Freddie Wilkinson

Freddie Wilkinson believes that a climbing adventure is only as good as the stories you bring home. Wilkinson climbed his first mountain — New Hampshire’s Mount Washington — at age 13. Since climbing Denali at 20, he’s spent three to four months of every year on expeditions around the globe. Wilkinson lives with his wife, Janet, in a 12 x 12 cabin with a view of the White Mountains. He has written a book, One Mountain Thousand Summits: The Untold Story of Tragedy and True Heroism on K2, an insider's account of one of the deadliest and most controversial tragedies in mountaineering history. He directed The Old Breed (Mountainfilm 2012), which is about his first ascent in 2011 of Saser Kangri II, the second-highest unclimbed mountain in the world, with Mark Richey and Steve Swenson. Wilkinson worked with Renan Ozturk to make the film Rinpoche Speaks (Mountainfilm 2015). Aside from being one of the highest first peak ascents ever accomplished in alpine style, the climb is notable for the fact that Richey and Swenson were 53 and 57, respectively, at the time of the ascent. Wilkinson worked as co-director for The Sanctity of Space (Mountainfilm 2022).