MOUNTAIN LIVES Sir Chris Bonington, one of the elder statesmen of British mountaineering, was avalanched off the first real mountain he climbed. He would go on to become one of the foremost climbers of his day, leading expeditions and making first ascents of some of the most challenging and dangerous routes in the world. But, like all of us, he had to start somewhere. And that, for him, was Eryri (Snowdonia), 1952.
Chris was then 16 years old and, lit up by an image of Highlands icon Bidean nam Bian he had come across in a book, he convinced a school friend, Anton, to climb Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) with him. The pair hitch-hiked to Capel Curig in the New Year, during a particularly hard winter. The hills were drowned in…
