STEPHEN VENABLES has just published the widely-acclaimed book, Everest: Summit of Achievement to mark the golden jubilee of the first ascent. He spoke to Nepali Times in London this week.

Nepali Times: What explains the British fascination with Mt Everest?
Stephen Venables: I am not sure, actually, that the British are particularly fascinated with Everest. In fact most serious mountaineers these days are not interested in Everest, because the mountain no longer seems a place for real mountaineering. Because of an accident of colonial politics, British climbers had unique access to the mountain until 1952 and the long saga of attempts became ingrained in the British consciousness. It is good to remind people of that great epic of exploration. Also good to remind them that it was a British doctor, Alexander Kellas, who was the first European to climb with Sherpas.

How about your own climb?
I climbed the mountain in 1988. We were a four man Anglo-American team and we made the first ever ascent to the South Col from Tibet, by a new route up the Kangshung Face. From the South Col we continued up the 1953 route to the summit. We were the smallest team ever to put up such a difficult new route and we climbed without any help from high altitude porters or oxygen equipment. I reached the summit alone and was the first Briton to do so without oxygen. The Neverest Buttress as we called our route, gave me some of the best days of my life. We had a fantastic team, led by Robert Anderson, as well as support team, led by Sherpa Pasang Norbu from Namche. The climbing was steep, spectacular, dramatic and we had the whole east side of Everest completely to ourselves (we saw no other people for nearly two months).

So is it true what they say, that once you have been on Everest the mountain never leaves you?
Every detail of our route is firmly etched in my mind?in particular the hard rock wall which I led on 3 April 1988?my first ever day on Everest. The final summit push was the hardest thing I have ever done. We carried our own loads and made our own camps. Day Two was a 14-hour day. Day Three was an 11-hour day. On Day Four we had to wait at the South Col because of high winds. On Day Five?summit day?it took me 16? hours to get to the top and on the way down I had to bivouac in the open at 8,600m. My companions, Ed Webster and Robert Anderson, bivouacked in an old abandoned tent lower down and I was thrilled to see them the next morning. By that stage we were very weak and the descent of the East Face took another three days.

The descent was an epic struggle and there were a couple of moments when I thought I might not make it. The moving thing was to see how people rise above themselves on these occasions and cross barrier after barrier. Everest gave me one of the greatest experiences of my life and I feel very privileged to have been there.