Almost 50 years after he made the first ascent with Tom Patey and Rusty Baillie, Sir Chris Bonington has succeeded in climbing the Old Man of Hoy again, this time with fellow Berghaus athlete, Leo Houlding.
Sir Chris’s achievement comes a matter of days after his 80th birthday, and he is using the opportunity to raise awareness of the illness Motor Neurone Disease (MND) which his wife Wendy recently succumbed to.
The original climb, in 1966, was repeated later for the famous live broadcast entitled ‘The Great Climb’ and the second ascent involved the likes of Dougal Haston, Joe Brown, Ian McNaught-Davis and Pete Crew, climbing different routes to the top.
Bonington has, of course, lived an extraordinary life both on and off the mountain, and Trek & Mountain pays tribute to him in the September edition which will be on the shelves shortly!
RELATED LINKS
http://www.mndassociation.org/