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George Band OBE
GEORGE BAND, born in Taiwan in 1929, is British and was educated at Eltham College, Cambridge and London Universities.
At the age of 23, he was the youngest member to be chosen for the first successful Everest Expedition in 1953 led by Colonel John Hunt (later Lord Hunt) when Hillary and Tenzing reached the summit on 29th May just before the Coronation. Two years later with Joe Brown on Charles Evans’ Expedition, he was the first to climb Kangchenjunga, at 28,169’, the world’s third highest peak, then the highest unclimbed. Out of respect for the Sikkimese, who consider the mountain sacred, the top was left untrodden. In between these and other expeditions in the 1950s to the Alps, Karakoram, Peru and the Caucasus, he proved a popular lecturer.
In 1957, he began an international career with the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. He continues to enjoy modest climbing and escorting treks for 'Far Frontiers' in the greater ranges, having recently visited India, Nepal, Sikkim, China, Tibet and Bhutan. Since the mid-1980s he has been Chairman of the Mount Everest Foundation, President of the Alpine Club, on the Council of the Royal Geographical Society and President of the British Mountaineering Council. In September 2003, he succeeded George Lowe as Chairman of the Himalayan Trust UK.
In May 2003, his book 'Everest: 50 Years on Top of the World' written specially for the Mount Everest Foundation to mark the Everest Jubilee, was published by HarperCollins and immediately became a best seller! A paperback edition entitled 'Everest Exposed' was published in April 2005. This was followed in October 2006 by 'SUMMIT: 150 Years of the Alpine Club' to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Alpine Club, the world's first mountaineering club, which was founded in 1857.
George and his wife, Susan, live in Hampshire and they have three grown up children and five grandchildren.
In 2003, George succeeded George Lowe as Chairman of the Trust.
In 2008 George was awarded an O.B.E. for services to Mountaineering and to Charity.
e-mail: georgeband@btopenworld.com
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 "(Click to enlarge)")