Review: Alan Hinkes - The First Briton to Climb the World's Highest Mountains

ALAN Hinkes is a Yorkshireman and proud of it. He is also one of the world’s greatest mountaineers. However, ask the general public to name a famous mountaineer and the names of Chris Bonington, Dougal Haston, Doug Scott, Don Willands and Joe Brown would probably be the first few names that would be offered. But Alan has one record that none of these others got anywhere near – he became the first (and only) Briton to have scaled the World’s Highest Mountains, having reached the summit of all fourteen mountains above 8000 metres in height.

This new DVD from the filmmaker Terry Abraham takes the viewer on a 1½ hour journey covering Alan’s life and his love of the hills and mountains. It starts by looking at his upbringing in his home town of Northallerton, joining the Outdoor Club at Northallerton Grammar School, being awarded the title of Freeman of Northallerton, joining the Cleveland Mountaineering Club and some of his first adventures on Roseberry Topping. Also it shows him out in the woods with his grandchildren lighting fires and cooking outdoors. His grandson says about him, "I just think he's a crazy person that you tend to like" and for anyone like myself who has met Alan, I think this just about sums him up.

The film then moves onto scenes in Wales where he visits the Pen y Gwryd hotel that was used as a training base for the 1953 successful Everest expedition by John Hunt and Edmund Hillary and from there to Wasdale in the Lake District where he meets up with Fellrunning legend Joss Naylor. This section also shows him climbing with Paul Ross in Borrowdale who correctly states "he certainly hasn't had the recognition that some climbers who, perhaps we can say they are more in the establishment and have been more promoted with what they did, more than Alan". It also shows Alan’s involvement with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme and his work with the YHA and training of youngsters which portrays a side many people won't have seen before.

The viewer is then transported to Norway where Alan is involved with a trek using huskies and which features outdoor broadcaster Kate Humble who was also on the expedition. This was sponsored by Fjallraven who are also one of the joint sponsors of the film along with the British Mountaineering Council, Jagged Edge and Leeds Beckett University.

It is back to Yorkshire for the next part of the film visiting firstly the Black Sheep Brewery at Masham, a section about Alan’s love of trains with a trip on “Ratty” the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway and also in the cab of a 125 high speed train in North Yorkshire, and then moving onto Malham and visits to the Cove and Goredale Scar where Alan shows his mountaineering prowess tackling one of the tricky climbs over the waterfalls there. The final section in Yorkshire shows him cycling in Swaledale and a visit to High Cup Nick.

For the next half hour the film moves to Nepal where Alan visits old friends in Kathmandu. Lukla and Namche Bazaar. If the viewer hasn’t already been entranced by some of Terry Abraham’s magnificent filming then this section will certainly grab the attention and the views here are worth the price of the DVD alone. Everest, Lhotse, Annapurna and K2 are all featured here.

Back in Britain the film then shows Alan undergoing altitude and lack of oxygen testing at Leeds Beckett’s University. One of the staff there reiterates the fact that his achievements have been undervalued and in European climbing areas he would have had the same status as perhaps the footballer David Beckham has had in the UK.

It is then a quick return to Nepal and features Alan talking about friends he has lost on expeditions and a short personal video shot on Kangchenjunga, the last of his 8000 metre summits where he thought he might not survive. But survive he did and this DVD tells his life story to date, concluding with a visit to Scugdale on the North Yorkshire Moor where he undertook some of his very first rock climbs.

A brilliant film about the life of one of Yorkshire’s unsung heroes and someone who deserves to be better known to the general public. It is highly amusing at times, yet poignant in others. Even for non mountaineers or walkers this is still an excellent watch and if you have a mountaineering friend or relative I can think of no better present for them for Christmas than this!

by John Burland