1970 - 92

After the ascent of Annapurna, the 'last great problem' - the South West Face of Everest - was a logical follow-up. In 1972 he led the British Expedition which was defeated by the savage winds and intense cold of that autumn and winter. When the opportunity came for a further attempt, in the autumn of 1975, Bonington led the British Everest Expedition to success when Doug Scott and Dougal Haston reached the summit on 24th September.

Two years later he and Doug Scott made the first ascent of the Ogre (23,900 ft.) in the Karakoram Himalaya and had an epic six-day descent, aided by Mo Anthoine and Clive Rowland, through a blizzard, with Doug Scott crawling all the way as he had broken both his legs soon after leaving the summit. Bonington also had a fall and broke a rib, they ran out of food and when at last they reached Base Camp, starving and exhausted, it was only to find that their companions had given them up for lost and abandoned the camp.In 1978 Bonington led a small team to attempt the previously unclimbed formidable West Ridge of K2, which at 28,741 ft. is the second highest mountain in the world. This ended when, tragically, Nick Estcourt was engulfed by a huge avalanche which swept across part of their route. Then there was a break of two years spent researching and writing his book, QUEST FOR ADVENTURE, which became an immediate best seller and was on the Sunday Times Best Seller list for over ten weeks.

After that, as might be expected, he became involved in yet another 'first'.

After two and a half years involved in the writing and production of a picture book, and a television series and book about the history of mountaineering, he joined forces with Robin Knox-Johnston on an expedition to Greenland. They sailed there in the yacht Suhaili, in which Knox-Johnston made the first non-stop, single-handed circumnavigation of the world, to attempt the previously unclimbed, 2660 metre Cathedral peak, in the remote Lemon Bjerge range.

In 1992 he led jointly with Harish Kapadia, an extremely successful Indian/British expedition to the remote Kumaon Himalaya in northern India. Several first ascents were made including the West Ridge of Panch Chuli II (6904m) by Bonington and Graham Little.