UKC

A British husband and wife team from Radley, Oxfordshire recently completed all 52 of the 4000m principal summits in the Alps - going by the list of 52 principal summits listed in the back of Martin Moran's book The 4000m Peaks of the Alps. Elizabeth 'Liz' Bedford completed the challenge in August last year, but husband Chris Bedford still had a few peaks left on his list. This summer, Chris finally summited Les Droites, most likely making the pair the first husband and wife team to complete the list.

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In reply to UKC News:

A good read and great effort - well done both!

Chris

In reply to UKC News:

Brilliant achievement where I'm sure the sum of the individual parts (experiences) is worth much, much more than the headline summary describes......if you see what I mean.... Inspiring weekend warriors everywhere! Or inspiring people to become teachers for the nice long summer holidays

In reply to UKC News:
Photo of the Eiger in the article, not a 4000mt peak! It misses out by 30mts.

In reply to UKC News:

Nice achievement indeed!

The article however does not mention the human side of this feat. As far as I understand it took the wife 22 years to complete all. That is at least 2.4 peaks per year on average. (ok, ok, there are the Breithorn and Monte Rosa group or Mont Blanc range where one can summit multiple 4000ers a day, but still out of that 52, it would still be something like 2 per year)

As a father with kids and a mountaineer wife the key question: do they have kids? Where did they put them while climbing? Do they have a regular 8 hour job / how many vacations do they have per year?

I don't mean to bash anything I'm just really curious.

In reply to Aldaris:

Well, they both work in schools. Hence the long holidays, and my comment above.

In reply to Sean Kelly:


More to the point, isn't the Eiger in the background and the shot on Monch?

Anyway, well done to Liz and Chris.

In reply to UKC News:

What a fantastic achievement! Great to hear my old geography teacher is having so much fun!

In reply to UKC News:

Congratulations.
Just a point to the journalist. It just seems really unlikely to me that they are the first husband and wife team to do this. What about all the local climbing couples who go out every other weekend? The first person to climb all 4000m mountains was in 1911. What is this being based on?

In reply to UKC News:

Great story! Only 17 people, really?!

In reply to ed woods:

17 brits I suspect

In reply to Sean Kelly:
Yes, caption is wrong.....it is of course the Eiger in the background (from the Nollen route in the Monch)

In reply to Ackbar:
Agree totally. Bound to be quite a few euro 'couples' who have done it but as far as we have been informed, no other Brit husband and wife teams have.

In reply to Aldaris:

No kids so that makes things heaps easier! Couple of things in our favour.... Teaching jobs mean long holidays, and we have a flat in Les Houches which makes a great base camp. I work six days a week (boarding school...) plus sports fixtures Saturday afternoon, so we gave up climbing at the weekends (what's left of them...) years ago, and haven't climbed in the UK for at least five years. We realise we are very lucky, but we have worked hard to make things happen because we both love being in the mountains.

In reply to UKC News:

Well done Chris and Liz, but what is this "52" 4000 m peaks referred to?

Martin Moran's book specifically speaks of "the 50 major 4000m peaks", and has 50 sections.

Lots of tops of course.

In reply to Simon4:

'Deciding what is and is not a 4000m peak has been an irresistible topic for pedants over the years. The complexities were made all the greater when someone decided that the concepts of subsidiary and minor tops should be added to the mix. At the back of the book is a discussion of three available lists of peaks and then an explanation of why the author has chosen to use a fourth of his making! Depending on the list chosen, the number of possible peaks varies from about 150 down to 50.'

Taken from:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=478

I haven't seen the book, but I would assume that the list Chris and Liz referred to in their email is one of those lists, or Martin's own suggested list.

In reply to hlburns:
Always!😀 hope you are having fun in the hills too. Best wishes, Liz

In reply to Natalie Berry - UKC:

Well I'm NOT going up Mont Brouillard!

In reply to UKC News:

Well done! Well done, well dome, wall done.
Really well done.

In reply to UKC News:

Weel done both, what a great achievement. Makes me quite humbled and (I admit) jealous. Lovely balanced article too, reminding us all just enjoy each day as it comes. Thanks for that.

In reply to Simon4:


Well you'll have to!

In reply to jon:


Quite so.

In reply to Simon4:


Me neither! Never was planning to, whatever list it's in....