Climb Everest with Sir Chris Bonington

The Concept
The participants will join me on our ascent of the South West Face of Everest in 1975. It was the largest and most complex expedition ever to leave Britain, tackling what is arguably the most daunting challenge in the history of climbing - Everest the Hard Way. Five strong expeditions had already tried and failed.
I shall first take them through the planning process and then on to the climb itself, setting the scene, giving all the relevant information but then asking the participants for their solutions to the problems involved. The questions examined are ones of leadership and dealing with people rather than climbing tactics.
This approach enables the entire group to participate in the climb, exploring different ways to deal with issues as they occur in the course of the expedition. Its strength is its participatory nature and it has worked very effectively in two seminars I have managed for BP. In the course of the discussion I bring the participants back to their own work day challenges and encourage them to compare these with the issues that we explore on the mountain.

Structure
I start by giving the background to the story of the South West Face and my own first attempt in the Autumn of 1972.
I then go into the planning phase of the 1975 Expedition, exploring with the group:

•The Vision/Objective
•Logistic Planning
•Team Selection

We then start the climb and as the story unfolds I involve the group in helping me solve some of the challenges or dilemmas with which I am confronted on the way.
These include:

•Motivating the Sherpa work force.
•Dealing with conflicts of interest caused by individual ambition amongst team members.
•Selecting the summit teams
•Motivating the rest
•Coping with crisis and tragedy when Mick Burke goes missing high on Everest
•Analysing mistakes as well as successes.

Because the presentation is interactive, the participants not only absorb more of the lessons, but having helped to form them, take on greater ownership of the leadership and team building principles brought out by the climb.

Technical Details
The presentation is run off a computer, allowing me to use a combination of pictures, animated graphics and video to bring the story to life.