Last night Emily and I braved the horrible Edinburgh weather and headed over to Edinburgh University at George Square. It was a well supported event with a good crowd and a few faces I recognised from the climbing world. The evening was run by Sherpa Adventure Gear, who support both Neil and Kenton on their various trips around the world.
The format was set out in a kind of interview-style; with Ian Parnell asking the questions. Neil was up first and started from the beginning - how he had got into climbing from a young age thanks to his dad, how he had attempted to climb up the side of the PE block of his school (a la Johnny Dawes) and how he had come to live in a house in Sheffield with a load of other top UK climbers. I knew a little about Neil from his various instructional DVDs and had seen a couple of his climbing videos but other than that I knew little about his story. He described how he had gone from hard sport climbing to hard trad and then had got involved in the world of deep-water soloing. It was a very interesting tale and Neil had also managed to climb some pretty hard winter routes all over the world too. Neil was very easy to listen to, very funny and had a rather relaxed and humble manner. I was most impressed and found him to be quite inspiring.
After the interval it was Kenton's turn to tell tales of his experiences on Everest and at high altitude. At first he seemed a little erratic and a bit nervous - but he soon settled. He had some great stories and a few video clips of his most recent Olympic Pledge. Emily and I had been following the story closely on the internet but it was interesting to hear about it first-hand. Kenton also pointed out that Sir Humphry Wakefield (great nephew of Dr Arthur Wakefield, a member of the 1922 British Mount Everest Expedition) was in the audience - a special moment indeed.
A very enjoyable evening and excellent value for money.
