Chris Bonington : The Everest Years (c.1985)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 พ.ค. 2017
- UK TV Documentary shown soon after Chris Bonington reached the summit of Mount Everest in 1985, after years of leading expeditions to some of the world's largest and most dangerous mountains.
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I’m retired now, in the interior of British Columbia. At the end of the 70’s and into the late 80’s, I lived in Alberta, and I first took up long distance mountain hiking and spelunking before I became a climber at about 22 yrs old. I’ve climbed all over western Canada and the north western States. As I watch these old mountaineering documentaries, I’m going thru one of my life’s biggest challenges. I’m detoxing from an addiction to (over prescribed) opiates - which began largely due to injuries I sustained while climbing. So between bouts on the toilet, with the bathroom garbage can between my knees, as well, I find these so inspiring! These men knew how to overcome extreme pain and nausea, and STILL perform flawlessly in life and death situations.
It makes detoxing from opiates seem like a day at the zoo!
Peace
lets just take a second to appreciate misses Bonnington and that adorable goat
Love all these older mountain documentaries, their limited equipment etc, all makes it seem like such a greater achievement than those of today
Toomany Hobbies I guess your horizon is the top of your laptop.
@@Alongfortheride693
When your biggest achievement is getting out of bed before noon, climbing Everest probably seems like suicide.
@Alfred Weber they wore up to 8 layers of clothing back then, it was super bulky compared to today. Today we have polyester, goretex, goose down in ripstop nylon, loads of more efficiency and weight saving, And O2 supply is much lighter today. Come on, you think 100 years has made little difference? Absolute nonsense.
I did a lot of backpacking during the old days. We did our best back then but our equipment was nothing like is available now. It makes me sad I’m not backpacking anymore.
take a second to appreciate mrs Bonnington and that adorable goat
Dont you love Chris . He is not only a world mountaineer but a great writer and historian
What a truly inspirational man. I had the honour of meeting him yesterday. Sir Chris spoke with passion, integrity and humility. But it was clear he has the drive and singular bloody-mindedness that is present in almost all mountaineers and explorers. One of the our country’s Great Britons!
take a second to appreciate mrs Bonnington and that adorable goat
My HERO!!Sir Chris Bonnigton , Great achievement in life
That C4 music took me back. From great days with good health and loads of family to now having bad health and no family left. Chris Bonnington is a hero. A true explorer.
I love the older documentaries , these men were undertaking very difficult climbs on extremely tough mountains , and always picking the hardest option of route.
Remarkable and courageous men...
Its actually the easiest route up Everest
I think the older documentaries were more about telling the story and not focused on the commercial part.
Kitana Kojima yeah it's easy all right you would have climbed in you'r bikini.right?
So do you wash your clothes by hand and still travel on horse?
@@Tsumami__ there are multiple expeditions and routes discussed in this video. its ok tho i understand youre one of those people who hate climbing and climbers but post on every everest video anyway.
"I'll always enjoy being in the mountains. " Nope. Cannot relate. But I will always enjoy watching other people being in the mountains.
Same. Watched a ton of K2/Everest expeditions but would be miserable there...
@@sumguy835 you dont have to climb the tallest or most dangerous mountains to enjoy climbing
@@warshipsatin8764
True & funny enough, my wife & I are off to Sandakphu next year to view Everest in the flesh across the range. About as close as I want to get...
@Jamis Billson
It’s about the same cost as a week or two holiday in Spain. About £115 for a 5 day trek up to Sandakphu. Few hundred for a flight & some spends etc.
Very reasonable for a life experience…
take a second to appreciate mrs Bonnington and that adorable goat
What a fantastic documentary about one of the most important, greatest and most humble mountaineers of all time!
What an epic image at 11:45 of Don Whillans standing on top of Annapurna with the snowy windblast around him.
My journey to Base Camp was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Thanks for sharing.
So going to base camp is a big challenge already ?
@@goognamgoognw6637 depends on your skill level, if you usually sit in an office all day it would be a big achievement
take a second to appreciate mrs Bonnington and that adorable goat
Physically it's definitely not easy, but definitely do-able if you're in decent shape. @@goognamgoognw6637
He wrote three books on his Everest expeditions. I just finished the first on his first attempt in autumn of 1972. It was great!
