Chorley's parents were both enthusiastic climbers. His father was a president of the Fell & Rock Climbing Club (1935–1937) and became vice president of the Alpine Club (UK) (1957–1958). His mother was vice president of the Fell & Rock Climbing Club in 1953 and became president of the Ladies' Alpine Club (1953–1955).[5]
Chorley inherited their enthusiasm for mountaineering and the environment. He joined the Cambridge University Mountaineering Club when he became a student and later became the club's president (1952–1953).[6]
He was a member of the management committee of the Mount Everest Foundation (1968–1970), president of the Alpine Club (1983–1985),[7] and patron of the British Mountaineering Council.[6]
In 1954 he was part of a Cambridge University team, led by Alfred Tissières, which attempted to ascend Rakaposhi (7,788 metres (25,551ft)), which at that time had never been climbed.[8] The party included George Band, who was a member of the team that made the first ascent of Everest, and Major General Mian Hayaud Din, the Chief of General Staff of the Pakistan Army.
He went to Nepal in 1957 as part of a British team to attempt Machapuchare, which was also unclimbed. Wilfrid Noyce and A. D. M. Cox climbed to within 150ft (46m) of the summit. Adhering to their word of honor given to the then King Mahendra, they descended without stepping onto the summit.[9] However, early in the expedition Chorley contracted polio and, with the assistance of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Roberts, the expedition leader, he left the expedition to seek medical assistance.[10][9]
He was a founding member of the Mountain Heritage Trust[6] and he donated his library of mountaineering materials to the Trust in 2013.[11]
He married Ann Elizabeth Debenham in 1964 and they had two sons. He died on 21 February 2016 at the age of 85,[12] and she died on 20 August 2021 at the age of 90. She is buried at St Michael and All Angels Church, Hawkshead, Cumbria, with a gravestone in the churchyard which marks their lives.
Arms
Coat of arms of Roger Chorley, 2nd Baron Chorley
Crest
In front of two torches in saltire Or and inflamed a teazle stalked and leaved Proper.
Escutcheon
Per chevron Argent and Vert in chief two bluebottles Proper and in base a fountain.
↑Chorley, Katharine (2001). "Introduction". Manchester Made Them. Silk Press Ltd. pp.7–10. ISBN978-1902685090.
↑Department of the Environment 1987, Handling Geographic Information: Report of the Committee of Enquiry chaired by Lord Chorley, HMSO, ISBN0-11-752015-2
