Fiennes On Everest

Sir Rannulph Fiennes has been writing about his mission to climb Everest in Saturday's Telegraph newspaper explaining, among other things, how a polar explorer with missing fingers and a fear of heights ended up on the roof of the world.


Fiennes admits that he had no desire to climb any mountain, but his curiosity was aroused in 2003 when he received a letter from Sibusiso Vilane from Swaziland, the first black man to reach the summit of Everest asking the Briton to partner him for an attempt on the northern side of the mountain.

Fiennes turned the invitation down, but a year later, after his wife had died of cancer, he decided to confront his fear of heights and attempt the mountain with Sibu and Jagged Globe. Starting from scratch he underwent serious alpine training in the Andes including an ascent of Chimborazo before heading out to Everest base camp.

By then he'd remarried and honeymooned at base camp, something he says he wouldn't advise, due to the close proximity of other tents. On that first attempt on the mountain, the seriousness of what he was trying was brought home by the presence of bodies on the route and recent deaths on the mountain.

Fiennes was fortunate himself after he suffered serious chest pains high on the mountain and survived thanks to GTN (Glycerine Tri-Nitrate) pills that gave him enough of a window to get back down the mountain.

Remarkably, he chose to return in 2008 and failed once more, then using techniques from equine endurance training, or so he claims, returned once more and this time successfully summited.

It's a long but interesting read and well worth a look if you have a spare ten minutes and some interest in Fiennes and Everest.

See www.telegraph.co.uk