For Chris, losing Ian during the descent on the south face of Annapurna hit him the hardest. That was his climbing partner for his ascent of the north face of the Eiger in 1962.
“If you have to ask the question of why people climb you won’t be able to understand the answer”. Bonington does a great job of helping me understand, a real class act.
I loved the old commercials
1985 seems like 400 years ago.....but at the time, it seemed like the future was here...the computer age was upon us....MTV.....it had a "modern" feeling....
how 1 person disliked this is beyond me....Fantastic video and thanks for uploading ☺
I was going to say someone disliked cause They were jealous of Chris's beard. Then I saw your name!
It was Don Whillans
Probably some kid.
@@filthyphillyboy millennial pricks
Had the pleasure of going to one of lecture evenings in a town I can't remember the name of in South Devon, U.K., just an amazing human.
What a great watch, thank you.
Chris Bonington, warm greetings from the Special Territory of Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
That was awesome! Thank you for the upload! Particularly enjoyed seeing the Coronation Street footage at Cheddar in the UK...a climb that CB describes as one of his favourites....I've never seen that before.
Always enjoying being in the mountains.... being part of the mountains.... YES. I feel that hard, Chris. I feel exactly the same way.
i love old adverts
They still seem pretty fresh to me!
Special hearing the kids view of Dad - lovely
I also climbed EVEREST with you from base camp to the summit its so easy to get it wrong as i watched till the summit of EVEREST thanks for sharing im exhausted
I was only ten when this came out, and I remember the adverts like they were yesterday... oh and great documentary !
The advertising is wonderful....wow we have come a LONG way.
Superb, the weight what those Sherpas carry up the mountain is nuts wow
The best documentaries are from the 80s
Brilliant! And love the adverts too!
Funny I watched this years ago and there was just the one! Now there are how many!!! I just dragged through them to continue on 👌
Chris, we used to watch you on TV only to be heard that there was another failed attempt on a certain route. Then has a child I wondered what is he lacking to keep making him to retract. Such is life.
Thx for posting this!
Fantastic documentary
Awe his wife is lovely and understanding
He re married...so I guess he got over it. @Paul Preddy
@@erinmarie99 interesting
@@erinmarie99 You don't "get over" a death of a beloved spouse, but life goes on. Jeez.
Oh what brilliance
Around 24:00 some members of Bonington's 1975 South West Face Expedition summited just before sunset after having bivouacked somewhere below the previous night, which I found amazing when compared to a documentary called "The Fatal Game" about the disastrous Everest summit of guide Mark Whetu and friend Doug Rhineburger taking place in the 1990's. In that documentary it was considered almost suicide to summit at the exact same time, an hour before sunset and that's without having bivouacked the night before high on the mountain. They ended up having to bivouac literally about 50m from the summit which resulted in Rhineburger's death and Whetu surviving without his toes. A comparison of the two expeditions shows just how much the quality of the climbing had changed from the 70's to late 90's.
Yeah I noticed that when watching the full documentary on that climb on Everest. I guess what made it stand out to me was not so much that they stayed up there the night before the accent and then again on the night of the decent and survived in tact. But that they made the decision to stay up there prior to doing so both times. Meaning it wasn’t like they lost track of time or had a storm force them to. As far as I can tell it was part of the deal in finding a route to the summit. I don’t know if it was tentatively planned or not before they took off from Camp, but they had to know at some point they were going to have to do that with the time they could see it was going to take. If this all sounds totally obvious it’s because I’m just a casual observer and don’t know the back stories.
They summitted the Ogre, 7,285 (1977) as sunset was approaching (time stamp approx. 32:00).
Everest stands 8,848m; and the "death zone" begins at 8,000 meters.
Spending 4 days in the death zone would NOT have been survivable.
52 is young still good for him
Love he’s beard and haircut.
Thumbnail is not Everest, it’s Annapurna 1. Also, Everest is far from the hardest climb in the world. That’s also Annapurna 1
It was in the 70's. Not now though.
