Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
some of your rights to write independently about the trip, or use photographs
without Chris's permission.
There were good reasons for this, inextricably linked to a problem all climbers
face, whatever style they choose - money. The problem for the leader of a big ex-
pedition is that you need much more of it. For the 1970 Annapurna expedition, the
Mount Everest Foundation took a big gamble and underwrote the entire expedi-
tion, which saved Bonington the hassle of finding a sponsor. As a result, this highly
successful expedition brought a very healthy profit back into the coffers of the
MEF.
On the first of his expeditions to the south-west face of Everest in 1972, Boning-
ton hoped the MEF would underwrite this trip as well, but this time it was not so
keen. Strong expeditions had failed in 1970 and 1971 and it was felt to be too big a
risk. So the only way to finance the expedition was through a mix of corporate and
personal finance. Chris took a gamble and it made sense that these financial risks
were shared, just as the climbing risks were. To hedge that risk, team members
took part in joint lectures and contributed to the expedition topics as part of their
contract. When the 1972 expedition failed, the team returned to a huge debt. To
pay it off, every member chipped in and did a series of lectures for expenses only
until the debt was repaid. It was a truly corporate approach to climbing moun-
tains. (They had to do the same when Nick Estcourt died on K2 in 1978 and the
climb was abandoned.)
Fortunes change. For the 1975 Everest South West Face expedition, Bonington
managed to raise the necessary finance with one letter to Barclays Bank, promot-
ing the Everest expedition as the 'hardest' route up the highest mountain. Barclays
agreed to underwrite the bulk of the expedition's cost by a contribution of
£100,000. In return, any profits from topics, films and lectures went back to the
bank. Surfing the huge wave of public interest after the ascent, almost all the team
were engaged to lecture around the country. Chris was given a budget for the ex-
pedition book and lecture series and most of the members took part. Those who
contributed were paid by the word for the topic and given a set fee and expenses
for taking part in a lecture. There was even a management committee, to make
sure it was all done fairly. It was an important opportunity for younger members
like Peter Boardman who were keen on developing their professional skills as
writers and presenters.
After Everest, Chris drafted more young climbers like Pete onto his expeditions:
Joe Tasker, Dick Renshaw and Alan Rouse, who were all from the privateer tradi-
tion. By bringing in climbers from this new generation Chris was taking a risk, but
two things happened as a result. First, it helped Chris return to a more individual-
