1#6 Alan Hinkes: Yorkshire’s 8000-metre mountaineer

Mountain Air

Episode #6 manages to make mention of both Nanga Parbat (8,126m, home to the towering four-and-a-half-kilometre tall Rupal Face), and the exquisite Roseberry Topping (320m, 16th highest point in the North York Moors). That’s because the man doing most of the talking is Alan Hinkes: acclaimed climber, photographer, author, motivational speaker, environmentalist, mountain guide, Yorkshireman, and summiteer of all 14 of the world’s 8,000m mountains. This last feat being one of tremendous objective danger, Alan is one of fewer than 50 climbers who have stood atop Shishapangma, Gasherbrum II, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I, Annapurna, Nanga Parbat, Manaslu, Dhaulagiri, Cho Oyu, Makalu, Lhotse, Kangchenjunga, K2, and (of course) Everest, without being claimed by avalanche, rockfall, edema or human error. What drives a person to attempt such a thing? Is 10 per cent risk of death ever acceptable? Does it rain more in Cumbria or Yorkshire? Let’s find out together. 00:00 - Introduction 02:34 - Welcome (Yorkshireman of the Year) 04:04 - “More and more I think kindness is the way forward” 05:05 - Life across the mountainous swathe of northern England 06:20 - Introduction to the 8,000ers (“Buy my book! It’s brilliaaaaaaaant!”) 13:35 - Kukuczka, Messner and more 19:45 - A big digression leading to Cust’s Gully and some pretty sobering avalanche chat. 24:35 - “No mountain is worth a life, coming back is a success, and the summit is a bonus.” 26:09 - Growing up near North Allerton 31:02 - Lockdown in the Lakes, a tough time for instructors 37:30 - The considerable risks of extreme altitude mountains 42:50 - “K2 had had roughly 300 ascents and around 80 or 90 deaths” 49:16 - “I feel like I’ve done what I want to do in life, and everything else is a bonus” 50:18 - Why all climbing on 8000ers is “exploratory climbing” 53:30 - Greatest Mountain Memory: a reverie atop K2 56:25 - Time, money, freedom… where do you go? “I’d still be happy in this band across northern England… but maybe the Seven Summits?”