Sir Chris Bonington celebrates his 90th birthday today with a vow to fulfil a promise to his late friend Doug Scott. Britain’s most famous mountaineer has pledged to complete a Himalayan Sherpa community project started by fellow climber Doug before his death from cancer in 2020.
The project aims to fund the restoration of the Sherpa Heritage House, which was devastated by an earthquake nine years ago, and to preserve and celebrate the traditions and way of life in the Himalaya.
Over seven decades of adventure, Sir Chris led, or was part of, many expeditions to the Himalaya. None of these would have been possible without the contributions of the local Sherpas. The projects included the South West Face of Everest expedition in 1975, which saw the first Brits, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston, reach the summit of the world’s highest mountain.
On that expedition, the head Sirdar (lead Sherpa) was Pertemba Sherpa, who went on to support Sir Chris and Doug on many other trips. He remains a close friend of Sir Chris.
The founding of a charity
Doug subsequently founded the charity, Community Action Nepal (CAN), to improve the standard of living in remote Himalayan communities and to give something back to the mountain people who had helped him to achieve his mountaineering goals.
In 2015 the Sherpa Heritage House, which is in the village of Khumjung in the Khumbu region of Nepal, was badly damaged in an earthquake. The house is the ancestral home of Pertemba Sherpa and, following the disaster, Doug promised him that CAN would raise funds to rebuild it and also increase its support of the local people in other ways.
CAN has so far raised £150,000 for the house and completed phase one, the construction of the complex religious wing, but Doug died before he was able to fulfil his promise.
The work continues, with funding needed to complete phase two, which will see the house transformed into a museum, photography gallery and tea house to raise the income of the local community.
Sir Chris: my next adventure
Sir Chris said: “I can’t climb like I did anymore, but that doesn’t mean that my spirit of adventure has diminished. My dear friend Doug made a promise to our great friend Pertemba and I intend to see that it is kept.
“Community Action Nepal has been doing wonderful work for 30 years and the restoration of the Sherpa Heritage House is of critical importance. I was so fortunate to be immersed in the traditional Nepalese and Sherpa culture during my expeditions to the Himalaya. It is vital to preserve that during a modern era where so much about climbing has changed.
“We must never let the pivotal role that the Sherpa community plays in Himalayan expeditions go unseen. The house is a physical demonstration of that and a crucial part of sustaining the relationship between visiting climbers and local Sherpas, which plays such a fundamental role in the Nepalese economy.”
Sir Chris at 90
Reflecting on reaching the age of 90, Sir Chris, who has played a major role in the outdoor industry – working closely with Berghaus for 40 years, as an athlete, ambassador and consultant – added: “I’m grateful that I’ve had such a full, and fulfilling life, and have been able to spend so much of it indulging in my love of climbing and the outdoors.
"Through that, I have met so many great people and organisations and formed some deep friendships. Having reached the age of 90, I have seen a huge amount of national and political change, and I think that gives me a balanced view of the challenges that we all face today.
“As for my birthday celebrations, I look forward to spending time with my wife Loreto, my wonderful family, and some of my closest friends. We all share a love of the outdoors, so I’m sure that they will join me for a Lakeland walk at some point during the day.”
If you would like to make a donation to the work of CAN to celebrate the 90th birthday of Sir Chris, see: www.canepal.org.uk/support-us.
