February 2005 - Local Mountaineer, Rhys Jones

Many years the junior of his audience, 18-year old Hampshire mountaineer, Rhys Jones, enthralled his audience at the Andover Women in Business Club’s February meeting at the Red Lion Country Inn, Clanville.

Rhys, a charismatic and motivational speaker is already a record breaker and has been climbing since he was 10 years old. At 14, he joined his first expedition, where, not surprisingly, he was the youngest in the group. He amazed listeners by recounting his unusual, self-imposed training to prepare for the high altitude he would encounter and his tales of the bizarre differences between his experiences during holidays and those of his young school friends.

Rhys Jones with committee members, Jane O’Kelly and Tessa Makepeace, examining heavy mountaineering equipment.

Illustrating his talk with breathtaking slides of his expeditions, Rhys has climbed in Alaska, Africa, South America, Scotland and Switzerland. His ambition to be the youngest Briton to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents – having already achieved four of them – was inspirational.

He reached the summit of 20,320-ft Denali, the highest peak in North America just four weeks after his seventeenth birthday and claims the record as the youngest Briton to succeed on Mount McKinley in Alaska, a mountain that climbers regard as ‘the coldest on earth’, enduring wind chill temperatures below -80 ° C, snow blizzards and fathomless crevasses.

Rhys has also succeeded on the highest mountain in Africa, Kilimanjaro and neighbouring Mount Meru. The list goes on – later this year he will attempt mountains in Russia, Himalayas and Antartica and aims to climb the world’s highest summit, Everest, in 2007, when he hopes to put a scout on the summit to celebrate the centenary of Scouting.

Describing the hardships of mountaineering, Rhys talked of carrying 60 – 70lbs of kit whilst pulling a sledge, and the extremes of temperature it was necessary to endure, usually battling again bitter and very strong winds. Members were surprised to hear of the loneliness brought about when walking, spending long, slow days roped together, but 40-feet apart from colleagues. Tales of the physically demanding nature of the work, the pain of the cold and bleeding hips, brought about by pulling such heavy weights, were proof of the character-building effects of his expeditions.

In order to alleviate the tedium of days confined to base brought about by adverse weather; Rhys explained how he and his colleagues would read many books, often reading chapters aloud to one another to combat the boredom. There were many amusing recollections of dealing with day-to-day necessities, especially when tightly confined inside a tent with two other climbers.

The teenage mountaineer is ambitious! Supported by Dame Ellen MacArthur (record-breaking yachtswoman) and Bear Grylls (youngest Briton at 23- years old to have climbed Everest) he has established ‘Youth Unlimited’ to inspire and motivate teenagers to achieve. ‘Youth Unlimited’ is unique, made up of teenagers who have achieved their own challenges and who are then able to communicate their experience to encourage other young people to success, by talking to youth groups, organisations and businesses.

Fundraising for his expeditions is hard: he hopes to write a book later in his life but is available for talks to groups in the meantime. At 18, Rhys is not only an exceptional and talented mountaineer, he is a personable and handsome young man, with a natural gift of inspiring and enthusing an audience. He will go far!