Alan Hinkes is a professional mountaineer. Recently he scaled a mountain in Kyrgyzstan which he named after his daughter Fiona...
 Alan on the Mountain peak |
Alan was never married to Fiona’s mother,but they were together for 8 years before Fiona was born. Fiona has always lived with her mum, but Alan has a close relationship with her.
For Alan, climbing is 'in the blood'. He had already attempted some difficult climbs before Fiona was born (the north face of the Eiger was one), but after her birth he was less prepared to take risks. But he just wouldn’t be himself if he wasn’t climbing, and he thinks Fiona understands that.
Alan has always taken a picture of Fiona (now aged 18) with him to the peaks of all the mountains he’s climbed rather than a British flag, so all over the world are peaks with photos of Fiona at different ages. Fiona says this is a close as she's ever going to get to these mountains; climbing is not for her.
They used to communicate by letter when Alan was climbing. These days it tends to be email and the occasional phone call using a satellite phone. Fiona as a teenager reacted sometimes as if he was calling from down the road.
Recently, Alan named a peak in the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan after her – Peak Fiona. There are still a lot of mountains in this region that haven't been climbed though it is unusual to be the first to conquer a peak these days.
MORE INFORMATION
Alan's website: charts his attempt to climb all of the worlds 8000 metre mountains
of Britain talking about his latest climb.
