David Hamilton DAVID HAMILTON We talk to one of Jagged Globe’s lead guides about his 30-year career leading teams on the highest mountains and in the coldest regions of the world, including no less than eight Everest summits… WORDS: WILL HARRIS PICTURES: DAVID HAMILTON t’s appropriate that David Hamilton features What first drew you to climbing on the world’s in our Peak Bagger special edition, as he has highest mountains? spent his entire career making the climbing I spent a few summers in the Chamonix valley in the dreams of others, and himself, come true, mid 1980s, mostly doing moderate grade classic climbs. while leading for Jagged Globe and on his After this I was less attracted to climbing harder routes own privately-organised expeditions. During in the Alps than trying the exploratory side of that time, he has led a total of 26 expeditions Himalayan climbing. I quit my job in publishing in to peaks over 7,500m, including 18 to 8,000m peaks (11 1987 to organise my first expedition to the Karakoram to Everest with eight summits). He has done all of the along with three friends, and I have managed to make a Seven Summits at least three times (except Denali, living out of climbing and travelling ever since. I spent which he’s ‘only’ done twice), he’s spent 13 seasons in a few summers climbing remote 6,000m peaks in Antarctica, including 22 ascents of Mt Vinson and five Pakistan and then progressed onto some big 7,000m ski trips to the South Pole. He expects to complete the peaks (Masherbrum, Chogolisa, Tirich Mir). I found Volcanic Seven Summits in February 2018, and his most that I performed well at altitude and went on to lead recent project has been to ski from the Mediterranean expeditions and guide on 8,000m peaks. to Vienna over three winters (more than 2,000km in distance). So far he has covered 1,750km and made Have your motivations changed with age and more than 100,000m of ascent. His big project for 2019 experience? What keeps you going back to is to ski the Pyrenees coast to coast in a single winter high altitude, year after year? (taking, according to him, about 80 days). Clearly this is I enjoy being in the mountains and I enjoy seeing new a man who knows how to plan an expedition! We places. I have been able to plan my work and personal caught up with David between trips to Mexico and the projects to visit just about every significant mountain Antarctic… range in the world. Some peaks are clearly more ‘commercial’ than others and I have climbed these Where did you grow up? As a child did you multiple times, but I try and do a few new projects each spend time in the outdoors with your parents? year as well. When I was younger I was definitely more I grew up in Glasgow and my parents never took me interested in pushing my limits, but now I am trying to walking further than the local park. slow down gracefully and share some of the things that I have learnt with others. How did you first get into mountaineering? In my first week at Glasgow University, in 1978, I was Do you still climb for yourself away from work, looking for an opportunity to try something new, so I or do you find that the guiding that you do joined the canoe club and the mountaineering club. I keeps your appetite for the mountains sated? thought that canoeing would be my main interest, but I work for about 6–7 months a year, mostly in on an early trip I capsized in the middle of a loch and Antarctica and Nepal. However, less than a quarter had to admit that I couldn’t swim. So I was politely of this is actual guiding time on a rope with clients. requested not to join any more trips, and ended up With high altitude and polar expeditions there is a spending five years hiking and climbing all over lot of organisation and logistic work separate from Scotland with the GU Mountaineering Club. the actual climbing, so I may only do 25–35 guiding days a year. I spend 2–4 months on Right: David topping out on Mount Vinson – one of his 22 summits of this peak! 58 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 59 David Hamilton Below: The first of David’s eight Everest summits, in 2003 private ski mountaineering and climbing projects, sometimes doing recce trips for future work projects and sometimes just for fun. You have been working as an expedition leader for 30 years. How did you get into this line of work? I did not make a plan to get into guiding, it just happened by accident. I have never been on any courses and have no formal guiding qualifications. As a young guy in my 20s I just wanted to spend as much time exploring the Himalayas as possible, looking for unexplored areas to visit and new peaks to climb. I started taking trekkers to some of these areas and within a few years some of them asked if I would take them climbing. Some of the first peaks I guided were ones that I had made first ascents of in previous years. If you don’t like working with people, no matter how good a climber you are, don’t even think about guiding! I have as few counselling qualifications as guiding ones, but sometimes it feels like I do more counselling on an expedition than guiding. How has the expedition industry changed during the time that you’ve been involved in it? Clearly there are very many more people climbing and trekking in the Greater Ranges than was the case 30 years ago. And a great many of these are concentrated on a few popular peaks and areas. Overcrowding and poor management is getting worse. We may not all agree with the way that Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and Denali are managed, but at least we can see the logic behind the rules and regulations. On Kilimanjaro, the Inca Trail and Everest, corruption and incompetence is leading to a poorer visitor experience along with environmental damage and social tensions. There are fewer work opportunities for Western leaders except on the most technically difficult climbs. In many countries local agencies have learnt how to give a professional service, and local guides have picked up reasonable skills from Westerners and are now able to operate on their own. What do you think makes a good expedition leader, and do you have any words of advice for people embarking on a career in expedition leading? Young climbers interested in working as guides or expedition leaders can think that the job is mostly about climbing and the clients are a necessary inconvenience. However the longer you are in the job the more you realise that it is predominantly a ‘people’ job and the mountains just form the backdrop. If you don’t like working with people, no matter how good a climber you are, don’t even think about guiding! I have as few counselling qualifications as guiding 60 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017 61 ones, but sometimes it feels like I do more counselling on an expedition than guiding. In the Himalayas you work almost exclusively for Jagged Globe – why is that and what in your opinion sets them apart from other companies? Many mainstream travel companies are moving into the ‘softer’ end of adventure tourism. But there is a Right: Reflection in the world of difference between organising a regular South Pole marker package holiday and sending groups to do challenging activities in remote parts of the world with poor infrastructure. Mountaineering tourism really is an area where the skills of a specialist operator are essential and Jagged Globe have a very professional and ethical approach. When things go wrong in the field (like getting caught up in an earthquake!) it is helpful to know that you have back-up from a very experienced team back at HQ. Jagged Globe needed a leader with 8,000m experience to lead their 1999 Everest expedition and offered the job to me. It was my first time in Nepal! Over the years I have learnt a lot about how the whole Everest ‘scene’ works and I am able to use this knowledge to ensure that my customers have a safe, enjoyable and (hopefully) successful climb. Spending weeks away from home in base camps, often with small groups of people who do not know each other well, must be quite challenging – as an expedition leader how do you pull the individuals together into a team? Above: Guiding Right: Sailing There is no simple ‘one size fits all’ answer, and every Sir Ranulph off the West expedition is different. On the whole there are fewer Fiennes on Mt Coast of problems than you would think. When a group of Vinson Scotland people all want to achieve a similar thing and all have put considerable resources of time and money into the project, they can generally get on with each other. It is noticeable that the pressures on team members during an Everest expedition are much greater than on other, shorter, cheaper, less committing trips. You have led expeditions to Everest 11 times, summiting on eight occasions – what was it that first drew you to Everest, and what keeps drawing you back? 20 years ago I don’t think anyone would have predicted the way Everest would grow in popularity.