers of the twentieth century, Shipton was a team-member on all four Everest expeditions during the 1930’s and found the route that Hillary and Tenzing would follow to the top of the world. He famously missed out on Hillary’s historic ascent after being sacked from the expedition – his small-team, minimal logistics approach to climbing just didn’t fit with the grandiose, large-scale expedition style of the British Empire.
Instead, Shipton dedicated his life to exploring untouched mountain ranges all over the world, from the mountains of East Africa to the untouched ice-fields of Patagonia in Tierra del Fuego. Admired by explorers (and loved by women!) he inspired a generation of mountaineers, including Venables, who in 1988 became the first Briton to climb Everest without supplementary oxygen. In his lecture, Stephen will mix readings from Shipton’s books with stories of his own journeys in the explorer’s footsteps, illustrated with photography and film clips.
Dates & Venues
JANUARY
Thurs 26th STREET, SOMERSET Strode Theatre 01458 44 28 46
Mon 30th SALFORD The Lowry 0843 208 6000
FEBRUARY
Sat 11th BUXTON Opera House 0845 1272190
MARCH
Mon 5th BIRMINGHAM Town Hall 0121 780 3333
Thurs 8th LLANDUDNO Venue Cymru 01492 872000
Thurs 22nd DURHAM The Gala 0191 332 4041
Weds 28th RADLETT The Radlett Centre 01923 859291
Thurs 29th INVERNESS Eden Court 01463 234234
APRIL
Sun 1st TUNBRIDGE WELLS Assembly Hall 01892 530613
Tues 3rd SHREWSBURY Theatre Severn 01743 281 281
RELATED LINKS
www.speakersfromtheedge.com