John Porter was born in Massachusetts (USA). He started climbing at the age of 12 and improved his skills in the White Mountains, Rockies, Cascades and Yosemite. In the early 1970s he moved permanently to the UK, to do postgraduate work at Leeds University where he joined a group of climbers who valued clean ethics, alpine- style and international partnerships.
During the Cold War, together with Alex McIntyre and Polish friends (e.g. Wojtek Kurtyka), he made extreme ascents of the north face of Kohe Bandaka (1977) and the south face of Changabang (1978). His other important climbs include lightweight attempts (without Sherpas and extra oxygen) to climb the the west ridge of Everest in winter (1980/81), the north-west ridge of K2 and the east face of Sepu Kangri. He is the author of the first ascents of Chong Kundam I and V in the Eastern Karakorum, as well as many significant climbs in the mountains around the world, in over fifty-five years of climbing activity. In 1980 together with Brian Hall and Jim Curran they founded the Kendal Mountain Festival, and in 2011 along with Brian launched the website with mountain and adventure movies- SteepEdge. In 2014 was released his book “One day as a Tiger. Alex MacIntyre and the Birth of the Light and Fast Alpinism “(Polish edition 2016) which won 2014 Banff Mountain Book Competition Grand Prize and has been translated into many languages.
John lives in the Cumbrian Lake District and works as a consultant in the energy sector. Former vice-president of the British Mountaineering Council and secretary to the Mountain Heritage Trust, since 2017, president of the British Alpine Club.