Climber extraordinaire

Sir Chris Bonington was our special guest on Breakfast this morning. He has written a personal account of his expeditions to the different faces of Everest.

Chris Bonington was the first to scale Everest 'the hard way' - by the South West Face - in 1975.

No other mountaineer, writer or photographer has as much experience of Everest, having taken part in four expeditions on the mountain itself and 26 other expeditions in the Himalayas.

In 1985 Chris reached the summit of Mount Everest as a member of a Norwegian expedition led by Arne Nęss.

The expedition was the most successful Everest expedition ever before, placing most of the expedition members on the summit.

Here are some quotes from Sir Chris's book about his attempts on Everest: the triumphs, the tragedies and the changes that have come to the mountain area he loves.

One of the joys of mountaineering in this fast-shrinking world is that mountaineers for many generations will still be able to discover untrodden corners of the greater mountain ranges of the earth. We, however, shall always feel fortunate and privileged to have been able to unravel the complex problems that were presented by the world's highest and steepest mountain face.

It isn't so much a matter of doing something dangerous as being master of that danger

I often feel that the preparations for an expedition are like the description of a first pregnancy - of intense interest and importance to the participants but certainly not unique.

It is the wives of climbers who are the courageous ones, who have to cope with real stress, who have to sit back and wait, and all too often break the news to wives of the ones who don't come back.

Chris Bonington's "Everest" is published by W&N. ISBN:0 - 297 - 82927 -0