Hardest in what manner? Technicality? Weather? Try being a little more specific. I’m guessing you’ve neither scaled the direct route to summit via Southwest face of Everest, or K2, or Annapurna. So why are you speaking with such matter of fact? There’s a reason no one tries Everest’s Southwest face, or Everest’s fantasy ridge. K2 and Annapurna are attempted much more often than either of those two routes to Everest’s summit. Wonder why?
@@nicknino7464 Get over yourself
@@donuttime2507 don't be a dick mate, go and try it, I went to everest in the 80s 8 grand they wanted for a small conservatory fuk that I went to wicks instead
Tsk 1971... Get the best, Everest!
See, look at me drop this feather...
Bonnington inspirations.
A truly great guy.
I found the Unclimbed Ridge really upsetting. It seemed obvious they should’ve given up way before Pete & Joe headed off for the last time. So sad
there are many way one dies near the summit, but two who bivouacked one night before attempting the summit. I tend to think, their tent was blown away, they never got through the night or they got lost and died of exposure.
@@goognamgoognw6637 You do know that Peter Boardman's body was found and photographed by an expedition in the mid-90s, don't you? He was sitting in repose, as though sleeping. Joe's body has never been found. It's thought that he may have stepped through a cornice and slid down the Kangshung Face.
@@Khumbu0609 I didn't know, thanks. I am not a mountaineer and already forgot about this video. I watched enough high altitude videos to learn that our bodies are not meant to be there. Once you realize that, the rest is psychology and of no interest to me.
@@goognamgoognw6637 I've only trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp (twice), but the '70s and '80s were the golden age of mountaineering for me, so finding these videos is a real treasure. I agree, too risky, and I hate the cold. Lol. Cheers.
@@Khumbu0609 how did his son die? I missed that part.
You should hear Chris describing his wife Wendy after her death, in his old age.......
It's there in one of the interviews
Excellent video for the modern man. Simple.
16:02 - frostbite and cooking batteries!!
bat trees
gnarly
From Me To You.
I cannot believe these hero‘s standard practice is to leave all their garbage up on the mountain because it is inconvenient or they just don’t care to bring it down. What a lesson for the world’s children. What wisdom! Leave it to the old generation to come up with the strategy to just dump all their garbage instead of bringing it down. There is no problem adding to the high garbage and equipment dumps on Everest. They should have to have all that crap in their front and back yards forever. Duh ever heard of pack it in pack it out. Maybe respect the earth?yh
U
You took all your stuff down from your 8000 meter ascents did you? Pathetic girly boy.
la piramide sommitale dell'everest vista da yoe tasker salendo la cresta ovest che emozione
I thought that he wanted to take down Hannelor Schmats body, 6 yrs after her death...He spotted her body 1985 and mistook her body for a tent...
Riha what?! I just looked that up apparently two men died trying to get her off the trail to the summit. You seen that picture!!?? I can see why they didn't wanna see that thing lol no disrespect.
Are there still mountaineers like these men?
No because expeditions that called for men like these have already been done
@@KevAlberta lol Simone Moro? Denis Urubko?
Lewis Taylor I’m sorry but I have not heard of them
@@KevAlberta Simone Moro is the guy who does climbs 8000m peaks in winter, Urubko is the same
Mr T you mean like how the people who dun it first did? Respect
Audio is difficult to understand, music is too loud. Make it an effort to enjoy.
This program is very old and it didn't come from this channel.
He reminds me of a WW1 general imagining up pointless difficult routes that get his soldiers killed while he climbs the shepherded tourist route to summit 😾
Quadeca man
Keep a stiff upper lip, Lad and Fare Thee Well!
The last of the Long Hairs Generation, except for the singular few still left.
As I like to say when confronted;
No man takes an edge to my hair!
The Great Spirit decides how long my mane shall be!
PS:
It is very concerning to see the loss of ice from then till now.
He is 89 in 2022 wow
80 s best time
As much as as I miss the good old times sometimes for different reasons,
the mens Yeti- hairstyles are not one of them.😖
Society will always find a way to destroy something pure. Just throw money at it.
I thought the only window to summit was in May, because of the weather. Why were they doing it in September?
2 windows
how is this 1985 when there is footages in the film from 1987 ? come on
1:31 what summit is that...?
