Andy left school at 16 with no qualifications and followed family tradition starting work as a coal miner at Grimethorpe. He described the environment as a “filthy, dangerous hell”. At 17, he did his first rock climb and was instantly hooked. He soon began dreaming of scaling the world’s most difficult mountain climbs, though many laughed at the ambition of one so new to the sport. Three years later Andy climbed all the way up the infamous north face of the Eiger, and shortly afterwards he quit his job down the pit to focus on a mountaineering career and to study English and Linguistics at university.
He has gone on to lead expeditions around the world. In the Himalayas, he made the first ascent of one of the 20th Century’s greatest climbs, and in the Alps he summited on ‘Divine Providence’, considered to be the hardest climb. In 2000, he travelled to Alaska to tackle Mount Kennedy’s North Face; his team succeeding where many others had failed.
Now working as a motivational speaker covering topics of teamwork, peak performance and personal strength, Andy is known the world over for climbing some of the most dangerous mountains in the world and surviving in some of the most extreme conditions known to man.
A truly inspirational after dinner speaker, Andy has proved both his mental and physical strength; in his capacity as a motivational speaker he highlights how all his life experiences, from his work in the coal mines to his PhD and, of course, all his impressive mountain climbing expeditions, have guided him into a new and positive way of life.
