British Everest record-holder tours new show to UK theatres

Kenton Cool - 15x summiteer, twice in one week – tours Everest the Cool Way

Britain’s most successful, record-holding, Everest Mountain Guide, Kenton Cool, is set for a new challenge this autumn; touring UK theatres with his brand new ‘audience with…’ style lecture show, Everest the Cool Way, presented by Speakers from the Edge, Kenton’s first public theatre tour in eight years.

In May 2012, Cool launched the London Olympics when he reached the summit of Everest for a British record-breaking 10th time, fulfilling a 90-year-old Olympic pledge to take the gold medal awarded to the 1922 British Everest Expedition to the summit of the world’s tallest and most iconic mountain, just weeks before London 2012 opened. He has since reached the summit a further five times, the most recent in May 2021, when Cool reached the summit for a record-equalling (for a non-Sherpa) 15th time! Even more recently, in July 2021, Kenton successfully climbed K2 for the third time.

Kenton guided Sir Ranulph Fiennes on the legendary explorer’s attempts to scale Everest, with Sir Ranulph turning back at the first attempt in 2008, but subsequently reaching the summit successfully in 2009 and raising £2.9M for Marie Curie Cancer Care. Kenton also guided Sir Ranulph on a climb of the infamous North Face of the Eiger.

In May 2013, Kenton, along with climbing partner, Sherpa Dorje Gylgen, became the first person in the world to attain the ‘Everest Triple Crown’ in a single season, when they reached the three peaks which make up the ‘Everest Horseshoe’ - Nuptse (7864m), Everest (8850m) and Lhotse (8516m) - in just seven days, without returning to Base Camp, a feat many thought impossible due to the required time at high altitude and its effects on the human body.

In addition to his phenomenal climbing credentials, Cool became the first Brit to complete a ski descent of an 8000m peak, on Nepal’s Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth highest mountain. He later made a ski descent of Nepal’s Manaslu, the world’s eighth highest mountain, becoming one of just a small handful of people worldwide, and the only Brit, to ever ski from multiple 8000+m peaks.

Now, nearly 70 years after Sir Edmund Hilary first succeeded in reaching Everest’s summit, Cool will be talking about his intense relationship with - and his experiences on - Everest, as well as his twenty-eight year career as one of the world’s leading high altitude mountain guides.

Everest the Cool Way promises an exhilarating evening of mountaineering stories and images from the literal top of the world

Everest the Cool Way is touring UK theatres in autumn 2021. To book tickets, or for further details, visit www.speakersfromtheedge.com

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Editors notes

Kenton Cool - 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 is acknowledged as one of the World’s greatest high altitude guides and his record of success with clients on Everest is, without doubt, the best of any leader. Kenton has personally reached the summit of Everest ten times (two of these being back to back in the same week, a global first) and is one of the elite IFMGA guides with a reputation for a willingness to take on the impossible.

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 2007 Kenton became the first British Guide to lead a client successfully up the infamous North Face of the Eiger, commonly referred to as the ‘Death Wall’. The client was Sir Ranulph Fiennes and, in conjunction with ITN, they conducted a live interview from the face of the Eiger into UK homes. The summit attempt was in aid of the cancer charity Marie Curie, their success raised an incredible £2million.

In 2009 Kenton teamed up with Ranulph again to lead him on his second attempt to reach the summit of Everest, a challenge to celebrate the 60th anniversary year of Marie Curie and inspire others to raise money through their own personal challenges.

As of 22 April 2021, Kenton has reached the summit of Everest 14 times, a British record – at the time of writing, he is attempting a 15th Everest summit, which will equal the record for non-Sherpas.

Speakers from the Edge represent the finest motivational speakers from the world of adventure, exploration and endurance, who have, quite literally, pushed themselves to the edge. Our speakers comprise explorers, mountaineers, adventurers and extreme athletes, each of whom are driven, focused and motivated. They take on some of the most treacherous of journeys and challenges the planet has to offer. In short, they are precisely the kind of people to inspire others to achieve great things.