We thought you might like a heads-up on what looks like a fascinating event at London’s RGS on Tuesday 1 November. ‘One Day As A Tiger’ presented by John Porter is the story of firebrand mountaineering tyro Alex MacIntyre and his contribution to the development of fast and light alpinism.

The evening will be introduced by Doug Scott CBE and is being hosted jointly by the excellent Porters’ Progress UK charity, the Alpine Club and the Mountain Everest Foundation.

The lecture bears the same name as Porter’s outstanding book and tells the story of how a young, charismatic, maverick  British climber pioneered the ascent of hard new routes on big mountains with minimal support and equipment.

‘How Alex climbed was as important as what he climbed. He was a mountaineering prophet, sharing with a handful of contemporaries – including his climbing partner Voytek Kurtyka – the vision of a purer form of alpinism on the world’s highest peaks.’

During his brief, but outstanding climbing career before he was killed by a single falling rock on Annapurna in 1982, MacIntyre  put up hard new routes on Himalayan giants like Dhaulagiri and Changabang along with a glittering record of firsts in the Alps and Andes.

It was as much about style as achievement though. His lightweight ethos, shared by the likes of his sometime climbing partner Voytek Kurtyka, changed mountaineering culture forever and shaped the course of modern mountaineering into what it is today.

It’s a brilliant, if slightly sad read, and we suspect the lecture will be every bit as fascinating.

More Information

More about the evening and tickets from www.portersprogressuk.org/event/one-day-as-a-tiger/ where you can also find out more about the charity’s invaluable work supporting trekking porters.