The Everest Years

The first volume of Chris Bonington's memoirs, I Chose to Climb, was published in 1966 and told of his initiation into mountaineering, from schoolboy beginnings, culminating in the British ascent of the North Face of the Eiger and his decision to turn professional. The Next Horizon picks up where that volume left off and relates his subsequent adventures as a mountaineer, photographer, journalist and expedition leader. This final volume in the series explores the dangerous and fraught terrain of Tibet and a love affair with the world's highest peak. In 1985 Chris Bonington crowned an already distinguished mountaineering career by reaching the summit of Everest at the age of fifty - an achievement which won him enormous popular acclaim and affection. Here he tells of his fascination with the highest point on earth and why it meant so much to him to finally stand there himself.