Matt Dickinson takes pupils to Mount Everest and back

September 2-6 saw award-winning novelist and filmmaker Matt Dickinson join us for a weeklong visit full of presentations, discussions and creative writing workshops themed around Mount Everest and the importance of maintaining a sense of adventure in our lives. Matt has written over a dozen highly acclaimed books of different genres, largely based on his exploits as a mountaineer. Prior to his writing career, Matt worked with National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and the BBC making insightful documentaries , and was responsible for the cinematography for the 2014 film, Searching for Nepal. What made you want to share stories in both your writing and filmmaking careers?

Matt Dickinson: I was very keen on climbing as child, I was always reading about climbing adventures, like the works of Chris Bonington and others, so climbing has been a constant theme in my life. Throughout my filmmaking and then writing career I felt it was important to be led by what inspired me, and always at the back of my mind I remembered how I felt as a child when I read those stories and adventures, so I think that’s what led me to write mostly for younger readers.

  What is the average age of your intended audience?

Matt Dickinson: It’s actually quite a mix. I do mostly write for primary school age children, but also for slightly older ones, say years 7-9. I’ve very much enjoyed changing up styles and genres, so I’ve written more light-hearted adventure stories, as well as action-based thrillers inspired by real events and also non-fiction books for adults, such as true story of my own Everest ascent.

What have you been up to with the Wellington pupils during your visit?

Matt Dickinson: The College is very keen to encourage reading for pleasure, which is a practice that my life and specifically my childhood have taught me to value and support in others. I think it’s quite powerful for pupils to meet and interact with an author, because even reluctant readers tend to become more excited and enthused if they have the idea and context of the story brought to life for them in a different way. This was partly why I came, to give a series of presentations and discussion sessions to help pupils explore the fascinating and important story of Everest and what it means to us all.

The second purpose of my visit was to conduct creative writing workshops with various year groups. The idea was to give pupils more confidence in their writing skills as well as teach them some specific tips and new approaches to consider in their future pieces.

    What was the pupils’ overall response to the presentations?

Matt Dickinson: In short, absolutely fantastic. Very early on in the week I was walking around the campus having pupils come up for high fives and saying to one another: “It’s that guy, the mountain man!”, so it was just great to hear that I’d struck a chord.

The pupils here are so engaged, attentive, respectful and they have great sense of humour. They are always keen to know more and they aren’t shy to ask. I think one thing you notice quite early on as a visitor to an international school is how generally confident the pupils are, in part because they have been encouraged throughout their academic careers to interact, question and express their opinions.

  What do they want to know more about?

Matt Dickinson: As you might expect, their interests and questions covered a lot of ground. Plenty of questions focused on the practical side of mountaineering and what it is actually like to go up against Everest. They were keen to know more about what general conditions are like in terms of going without basic sanitation, internet connectivity, having no bath or shower for 10 weeks, that sort of thing!

Naturally, the more life-threatening elements prompted a lot of questions too. Pupils asked about altitude sickness, frostbite, avalanches, crossing crevasses; the physical and psychological threats you face on the mountainside. They very quickly picked up on the more visually dramatic elements of my presentation slides and footage.

There was also a strong environmental focus to my presentations, so it was encouraging to get so many questions about the impact of human activity on the environment of Everest and the Himalayas – the effects of global warming, changes in glaciation, things of that nature.

    What about the creative writing workshops, how did pupils respond to those?

Matt Dickinson: For me, it was fascinating to work with the different year groups and their teachers to really dig into the nature of what creative writing is all about and how we can pull out our best work. Without exception, the pupils were entirely willing to have meaningful discussions about what spoke to them in a literary sense and followed up with plenty of outstanding pieces. Fortunately, being here at the College for a week gave me time to set some writing challenges early on and then check in again with the same groups later in the week to see how they had got on.

One specific journalistic-themed activity I did with year 8 is representative of the pupils’ excellent efforts throughout the week. Pupils were tasked to write an article arguing whether or not Everest should be closed. They could consider the question from lots of different angles, such as the environmental impact of human activity, the ethical problems around a commercial enterprise which has led hundreds of climbers to their deaths, and the wider cultural question of what Everest means to humanity as a symbol.

Looking at their work, it was clear that these young writers were attentive in researching the facts while examining their own personal opinions and feelings with maturity and literary poise.

  What do you hope the pupils will have taken away from their activities during your visit?

Matt Dickinson: In terms of examining their own writing abilities, I hope they will be more open to trying to write creatively in a range of contexts. Lots of pupils lack confidence in their writing and subsequently don’t enjoy it. To be a writer of any kind, whether you are a novelist, journalist, scriptwriter or even a computer games writer, you are tapping into a wide range of elements and influences in your life to pull out something meaningful to say that is purely your shaped by your own perspective. I hope that they will remember that writing is always incredibly good fun whenever they are exploring subject material that genuinely interests them.

In a more general sense, I hope that I have impressed upon them the importance of having an adventurous attitude towards life. This doesn’t mean they have to climb Everest, it just means that they should be open to the adventures, big and small, that make life worth living. Plenty of Wellingtonians are no doubt already experienced travellers by global standards, they will have seen and done amazing things in their young lives, so I hope that they continue to recognise the inherent value of remaining receptive to such adventures. 

Finally, I hope that they will continue to think about the evolving  story of Everest and what it means in their lives. Its history and the ongoing changes that are happening there represent a really interesting opportunity for young people to look at the environmental impact of humanity’s actions. Everest is a microcosm of global environmental issues and challenges – something that clearly means a lot to Wellington’s pupils.

Matt’s visit clearly made a deep impression on both our pupils and teachers, as all of his workshops and presentations were received with a similarly high level of excitement, consideration and lots of follow-up questions!

“He wowed and amazed the pupils with his account of climbing Everest, with tales of sherpas, yetis and helicopters. Matt is clearly a natural storyteller and a lot of our pupils found him to be very funny, especially when recounting some of his stories about food on the mountain and what to eat (and, crucially, what not to eat!). Everyone had a great time with him and the ‘buzz’ stayed in place throughout the whole week of the visit – the pupils are still talking about him! The year 6 classes greatly enjoyed writing about their own personal 'Everest' – their own challenges and goals for the future – and Matt definitely encouraged them to aim as high as they could.” Mr Hardy