"1961 A very special year"

I left the Army in January 1961 to join an expedition to Nuptse (7,879 metres), the third peak of Everest. The expedition had a somewhat ad hoc style - a bunch of individualistic climbers all determined to have their own way. I travelled out by ship with the expedition gear, escorting it across India to join the team at Khatmandu and then walked all the way from Khatmandu to the foot of Nuptse, about 150 miles, to find that the only feasible route was up the huge South Face. It gave a challenging climb that was probably the hardest yet done in the Himalaya.

Then I went back overland in a battered Hillman Husky to Chamonix to join Don Whillans to attempt the first British ascent of the North Wall of the Eiger but the weather was terrible and at the end of the season in August we returned to Chamonix and snatched the First Ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney on the South side of Mont Blanc, then considered the last great problem in the Alps after many failed attempts.

I returned to England at the beginning of September, after yet another attempt on the Eiger, to start an abortive new career with Unilever as a management trainee.