Kenton Cool

Biography

Cool was born in Slough, Berkshire in 1973. His family surname was originally Kuhle and was changed during the Second World War, by his half German Grandfather. His Father was a photographer and Mother a florist and the family home was near to Uxbridge, in Middlesex. He was schooled at John Hampden Grammar School in High Wycombe, and later obtained a place at the University of Leeds. Kenton Cool graduated from the University of Leeds in 1994 after studying BSc Geological Sciences. Cool was first introduced to mountaineering at Scouts. An obsession with rock climbing developed at Leeds University and, on graduating, he moved to Sheffield to pursue this further. In 1996, he suffered a fall from a rock face and shattered both heel bones. A year of surgery and therapy saw him become determined to regain his climbing form and he joined the British Association of Mountain Guides scheme.

Cool married in 2008 and now lives in the village of Barnsley in Gloucestershire in the UK. A leading Alpine climber, he operates in the Alps and Greater Ranges of the Himalayas as a fully qualified IFMGA (UIAGM) Guide and Expedition Leader.

Regarding the danger of mountaineering and the many friends he has lost in the sport he has said: "It's completely unstylish to get stuffed in the mountains...I want to die with my feet up in front of the fire drinking a glass of red wine aged about 95".

In 2003, Cool was nominated alongside climbing partners for the Piolet d'Or award for a route on Annapurna III. In 2012 he made good on an 88-year-old Olympic pledge by taking one of the 1924 Olympic Gold Medals awarded to the 1922 British Everest Expedition (awarded for "Outstanding feats of human endeavour") to the summit of Everest. This prompted Lord Coe to personally thank Cool and his team for helping "kick start the 2012 Olympic Games".

Expedition career

Cool is considered one of the UK's top mountain and ski expedition leaders having made several ascents of hard routes with clients, including the first British guided ascent of the famous North Face of the Eiger in 2007 with polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, then in his sixties, who was initially afraid of heights.

In May 2008, Cool and Fiennes attempted to summit Mount Everest but Fiennes turned back 300m from the top. In 2009, Cool returned to Everest and successfully led Fiennes to the top, making Cool the most successful British Expedition Leader on the mountain.

In 2013 Cool attained the Everest Triple Crown. In the space of just seven days and without returning to Base Camp, he climbed the three mountains that make up the Everest Horseshoe – Nuptse, 7864 metres, Everest 8850 metres and Lhotse 8516 metres. This was a feat many thought to be impossible, due to the amount of time spent at high altitude and the effect this has on the human body.

As an Expedition Leader, Cool has completed over 20 successful expeditions in the Greater Ranges. On Everest he holds the highest success rate of any Mountain guide. He has personally reached the summit of Everest twelve times, in May 2007 he summitted twice in one week.

In October 2006 he was the first British person to complete a ski descent of an 8,000-metre peak, on Cho Oyu in Nepal, the 6th highest mountain in the world. In the autumn of 2010 Cool made the third ever ski descent of Manaslu in Nepal, the world's eighth highest mountain. In doing so become one of only a few people world wide to ski multiple 8000 metre peaks.

On 12 May 2016 Kenton at 42, was joined by two Sherpas and another Briton, Robert Lucas on the summit of the World's highest peak. The Brits were also the first foreign climbers to reach the 8,850 metre (29,035ft) peak in two years, after a group of Sherpa guides fixing ropes got to the top on Wednesday 11 May. Outside the Nepalese climbers, this summit of Everest puts Kenton behind only Dave Hahn from the US (with 15 successful Everest summits).

Television work

As part of the Eiger expedition in 2007, ITN set up a simulcast at the foot of the mountain, allowing Cool, Fiennes and Parnell to broadcast live from the mountain face and straight into the ITN News studio. Their summit attempt was broadcast on each live news section for five days. A further one-hour documentary of the successful climb was aired on BBC Four and The Discovery Channel.

As part of his 2007 Everest expedition, Cool took part in filming for the five-part BBC Television documentary Everest ER. As well as providing extensive interview material for the documentary, Cool was also given specialist high-altitude camera equipment to capture footage high on the mountain, including summit footage. Everest ER followed Cool's expedition as it unfolded, which included his double summit in one week. The programme was aired over five weeks on BBC1.

Charitable activity

In March 2007, Cool was part of a three-man team (including Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Ian Parnell) to raise funds for the Marie Curie Eiger Challenge Appeal. A successful summit of the North Face of the Eiger raised £1.8 million for the Marie Curie Cancer Care charity. In May 2009, Cool and Sir Ranulph Fiennes raised a further £2.6 million for the Marie Curie charity as part of the Everest Challenge Appeal. Cool summitted with the Marie Curie flag.

Annually, Cool provides a series of speaking events for the Royal Geographical Society and various outdoor clothing manufacturers and retailers as well as keynote speeches at corporate conferences. He has also been invited to sit on specialist panels. At these events, he heavily supports and promotes Porters Progress, a foundation set up to support the mountain portering community in Nepal. Porters Progress is now part of the dZi Foundation

Personal life

In 2008 Cool married Jazz Black whom he had met in Chamonix, France. They were married in Fairford, Gloucestershire. Their first child, Saffron Ophelia Frampton Cool, was born in 2010 and a second, Willoughby Fredric Hamilton, was born in 2012. They live in Barnsley, Gloucestershire.

Everest summits