Bamber is a
mountaineer, climber and
long-distance runner. In 1990, he climbed the 1938 route on the
North Face of the Eiger with Wil Hurford. He won his first major running race in 1991 at the
Woodley 10 mile road race in a time of 54 minutes. A year later in 1992, while climbing in the Indian Himalaya, close to the
Pakistan border, he was hit by a rockfall and sustained life-threatening injuries to his left leg. It took six days to get him off the mountain, and he contracted
gangrene and
frostbite. He spent almost four years on
crutches before being able to take a few steps unaided. Since then, he has competed in races over various distances, winning a number outright and in his age category, at distances of 5 to 50 miles. In the next year, he teamed up with the first international runner from the Everest marathon to compete in the eight-day TransAlpineRun, covering 280km and a 16,500 m ascent, starting in
Germany and finishing in
Italy. His running partner retired after the fifth stage, but Bamber continued and completed the course in a time of 41 hours, 57 minutes. and was subsequently shown at other outdoor film festivals across Europe. It was also aired on German and Swiss television. ==References==