Chris Bonington captures the highlights of a climbing career that started at the age of sixteen with his first trip to a wintry Snowdonia, through his development as a rock climber in the early 'fifties, on to the Alps with forays on the North Wall of the Eiger and the first ascent of the Central Pillar of Freney and finally an expedition career that spans the world's greatest ranges:

First ascents in the 'sixties, of Annapurna II and the huge South Face of Nuptse, third peak of Everest, at a time when Nepal was untouched by tourism and the mountains were barely explored.
Breaking onto new ground on the South Face of Annapurna and the South West Face of Everest, the great challenges of the early 'seventies with large, carefully planned expeditions.

Getting back to fundamental climbing adventure with first ascents of the Ogre, when Doug Scott broke both his legs on the first abseil from the summit, of Kongur in Sinkiang, third highest unclimbed mountain in the world at that time, tackled alpine-style by a four man team, and Shivling West as a two man alpine-style push.

Tragedy on the North-East Ridge of Everest. Pushing to the limit with a team of four, when Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker were lost high on the Pinnacles.

Everest at last in 1985 at the age of fifty with a Norwegian team.

A host of recent adventures to unclimbed peaks in the few comparitively unexplored mountain ranges of the world - Menlungtse in Tibet, by sail to the ice girt East Coast of Greenland, unclimbed peaks in the Indian and Nepalese Himalaya.

In delivering an action-packed story he also gives a perspective to a long and exciting climbing career, looking at all its aspects, inquiring into the why and the how of mountaineering - the risks, the joys, the beauty, the hardships and the cruel toll of death, focusing on some of the great climbers of our time - Hamish MacInnes, Don Whillans, Joe Brown, John Harlin, Tom Patey, Dougal Haston, Doug Scott, Peter Boardman, Joe Tasker, Al Rouse and many other outstanding mountaineers at home and abroad.

He also looks at the present and future of mountain adventure around the world, the challenges and ethics that are evolving in the sport, from the growth of competition climbing to the increasingly extreme routes being made on the world's highest peaks.

Chris Bonington captures the highlights of his formative years of climbing from when he started as a London school boy at the age of sixteen to the first major expedition he led to climb the huge South Face of Annapurna in 1970 – at the time probably the hardest big face in the Himalayas.

He covers his discovery of rock climbing with the basic gear of the fifties, early forays into Scotland, then on to the |Alps with his attempts and final success to be first Briton to climb the notorious North Wall of the Eiger and make the first ascent of The Central Pillar of Freney on the South side of Mont Blanc.

He tells of some of the great characters of British mountaineering – Hamish MacInnes, Don Whillans, Tom Patey and many more. He describes his early Himalayan climbs to Annapurna II and Nuptse in the early sixties when Nepal was still undeveloped and goes on his adventures as a photo journalist culminating in the first ever descent of the Blue Nile .