Shivling
That ad at 27:00 wow lol
29:58 - god thats a good ad. don whillans would like that one
I’m sorry but I honestly don’t get the admiration for a deadbeat dad and husband. I realize that’s awfully harsh but as far as I can tell it’s just the truth. I mean what man wouldn’t love to to play around with his buddies for 6 months out of the year and then go home to his family all waiting for him? Hey, more power to him but it wasn’t like he was out solving the worlds problems or championing some nobel cause. Basically he was out playing around and watching a bunch of his friends die doing things that had been already done decades before. I think the guy is half a fraud and selfish bstd but that’s just in contrast to all this admiration for him. If the theme in this comment section was like mine I might be obliged to take the other side. It’s just another way of looking at it to me as I don’t think the guy is some sociopath. He made the world a more interesting place but that’s where it ends for me.
hardest way? hmm the Kangshung face and North East ridge must be as hard, the Kangshung face is definitely harder, bigger, more technical, more remote, more dangerous
Been there and climbed them have you?
To be fair, he did clim a few hard routes in his life ;)
@@evangelene12 no but does that prevent me having an opinion? what a dull world that would be. Take a look at the Kangshung face and compare it to the Southwest face. The SW face has only a few technical pitches, whereas the bottom 1000m of the Kangshung face is almost vertical and there is 2500m of suicidal hanging glacier...
Since when is Everest the hardest mountain to climb on earth?
Love the soundtrack! It's like watching Roger Waters from Pink Floyd climb Mountains! Me and my frostbite Comfortably Numb
Blah Blah I wish I did still looking
Technically speaking, there was no one better.
Chris Bonington gave a talk at my school in the 1970s. By the time he was half way through, I wished I was on a mountain somewhere where I couldn't hear his voice. Worst lecture I've ever been to.
In the years before Everest became a complete shitshow
I will respect someone who opened a new route on a 1000 meter peak more than anybody who summited everest in good weather. Everest is occasionally an unpredictable killer, it has nothing to do with skills. It's a lottery.
I hear that next year Everest climbers will have to take a number at camp 4 and wait their turn.
@@Smokey66s Oh, man. Fuck that shit. Hike up to the death zone and wait to summit like you're at the DMV? No thanks.
@@Smokey66s Hopefully, the only reasonable thing to do
A true mountaineer... sadly he lost so many friends. His acsent to orge was quiet risky, happy to be alive.
1970 annapurna,1975 everest... by the hardest routes.
The only left great thing is k2 in winter and at the hardest route.
Mention...if someone will do it and sucseed... that would be tuff.
As Messner said: go to mountains where you can get killed and not die.
Its a chance of 70 to 30 to get killed or die. Use the 30 % and mini the risk to expose yourself not to long in dangerous situations.... that was the idea, climbing fast and with minimal equipment.... Messner, Bonington knew how big the risks where.
Respect for your work and challenge you gave to the younger generation.
Now K2 has been climbed in winter by a Nepalese but the team used oxygen I guess one other team who tried as well died both the teams used the Abruzzo spur . Nonetheless great feat
Annapurna southeast ridge as well
Using fixed ropes isn't climbing, it's tourism.
I don’t think you actually understand how these expeditions work. They were forcing new routes so two lead climbers push the route out and set fixed ropes in order to make transportation of supplies and people more easy. Then when the lead climbers need to rest the new leading pair use the fixed lines up to the head of the route and they force the route out further to fix more ropes, this isn’t high altitude tourism, this is how most team expeditions work in mountaineering when it isn’t alpine style.
first summit for Chrs
I think Chris is/was cursed in that of the 5 mountain documentary stories I have watched so far every one has had a death..
Many people have said that if you want to die, go climbing with Chris Bonington or Doug Scott because of the unusually high number of their friends who died climbing with them not so much because of poor decisions or lack of skills but simply bad luck. People have also noted that Chris seems to attract the worst possible weather.
British climbers are, well, British. Nice guys and solid climbers but it seems they are conservative when they should be bold and vice versa, and very political and status conscious. IDK but it all seems they are not happy unless the climb involves drama , injury, death and near death experiences, a lot of which it seems they subconsciously create. They come usually from the upper ends of society and they look at it as a sport and a game because they don't actually live in the mountains.
