George Band

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George Band (born 1929) is a British mountaineer. Having started climbing in the Alps while a student at Queens' College, Cambridge, he was the youngest person on the 1953 Everest expedition. Two years later, in 1955, he and Joe Brown became the first climbers to ascend Kangchenjunga. Out of respect for the religious feelings of the people of Nepal and Sikkim, they stopped about ten feet below the actual summit.

Following these early mountaineering successes, George Band spent most of his professional life in oil and gas exploration. In 2005, as a still active 76-year-old, Band made the trek to the south-west Base Camp of Kangchenjunga in Nepal. George Band has been president of the Alpine Club and the British Mountaineering Council, and still travels around the world. He has written the books, Road to Rakaposhi and in 2003, Everest 50 Years on Top of the World (the official history - Mount Everest Foundation, Royal Geographical Society and the Alpine Club). George is currently Chairman of the Himalayan Trust (UK).