Spirit of Discovery - Presented by the Alpine Club and the Mount Everest Foundation

Hear from the explorers, climbers and pioneering researchers who head to the mountains in search of unclimbed peaks, untrodden landscapes and new scientific knowledge.

Founded after the first ascent of Everest in 1953, the Mount Everest Foundation aims to encourage the ‘Exploration of the Mountain Regions of the Earth’. Jointly administered by the Alpine Club and the Royal Geographical Society, the MEF has provided support to some of the most significant mountaineering and scientific expeditions of the last century.

Proving the point, this session brings together four expeditions from last year with wildly different objectives and characters.

On stage will be renowned mountaineer Paul Ramsden talking about his expedition to climb Jugal Spire, “one of the biggest, steepest rock walls in Nepal”; Sasha Doyle on her Medusa trip, sailing to Greenland and climbing big walls; alpinist Tom Livingstone talking about Gasherbrum IV plus his mentoring programme with the Young Alpinist Group; and Isla Petrie & Oliver Vick from the Altitude Physiology EXpedition (APEX 6) which travelled to Bolivia to improve understanding of the body’s response to hypoxia.

Presented by the Alpine Club and the Mount Everest Foundation