Sir Chris Bonington, the mountaineer, writer, photographer and lecturer, started climbing at the age of 16 in 1951. It has been his passion ever since. He made the first British ascent of the North Wall of the Eiger and led the expedition that made the first ascent of The South Face of Annapurna in 1970, the biggest and most difficult climb in the Himalaya at the time. He went on to lead the successful expedition making the first ascent of the South West Face of Everest in 1975 and then reached the summit of Everest himself in 1985 with a Norwegian expedition. He is still active in the mountains climbing with the same enthusiasm as he had at the beginning.

He has written 17 books, fronted numerous television programmes and has lectured to the public and corporate audiences all over the world. He received a knighthood in 1996 for services to mountaineering, was president of the Council for National Parks for 8 years, and is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Berghaus.

Geoff Powter has been a long-time fixture in the Alberta and Canadian climbing scenes. He was editor of the Canadian Alpine Journal from 1993-2007, and has written extensively about adventure for much of his life in the outdoors. Geoff has been published in magazines around the globe, and has won 14 National Magazine Awards, and his book, Strange and Dangerous Dreams: The Fine Line Between Adventure and Madness, won the Jury Prize at the 2006 Banff Mountain Book Festival. Geoff has also been the host of the Voices of Adventure interview series, held every year at the festival since 2000. Geoff has climbed around the world, with 13 Himalaya expeditions under his belt, and with nearly 50 first ascents to his name in the Rockies. Geoff’s latest book is Inner Ranges, published by Rocky Mountain Books (2018).