Churcher's College was honoured to host a CCALS talk on Tuesday 29 April by returning OC Tom Livingstone (09) who has spent the last ten years as a professional mountaineer.  Tom, who is described by Sir Chris Bonington as 'One of the finest climbers in the world, always using the purest techniques', is now based in Chamonix, France and is an acclaimed mountaineer and outdoor writer.  His passion for trad, winter and alpine climbing is evident as is his particular love of ascending some of the world's biggest and notoriously hardest mountains!   Tom also works as an outdoor instructor and in 2020 Tom founded the British ‘Young Alpinist Group’ who's mission is to advance the next generation of world-leading young UK alpinists. 

Tom explained that his love of the outdoors started with his time at Churcher's where he participated in all the outdoor adventurous activities on offer. Tom said, 'I can credit the school and the teachers with where I am now - it is thanks to them'. He completed the Devizes to Westminster race 3 times and both the 35-mile and 45-mile Bronze and Silver Ten Tors challenge whilst at school. Following his time at Churcher's he helped former staff members Marc and Cathy Eaton with the training and preparation for future Ten Tors teams as an instructor.  It was around this time in 2014 that his mountaineering career took over. Tom explained 'I'm very lucky to have gone from Churcher's in 2009, to now being a fully sponsored climber'.  He encouraged students to 'try lots of things whether that is doing climbs, kayaking, maths or music' and 'to discover what you really enjoy'. After Churcher's Tom travelled to the Himalayas and saw interesting rock formations and was able to climb some of them. 

Now, as a professional climber, he spoke of his most recent ascent undertaken in 2024, which he and his climbing partner Aleš named the 'Edge of Entropy'. He and Aleš had attempted the climb in 2022 - the first ascent of Gasherbrum III's west ridge - however, due to extreme high winds the expedition had to be aborted.  Undeterred, and having learned a few lessons from that first attempt, Tom and Aleš planned a second attempt and returned to Pakistan for a 'rematch'. They understood they would only get one shot at climbing the mountain. The altitude would preclude them from another try and they knew they wouldn’t have the fitness or the enthusiasm to attempt it again. 

Describing the ascent in detail, Tom explained that the higher they got the harder it was to make the right decisions. Altitude affects the brain, making your very thought processes a challenge. Tom describes his final ascent.. 'Slogging to the summit, finally on easy terrain, we simply breathed and tried to keep taking another step. Both our minds were growing more and more chaotic as we climbed, and so was the quality of the rock, the route finding, everything. In physics, entropy is a measurement that can only rise. It will never decrease … at least until the summit...' Tom and Aleš then named the climb 'The Edge of Entropy' due to Entropy being a measure of chaos.

We are very grateful to Tom for his inspiring talk, for sharing with us what it takes to become a professional mountaineer, with all the challenges and risks that ultimately entails, and for his encouragement on how making mistakes can ultimately lead to success! 

If you would learn more about Tom Livingstone or read further articles you can find out more on his website: Tom Livingstone