Totally different from climbers from Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Italy.
Messner for example is the exact opposite. It was never a game or a sport or hobby to him, it was his life, his heart and soul 100%.
It seemed msmy a times, since Bonington was leading the exibitions that he was least likely to die.Because he was for the most. at basecamp.I will never undrtstand why after Wendy passed he had to marry that women.
@@karenaudreytodd That's a terrible view. It wasn't a sport for Messner ? He paraded himself around in head to toe Fila sponsorship at one stage. To me it sounds like you just don't like Sir Chris. All deaths on his expeditions were either caused by accidents or climbers pushing beyond the limit. That's the game.
Scott broke his legs and as he is describing events, his fingers are black with frostbite!
not surprising since he had to crawl down the mountain on his knees, his fingers would be touching the frozen ground. That's amazing, what resilience. Many would give up.
Love the documentary. Hate the loud music.
Not a fan sends pics to there death makes millions of it , many great climbers gone
Ha, Jon Lennon @37:00.
SANDY PITTMAN....
You misspelled douchebag
She was dragged up Everest by Lopsang.
Singing silly songs. So wonderful.
I never knew John Lennon was an alpinist
I didn't see them use oxygen?
2:45
AY! LET'S BE HONEST I REALLY HAD A LONG LONG DAY! OKAY, HUH 🏔️
48:22
@@tannerwaskiewicz8410 bruh
Cook the batteries before the radio ssssccccchhedule.
Get a brew on lol
48 jibers I see
Hard mountain everest is a joke over 3000 people climb this mountain traffic jam may be this old video who knows
@Dean Miller It's more risk than challenge. If the mountain decides to take you, it does. Montaineering is a combination of gambling your life while facing very variable conditions. On the other hand if you are lucky all the conditions are perfect and no accidental death it's not as hard.
How many times have you been up?
Your comment makes no sense
Nearly 6000 people reach the summit everest my bet
Must be nice to not have a job. How do you finance this lifestyle? Your not selling that many books about Everest.
Am i the only seen they were not wear a musk gas ?
Yes
Everest is not the hardest mountain on Earth. Not even close.
You don't get to both have kids and a lethal hobby. You choose one or the other. Children can't choose their parents and if you CHOOSE to have kids then that means giving up certain things in life to be there for them. It's obviously an addiction and these dudes need to be in 12-step programs, not out on mountains creating orphans. Makes me really angry.
The more I watch the more convinced I am that this is narcissistic behavior. Putting your family through the hell that his one son describes in the documentary and repeatedly, to get a kick. His fix. And to boost his ego. Cause that’s what it is, other wise he could simply climb safer places where the chance of dying is a hundred times less. Really difficult to watch this actually.
Edit: now his youngest son said his dad was away 6 months a year when he was little. Wtf. That is just a--hole behavior.
Yeah and the son drives a Lamborghini now. Well I wish I had a dad like him. Money is reality no money no life.
Beets being enslaved in a 9 to 5 /5 to 7 days a week watching a brain melting TV from birth to death / Adventure is true life you dont need Everest to live but thats up to you as a person /
Or you could go on an English language course.
crap carriering mission.
When a guy with no legs climbs a mountain you no longer get to call it the hardest mountain on earth. Do it without any sherpas then call me
Good Point - just in case I make it without Sherpas - your number please
Should we be impressed by your comment from the comfort of your home?
@@HooyahPeacock That is awfully presumptuous. For all you know I've got one hand on The Eiger as I send this. In that case, YES I think you should be impressed. Check Mate
Bonington is so pompous.
No. I completely disagree. He is perhaps a product of Sandhurst, very level headed in his appraisals of relationships, bereavement, his own importance in climbing history etc etc. A very cool head. But very down to earth, and massively admired by the best mountaineers in history. Messner declares him someone who he admires immensely...and he doesn't suffer fools! You won't find a better summariser of mountaineering....extremely balanced man, emotional and intelligent. But,you are completely entitled to your opinion. As am I. As is CB.
The pompous people are usually the ones judging
The profile picture for this video is of Annapurna.