Award-winning author, adventurer and filmmaker Matt Dickinson visited Shiplake College to deliver a fascinating talk on his incredible life, which has included climbing the world’s tallest mountain, Mount Everest, and creating numerous documentaries centred around pushing the human body to the limits in the most inhospitable environments in the world. During his career, Matt has worked for a cameraman for National Geographic television, the Discovery Channel, the BBC and Channel 4. He has travelled the world, exploring such places as Africa, Antarctica and the Himalayas, and took the time to visit to Shiplake, to inspire a new generation of adventurers to push themselves to the limit.
Digital Librarian Miss Claire Knight and teacher Mrs Eleanor Hallam have been instrumental in bringing Matt to the College for the enthralling talk, which captivated the imagination and ambitions of the Lower School pupils. Having been engrossed in reading Matt’s book The Everest Files, the pupils were eager to hear the author speak in person and had an abundance of questions to throw his way. Part one of a trilogy, the second book is coming out imminently which was a cause of great excitement for Lower School. Matt spoke to pupils about the emotional journey climbing a mountain, and described the moment he almost turned back from the summit of Everest, saying ‘it wasn’t just a physical challenge; it was a mental challenge. In many ways, that’s the most difficult part. It’s not the mountain that could prove potentially fatal, it’s you; you have to have the sheer determination drive to make it up there.’ Matt was entertaining and engaging; a particularly amusing anecdote about taking 250 Toffee Crisp chocolate bars with him up the mountain, which proceeded to explode at altitude lightened the story of what was a difficult ascent up the North Face of Everest.
Speaking of how fortunate he was to summit the mountain, it was clear that Matt feels humbled by the experience. Of the 30 people in his expedition, only five made the summit, and it’s not something Matt takes lightly. Suffering frostbite in his hand, Matt was fortunate enough to have all of his fingers saved, although the feeling is now lost in two of them. The reality of climbing a mountain really hit home for the captivated pupils: Matt spoke of the 160 bodies still on the mountain that remain there, frozen and mummified. His words were accompanied by photos and clips of film, and the images were harrowing. Despite the weeks climbing from Base Camp, and the illnesses experienced by the group, Matt’s parting words were this: ‘a six week journey for ten minutes on the summit. Is it worth it? Yes, it is.’
The Lower School were utterly intrigued in the entire presentation, and left feeling inspired to take risks and achieve life-long ambitions. Miss Knight said of the presentation that ‘it was great to have Matt visit us today. Lower School have been really excited and enthused about Matt’s work, reading eagerly over the last few weeks. His visit today was informative, funny and energising. We are very excited for the next instalment in The Everest Files trilogy!’
