Rheged’s Everest Revisited exhibition and lecture programme extended

Due to the incredible feedback from customers, the Everest Revisited exhibition, in the main Gallery at Rheged near Penrith, has been extended until Sunday 16 March. This has also created an opportunity to add three new lectures, each by a prominent Cumbrian mountaineer, and a new film to the Everest programme.

The UK’s most significant mountain-focused exhibition in two decades, the Everest Revisited exhibition explores 100 years of mountaineering history through original artwork, striking photography, film, and rarely-seen artefacts from the Alpine Club, Royal Geographical Society and Mountain Heritage Trust. The exhibition showcases untold stories and pivotal moments of the past and present since Mallory and Irvine’s disappearance on their 1924 expedition. The exhibition also highlights the many Cumbrian connections to Everest’s history.

Gallery Manager, Claire Harrison commented “We are delighted with the fantastic feedback we have received so far, with visitors coming from all over the country to see the exhibition. We have welcomed over 5000 visitors and it’s been wonderful to see them all engaging with the films, photography, artwork, and reading about Everest’s history, especially children who can enter for free”.

Running alongside the extended exhibition, visitors have enjoyed an engaging programme of inspiring talks so far, from the likes of Julie Summers, Krish Thapa and Stephen Venables, and can now look forward to more, with talks bymountaineer and filmmaker John Porter from Caldbeck, 7-time Everest summiteer Tim Mosedale from Keswick and adventure filmmaker Keith Partridge, creator of 80 major film projects on 7 continents and who is now the lecturer of wildlife media at the University of Cumbria.

The evening with Keith Partridge on Friday 14 March at Rheged includes a screening of his documentary BONINGTON: MOUNTAINEER with an introduction and Q&A with Keith. Following an interval, Keith will bring a new talk to Rheged which focuses on his ascent of Everest with Kenton Cool who has summitted Everest 18 times. On this homage ascent, they took the Olympic Gold medal to the summit, which had been presented to Cumbrian Arthur Wakefield in 1924 for this mountaineering exploration on Everest in 1922. This builds on a story which is touch on in the Everest Revisited Exhibition.

Earlier in the month on Saturday 8 March at 7.30pm, there will be a very rare talk by climber, mountaineer, and expedition leader Tim Mosedale. The Keswick-based, 7-time Everest summiteer will recount his experiences guiding on the mountain with some entertaining anecdotes as well as reflecting on the 2015 Nepal earthquake.

On Saturday 1 March at 7.30pm, John Porter who helped curate the Everest Revisited exhibition and was one of the original founders of Kendal Mountain Festival, has created a new talk for Rheged entitled ‘A Brief Golden Light – A Mountaineer’s Tale’. John pioneered many unrepeated ascents in the Himalaya and Andes and new routes with his friend Chris Bonington in Greenland and Tibet. He will share award winning writing and photography with stories of adventure, tragedy, and pioneering climbs, offering a deeply personal insight into alpinism’s second golden era.

Finally, twice a week, Rheged is also screening John Porter’s internationally acclaimed Everest documentary, Everest Revisited 1924-2024. This 50-minute experience is the perfect complement to a visit to the exhibition as it combines historic footage with contemporary interviews to give even a greater insight into the Everest pioneers, the Sherpa, Mallory and Irvine and what Everest means to Nepal today.

Rheged’s Everest talks, held in their Cinema, are available to book at Rheged.com, where you can also book tickets to Everest Revisited Exhibition, which is £5 to enter, with 16 & under free. The exhibition is now open daily until Sunday 16 March from 10am to 5pm.