George Band OBE (1929–2011)

Mountaineer George Band died on 26 August 2011 at the age of 82. He was one of the last surviving members climbers of the successful British ascent of Everest when Hillary and Tenzing reached the summit in 1953. Band himself made the challenging ascent of Kangchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, in 1955. Born in Taiwan, Band studied geology at Cambridge, worked in oil exploration worldwide and was awarded an OBE in 2009. He was a Life Fellow and Council member of the Royal Geographical Society as well as President of the Alpine Club and British Mountaineering Council. He published books about mountaineering including Everest Exposed in 2005.

A full obituary was published in The Geographical Journal