He's slept alongside Sir Ranulph Fiennes on a three foot ledge on the Eiger, and become the first Briton to not only summit Everest five times, but also to climb the mountain twice in the space of a single week!
- Paul Deegan , Writer and Everest Summiteer
Mountain guide, five times Everest Summiteer, and the first Briton to ski an 8000 metre peak on Cho Oyu, Kenton is probably best known as the man who guided Sir Ranulph Fiennes to the top of the North Face of the Eiger in March of 2006, raising £2.5 million for Marie Curie Cancer Care in the process.
Born in London in 1973, Kenton developed a passion for the outdoors as a boy scout. But it was an article in a climbing magazine detailing the successful completion of one the hardest sport routes in the world that really fired his imagination and prompted him to go out rock-climbing for the first time. Whilst a student in Leeds, Kenton became heavily involved in the university’s mountaineering club and soon realised he had found his calling, abandoning his studies to pursue his mountaineering ambitions.
Today, Kenton has been climbing for 14 years and is acknowledged as one of the World’s greatest high altitude guides and one of the UK's leading alpine climbers, with an impressive list of difficult ascents to his name.
Kenton has climbed extensively in the Himalaya, the Alps, Greenland and Alaska and has made numerous first ascents to 6000m. In 2003 Kenton was nominated for the Piolet D’Or (climbing Oscar) for an audacious committing first ascent on Annapurnna III in Nepal, adding to his reputation as being renowned for his bold approach to Himalayan climbing.
In 2006 Kenton became the first Briton to ski down from the summit of an 8,000 metre peak. The ski descent was done solo and unassisted, another first. The peak was the Tibetan mountain Cho Oyu (the 6th highest mountain on the planet). Being above 8,000 metres puts this mountain firmly in the ‘death zone’, an area where there is so little oxygen that life cannot be sustained.
In March 2008, Kenton will be teaming up with Ranulph Fiennes again, guiding him to the top of Everest on what will hopefully be Ranulph’s third and finally successful attempt at the summit. Kenton is a natural communicator with a wealth of incredible stories to tell, and has spoke to audiences both in the UK and internationally.
One of Britain’s most successful mountaineers, Ian Parnell has many first ascents to his name, most notably Arwa Spire in India and a 15 day winter ascent of the Lafaille route on the Dru, a 1000m granite spire in the Alps, as well as reaching the summit of Everest in 2005. A mountain photographer as well as a climber, Ian has provided the world with live footage of Sir Ranulph Fiennes vertical expeditions since the explorer’s first attempt at climbing Everest in 2005.
Among the world’s greatest high altitude guides, Kenton Cool is the only Briton to have reached the summit of Everest 5 times, and the only climber in the world who has summitted Everest twice in the same week! With an impressive climbing portfolio, Kenton has climbed extensively in the Himalaya and the Alps, as well as making some notable first ascents in Alaska and Greenland and has just returned from leading Sir Ranulph on his second attempt at Everest.
In ‘Vertigo’, Ian will talk about his mountaineering experiences, and the extreme challenge of climbing some of the most treacherous peaks in the world with a camera in your hand! Kenton will follow on to discuss his intense relationship with Everest and the harsh conditions of high altitude climbing, discussing his recent expedition with Sir Ranulph who was forced to abandon his bid to reach the summit in May just 300 metres from the top.
A unique opportunity to hear the awe-inspiring tales of two men who push human endurance to the limit as part of their daily lives.
Vertigo is roughly 2 hours in length, including a 20 minute interval.
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