Heroes: Chris Bonington

Return to Annapurna

It’s been 40 years since Sir Chris Bonington scaled Annapurna. Although the mountain was first climbed by Maurice Herzog in 1950, Bonington’s attempt in 1960 didn’t merely end a decade in which climbing had captured the public imagination: it was the climb that arguably made him a national treasure. Why go back now? And how will it compare to his first expedition? WideWorld spoke with Sir Chris to find out.

"The Annapurna is a magnificent range of mountains. It’s about fifteen miles long, and at the eastern end you’ve got Annapurna 1: the highest peak at over 8,000 metres. That in itself is a very secretive mountain. When Maurice Herzog and the French team went to make the first ascent in 1950 – 60 years ago next year – they had a hell of job just finding a route to the foot of Annapurna from where they could climb it.

We made the first ascent at the south face of Annapurna in 1970, so it’s the 40th anniversary of that this year too. You have to go into a huge beautiful basin called the Sanctuary, through a very narrow gorge. Only then, when you got through all of that, can you actually start climbing.

It’s a brilliant, snow-glaciated peak from the north, and from the south it is very, very steep with rocky buttresses and steep ice walls. The chain stretches to the west, back towards Kathmandu for about 15 miles or so: it’s there that you find Annapurna 3 and Annapurna 4.

Quite near the end is Annapurna 2, which is 7,935 metres – only a scratch, a tad under that magic 8,000-metre height, and it’s a completely separate mountain. It is such a long way from Annapurna 1, and it’s a very impressive mountain in its own right. So it’s a huge, complex kind of area that we went around in 1960, and we will be doing that circuit in 2010.

It’s the 50th anniversary. I have never been back, and I am full of old memories. I have agreed to do a trek a year with my son, Joe: in the early....

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