The first Adventure Summit, a day of presentations, films and discussions on the theme of adventure, was held in Windermere on Saturday 20th February.
The day started with presentations from Chris Bonington and Doug Scott. They spoke about their different ways into adventure and mountaineering.
Doug reaffirming his commitment to the belief that it’s not the winning or losing that counts, but how you play the game. He has sought to establish this ethos in his re-alignment of the Piolet D’Or award for mountaineering.
A highlight of the event was John Edward’s film on the ascent of the South Face of Annapurna made 40 years ago. This complex, rounded and moving film was made for television at the time and deserves to be seen by a much wider audience. We get to see, and hear the voices – and what voices! - of, people many of us have only read about that are sadly no longer with us – Clough, Whillans, Haston, Burke, Estcourt. Whillans really did talk as pundits portray him!
Haston and Whillans discuss the event’s themes from beyond the grave on film: why they climb and what they get out of it. Whillans maintaining that he approached mountaineering in a practical, not an intellectual, way. On risk he said: “I’m prepared to take a certain amount of risk but I don’t like danger at all”.
On their sucessful return from the summit the difference between the two men was remarkable. Haston looked and sounded weak and wasted. Whillans, on the other hand, looked fit, was bright, perky and joked while smoking!
Other speakers included Julie Summers, who spoke about the Everest tragedy, in particlar, with respect to Sandy Irvine, Adele Pennington spoke about adventure and commercial expedtions, especially on 8,000m peaks. John Porter gave a fascinating presentation on lightweight super alpinism in the 1970s and 80s when so many of our talented mountaineers were tragically killed.
Richard Lemmey from the University of Cumbria talked about adventure in outdoor education, the philosophy of Colin Mortlock, and realising potential through adventure in the outdoors. David Hopkins, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education, University of London, spoke passionately about adventure in schools and how adventure connects to learning.
The day was rounded off with a panel discussion,led by Ed Douglas, involving speakers from the day, and questions from the audience, on issues raised during the day.
The next event in this series will be on the 22nd of May as part of the Keswick Mountain Festival when there will be a symposium on “Mountains of Inspiration” – the role of mountains in art, film, literature, religion and business from Coleridge to Julian Cooper, from the Abraham Brothers to Alastair Lee.
In the autumn look out for “Mountains at War” – their demarcation in geopolitics and warfare from Alexander to the Siachen and Afghanistan conflicts today. So, keep checking the BMC and MHT websites for details as they become available.
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