Mountain Heritage Trust

Keswick Museum book fair & display

maxine — Mon, 14 May 2012 11:32:48 +0000

MHT will be putting a small selection of items from its collections on display at Keswick Museum this Saturday to complement the Keswick Mountain Festival. The Museum will also be hosting a book fair and MHT will have its own stall selling copies of Simon Yates’ latest book as well as copies of the Abraham Brothers photographic calendar of Skye for 2013. There will also be back copies of various mountain magazines available to help you plug those gaps. Further details on the book fair and book signings by Simon Yates here.

Mick Burke Collection

maxine — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:09:19 +0000

The latest collection to be added to those already held by MHT is that of Mick Burke, noted alpinist and film cameraman who sadly disappeared in a storm on Mount Everest in 1975. The collection comprises slides (and an index to same), photographs, route notes and a diary of the Annapurna South Face Expedition from 1970 which has brief, but telling entries. Thanks to John and Beth Bevan and Sara Burke for this generous donation.

Peck Climbing Equipment goes on display

maxine — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:46 +0000

Thanks to a recent donation from Derek Gamble Managing Director of Peck Climbing Equipment, a variety of items including crackers, chocks, peg-pitons, bandoliers and the noted MacInnes Terrordactyl is currently on display at Charlotte Mason Library, University of Cumbria, Ambleside. Excerpts from the catalogue of 1968 provide detailed information on the development of these items for which John Cleare supplied the photographs. A snapshot of the display is available here.

Echoes from the Crags

maxine — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:44:31 +0000

MHT have just added another interview to its oral history project – Echoes from the Crag with Leo Dickinson, an adventure film maker who filmed the solo ascent of Eric Jones on the North Face of the Eiger as well as ballooning over Everest, to name but a few. Leo shares some wonderful anecdotes and stories of time spent with key figures in mountaineering as well as his work in adventure film making.

Founder of the Kendal Mountain Film Festival and SteepEdge John Porter comments “Leo is a rare star – the first person to combine extreme adventure with creative film production in a lifestlye that fed both his own rat and gave others a chance to expand their own adventures – e.g. Eric Jones. He is an internationally recognised name in film and extreme sports, but as with all true adventurers, most of what he is done is below the media radar”.

New exhibition space

maxine — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:34:22 +0000

MHT are thrilled to announce the forthcoming availability of a new exhibition space for displaying items from our mountain heritage collections within Keswick Museum. Following confirmation from the Heritage Lottery Fund of their support of the Enhancement Project for Keswick Museum, building work will commence later this year ensuring an opening of the refurbished Museum next summer. A full press release is available here.

In the meantime, MHT will be exhibiting some of its collections at the museum during the Keswick Mountain Festival 16-20th May

1922 Olympic medal on Everest

maxine — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:22:41 +0000

Kenton Cool’s expedition to Mount Everest later this year with the 1922 Olympic medal awarded to Dr Arthur Wakefield highlights the huge value of mountain heritage. It also sees Kenton honouring a promise originally made by Deputy Leader Lt Colonel Strutt to take a gold medal to the summit of Mount Everest ninety years ago. Further information on this story is available here. A link to Kenton’s website is here

The MacIntyre Years – Doing More with Less

maxine — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:02:37 +0000

John Porter, acclaimed mountaineer, founder of the Kendal Mountain Film Festival and former MHT trustee, will be at ShAFF to give a short lecture on the 10th March at midday before hosting ShAFF’s first ever charity auction in support of Community Action Nepal. Further details are available here

New Blog

maxine — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:09:14 +0000

Dan Smith, University of Northumberland design student is in the process of creating a new everywhere jacket, based on that worn by George Mallory on his expedition to Everest in 1924. The jacket is a work in progress and it’s development can be viewed via Dan’s blog.

Sir Chris on BBC Radio Cumbria

maxine — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:44:10 +0000

Sir Chris speaks on BBC Radio Cumbria about launch of Bonington archive http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00mynqr The interview starts at 2:20:11

Bonington Collection now open

maxine — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:23:11 +0000

MHT are delighted to announce that the Bonington Collection is now open to the general public thanks to funding received from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the BMC.

The papers include expedition documents, correspondence, press cutting scrapbooks and manuscript drafts of Sir Chris’ books, all of which detail the unique nature and long term value surrounding his lifetime’s work as a mountaineer, journalist, photographer and, at times, diplomat and ambassador. Chris Bonington started climbing in 1951 at the age of 16, pioneering new rock routes in the UK, before moving out to the Alps in the late fifties, making important British first ascents and struck out into the Himalaya in 1960 with the first ascent of Annapurna II, a peak only a few metres short of 8000. He went on to lead the successful Annapurna South Face and Everest South West Face expeditions in the 1970s and took part in the development of compact light-weight expeditions.

Sir Chris Bonington said “I have kept all the correspondence, papers and diaries from all of my expeditions over the last 48 years in a shed at the bottom of my garden which reflects some of the most important British expeditions of the 60s, 70s and 80s. I’m delighted that these are now going to see the light of day thanks to the expertise of Maxine Willett, Archivist of the Mountain Heritage Trust and, most important of all, will be made available to the mountaineering community and anyone wanting to research this element of mountain history.”

To celebrate the opening of this fascinating collection, we present some images to highlight items contained therein. Images can be purchased from the Chris Bonington Picture Library. A copy of the catalogue is available here.