Peter Boardman
Peter David Boardman was born on Christmas Day 1950 in Bramhall, Stockport. He attended Stockport Grammar School from 1956 where he developed a passion for climbing. This dedication would later take him to the summits of many of the world’s most spectacular mountains, most notably Mount Everest on 26th September 1975, making him the youngest person at the time to have scaled the notoriously difficult climb.
From 1969 to 1972 Boardman studied English at the University of Nottingham where he was President of the Mountaineering Club from 1971 to 1972. While at university Boardman climbed extensively in Britain and Europe and embarked on his first expedition, to Afghanistan, in 1972. After Nottingham, Boardman obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (English and outdoor activities) from the University College of North Wales in 1973.
In 1973, he became an instructor at Glenmore Lodge, Aviemore. He moved on to become the National Officer at the British Mountaineering Council in 1975. In 1978 Boardman took over as Director of the International School of Mountaineering in Leysin, Switzerland, after Dougal Haston’s death, a position he held until his own death on the North Ridge of Mount Everest in 1982.
Other positions and qualifications held by Boardman include:
- Mountain Guide Carnet – September 1977.
- Vice-president, British Mountaineering Council. Elected in 1979.
- President, Association of British Mountain Guides. Elected in 1979
The Boardman Tasker prize was set up in the name of Peter Boardman and his companion John Tasker and celebrates authors who have made an outstanding contribution to mountain literature.
Stockport Grammar School honoured the contribution Peter Boardman made to climbing by opening a climbing wall at the school in his memory in November 2008. The wall was officially opened by Pat Littlejohn OBE, Director of the International School of Mountaineering.
