Mountaineer Chris Bonington: ‘I’ve come very close to death so many times, it’s difficult to pick the closest’

Born in London, Chris Bonington, 90, joined the army and became an Outward Bound instructor. In 1975, he led the first expedition to successfully climb Everest via its south-west face. Ten years later, he reached the summit himself. In 1996, he was knighted for services to mountaineering, and his many books include the memoir Ascent. He has two surviving children by his late wife and is married for the second time. He has been an ambassador for Berghaus for 40 years. He lives in Cumbria.

When were you happiest?
When I was climbing I was absolutely happy. I can use a climbing wall, but that’s not the same as real climbing.

What is your greatest fear?
Being senile.

What is your most treasured possession?
I’ve a huge shed with all my clutter, including all my ice axes. The most precious one is the ice axe I had when I finally got to the top of Everest. I’d led a lot of complex expeditions there and, if you’re leading, your job is not to get yourself to the top. I finally got there in 1985.

Describe yourself in three words
Resourceful, resilient and compassionate.

What makes you unhappy?
Loss. My first son Conrad died in an accident at two and a half and you never get over it.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Two: Wendy, my wife of 52 years, and Loreto, my wife of eight years. It is wonderful in the autumn of your life to find another absolute love.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Smashing.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?
I was a huge daydreamer and imagined myself as a successful general leading his troops into battle.

What is the worst job you’ve done?
I left the army and got a job with Unilever in Northern Ireland. They were very strict and you had to have a hat, and when you went into a shop you had to raise your hat to the shopkeeper and then sell your wares. I was selling margarine.

If you could edit your past, what would you change?
The loss of Conrad.

If not yourself, who would you most like to be?
Reinhold Messner, because he’s an even better climber than I was.

What would you like to leave your children?
Compassion, resourcefulness and resilience form a rounded good person. So that’s what I’d like to leave my children and grandchildren.

What is the closest you’ve come to death?
There are so many instances when I’ve come very close to death that it’s difficult to pick one.

What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Becoming more physically active.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Everest the hard way in 1975: leading the expedition that succeeded where so many people had tried and failed. That was the most complex mountaineering challenge I ever faced. I spent hours at night in a little tent thinking about what the next problem would be and how to solve it.

What keeps you awake at night?
It’s my snoring that keeps Loreto awake!

What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Whenever things seem absolutely terrible, to see that you’re alive and that’s all that matters.