Humanitarian, Artist, Writer, Mountaineer

Graeme Dingle was born in 1945 in Gisborne, New Zealand. He says his mother “had the sudden urge to climb mountains” during her pregnancy with Graeme. ABOUT GRAEME He had lots of trouble in school, just scraping through with most of his subjects and getting bullied for not fitting in, but he claims that he still enjoyed school. He excelled mostly in maths and science. After school, Graeme conquered the Southern Alps, wrote many books and went on to founding the Graeme Dingle Foundation.

Timeline of Graeme’s Life /1993- Graeme conquers an epic two-stage 28,000 kilometre circuit of the Arctic. 2001/2002- Graeme leads several Antarctic expeditions, leading his group across unexplored territory and climbing up several unclimbed mountains Graeme receives a Designworks Visionary Leader Award Graeme founded project K, which he established to give young New Zealanders a combination of community skills, wilderness experiences and mentoring to prepare them for a rewarding adult life Graeme embarks on and completes the ‘Big Walk’- a walk across New Zealand to raise awareness of the countries escalating youth issues Graeme and the disabled Bruce Burgess conquer Mt. Ruapehu together.

What occurred in the world whilst Graeme was at work Graeme was born: WW2 ends Graeme completes ‘The Big Walk’: There is an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico Graeme’s Antarctic Expedition: 5000 die in an earthquake in Peru.

I think that Graeme Dingles explorations and community work taught us that you can do it if you persevere and believe in yourself. They also taught us to make a stand and fight for what you believe in, which was proved when he made a stand for Youth in NZ, which ended up in the Dingle Foundation.

MAJOR ACHEIVMENTS... Graeme has been awarded several awards and medals for his Community Works and services including a Designworks Visionary Award. He has conquered many Mountaineering Firsts and helped the disabled Bruce Burgess conquer Mount Ruapehu.

FAMILY MEMBERS... Not much is known about Graeme’s personal life, but it is known that he is married and has one teenage daughter.

STRUGGLES/CHALLENGES GRAEME FACED... One of Graeme Dingles ‘darkest moments’ was when his co-worker fell to her death in the Himalayas on an expedition they were doing together. He has since begun co-working with Jo-Anne Wilkinson, but says that he will never forget his good friend.

OTHER INFORMATION... Graeme is also an avid artist, author, and humanitarian. He has written ten books about Mountaineering, including his biography ‘Dingle: Discovering the Sense in Adventure”.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (Dec. 12 th, 2009 issue) search.digitalnz.org

“Perseverance is falling nineteen times and succeeding the twentieth” -Julie Andrews