Kenton Cool Keynote Speaker

Kenton Cool is world-leading high-altitude climber, IFMGA World Mountain Guide, ice climber and adventurer.

He has vast climbing experience and has been the first ascendent of peaks all across the world. He has successfully summited Mount Everest a record-breaking 18 times, meaning he has achieved more ascents of the world’s highest mountain than any other non-Sherpa. In 2013, Cool was the first climber to complete the Everest Trilogy without returning to basecamp. He completed the three Himalayan giants; Everest, Lhotse and Nuptse, of the Khumbu Triple Crown, in a single expedition.

Kenton Cool has become a world-leading climber in spite of a major physical setback. In 1996, he fell from a rock face in Wales and shattered both heel bones. Having been told he might never walk unaided again, he spent weeks in hospital and months in a wheelchair. Whilst he continues to be in pain and sometimes struggles walking, his determination and appetite for adventure spur him on.

Cool became a national hero in 2012 when he fulfilled a 90-year Olympic pledge, committed by a British climber Edward Lisle Strutt in 1922, to take an Olympic medal to the summit of Everest.

He has a reputation for being an excellent guide and leader. In 2007, Cool successfully guided Sir Ranulph Fiennes up the North Face of the Eiger, raising £2.7 million for charity. In 2009, he successfully guided Sir Ranulph Fiennes to the Everest Summit.

Kenton Cool was made an honourary Doctor of Laws by the University of Leeds in July 2018. He obtained a BSc in Geological Sciences from the University of Leeds in 1994, which is where he developed his passion for rock climbing.

In 2008, he Co-Founded Adventure Base, a worldwide adventure company, with Andy Egglelston.

In 2003, Cool received a Pilot d’Or award nomination, mountaineering’s Oscar, for a route on Annapurna III.