CHRIS Bonnington is Britain’s best-known mountaineer and the author of Everest (Weidenfeld and Nicholson), an illustrated book created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of the world’s highest peak.

The successful conquest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953 set the standard for climbers worldwide.

Bonnington himself has made four attempts at Everest. The first, in 1972, was a bid to climb the South West face of the mountain, which proved unsuccessful.

Then, in 1975, the climber led an expedition that put the first Briton on the summit of Everest. A subsequent attempt to surmount Everest's North East Ridge ended in tragedy when two members of his expedition died, yet the challenge of the mountain proved impossible to resist and Bonnington eventually returned to Everest, reaching the peak himself for the first time in 1985, aged 50.

At this event Bonnington will be signing copies of his many works on mountaineering, including Everest, which draws on his four expeditions to the world’s highest point, reflecting a passion for climbing as alluring and merciless as the mountains themselves.

Chris Bonnington is at Standfords on Thursday, December 4. 6 - 7pm.