Sir Ranulph Fiennes, one of Britain’s finest adventurers, famous for polar expeditions and feats of endurance, has published his memoirs following his expeditions up Mount Everest (8848 m) the world’s highest mountain.

In May 2009, Sir Ranulph Fiennes finally achieved his ambition of reaching the summit of Mount Everest, having tried the Everest trekking routes up both the Tibetan and Nepalese sides of the mighty mountain. It was the culmination of a long-running charitable effort in which he raised huge amounts of money for Marie Curie Cancer care. It has been a cause close to his heart after Ranulph’s wife and several of his family members died from Cancer within a period of a few months.

Sir Ranulph’s accomplishments, which have always been startling, were even more remarkable with these Everest trekking expeditions because of his age and his state of health while he was climbing. At the age of 65 years, Fiennes is the oldest Britain to have reached the summit and the first pensioner.

His Everest adventure began in 2003 when he began preparing for a 2005 summit attempt from the Tibetan side of Everest. His first challenge was to prove that, at the age of 60 and recovering from cardiac surgery, he was strong enough even to attempt the mountain. After a series of trial mountain climbs and training expeditions Fiennes was passed fit for Everest. Nonetheless, because of a troublesome medical condition, he had to wear a gas mask while sleeping at base camp. Everest was clearly going to be one of his greater challenges.

On his first summit bid he suffered serious chest pains and considered himself lucky to get back down the mountain alive, having to rely on emergency medication to keep his heart working. In 2008 he tried again, but again, due to exhaustion, didn’t make it. But Sir Ranulph was a determined man, even spending his honeymoon with his second wife at Everest Base Camp.

In 2009, he tried a third time, taking a route up the South East Ridge from the Nepal side of Everest. Because of his health issues, Fiennes was well-placed to appreciate the difference in altitude between the Advance Base Camp in Tibet (at 6500 metres) and the Nepalese Everest Base Camp (5,380 metres), calling the latter “a far healthier launch point for the summit.” To keep him healthy, Fiennes was kept separate from other climbers at base camp to avoid catching a virus.

During the climb, Fiennes relied heavily on the skills and encouragement of his Sherpa co-climber, Thundu. They established a slow, steady pace out of Everest Base Camp, and Fiennes rested as much as he could at the camps along the route. Despite his uncertain health, and his difficulties in holding an ice axe properly because of his missing fingertips (that is another story), they made it to the summit of Everest on May 21st 2009.

When he returned to Everest Base Camp, exhausted, he told reporters what he had seen at the zenith of his Everest trekking adventure: “It felt like you could dive into the clouds,” he said. He could see “the sickle moon and stars everywhere.”

Not bad for a man with a fear of heights.

Kirsty Parsons is the Marketing Coordinator for Everest Base Camp Trek, an adventure website which features the classic trek to Everest Base Camp as well as several alternative Everest trekking routes in the Himalayan region.