British Everest climbers mark 40 year anniversary

Chris Bonington and Doug Scott were pictured moving up towards the rock band above camp five at 27,000 feet, on Everest.

Members of the first British team to reach the summit of Mount Everest are marking the 40th anniversary of the climb by raising funds for the victims of April's Nepalese earthquake.

Dougal Haston and Doug Scott became the first Britons to reach the summit from the previously unclimbed south-west face.

Surviving team members are giving a talk about the expedition in Oxford.

Money raised will go to a Nepalese charity founded by Mr Scott.

On 24 September 1975, expedition leader Chris Bonington reported Mr Haston and Mr Scott, part of an 18-strong group, had reached the 29,028ft (8,848m) summit safely and were on their way down the mountain.

The south-west face of Everest has been regarded as one of mountaineering's most difficult challenges because of its length and exposure to high-level winds.

The Queen later sent a message to the team offering her warmest congratulations on a "magnificent achievement".

'Minus 40 degrees'

The expedition was marred by the disappearance of another climber, Mick Burke, four days later on his way to the summit. Dougal Haston was killed in a skiing accident in the Swiss Alps in 1977.

Sir Chris Bonington and Mr Scott, along with fellow team members Pertemba Sherpa, Paul 'Tut' Braithwaite, Mike Thompson and Dr Charlie Clarke are due to share memories and reflections of the ascent at the sold-out event at Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre.

Mr Scott recalled how their torches had failed and they were out of oxygen so he and Mr Haston decided to camp 300ft from the summit.

"The main thing was to get out of the wind so we dug a snow cave and sat on our rucksacks for the next nine hours in temperatures of around minus 40 degrees centigrade," he said.

The event is a fundraiser for the Community Action Nepal charity which Mr Scott established in 1994 and which is continuing rebuilding work in the aftermath of the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal's capital Kathmandu and its surrounding areas on 25 April.