At 19:30 they rejoined Martin Boysen at Camp 6. Boardman had frostbite and Pertemba was snowblind. The Everest Southwest Face 1975 expedition was over. The Everest Southwest Face 1975 ascent was ground breaking. An incredible achievement both in terms of the individual contributions of some incredibly talented mountaineers and in the tactics employed by expedition leader Chris Bonington. Bonington had already led a team to the face in 1972 and on that trip they reached 8,300 metres. Lessons learned that time around undoubtedly helped them hone their tactics for the 1975 expedition. Getting people out of trouble had almost become a habit for Whillans. In 1958 on the first British ascent of the Bonatti Pillar, Don and Paul Ross joined Chris Bonington and Hamish MacInnes to vye for the first ascent. Hamish was hit by a falling stone that fractured his skull, so Don assumed the lead and for the next two days nursed the bloodied Scot up the route. Chris Bonington later said that: “Don’s strength and leadership got us up and down safely”.

Martin ‘Basher’ Atkinson, Andy Pollitt, Mark ‘Zippy’ Pretty, ‘Scottish’ Ben Masterson, Mark Leach, Craig Smith) Gillman, Peter, ed. (1993). "Everest – the Thirteen Routes". Everest: the best writing and pictures from seventy years of human endeavour. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0316904899.Buhler, Carlos (1999). "Russian Style on Changabang". American Alpine Journal. Golden, Colorado, US: American Alpine Club. 41 (73): 106–113. ISBN 0-930410-84-X.

Much has been written about the Whillans, including Jim Perrin’s recent detailed biography. But now Don, as always, is having the last word, being the subject of my posthumous film. The film, supported by the BMC, and to be premiered at the Kendal Film Festival, features some of the many epics in Don’s climbing career - spanning the Alps to Patagonia, Annapurna to Everest. It also brings out some of Don’s tremendous humour and devastating wit. West Wall, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, summit reached 15 October 1976. The route took over 25 days to ascend, and their use of big wall climbing techniques to overcome the serious, sustained difficulties was revolutionary. Boardman's account of the ascent, The Shining Mountain, won the 1979 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for literature. [6] Bonington, Chris (1986). The Everest Years: a climber's life. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340366907. Footless Crow was a breakthrough climb which at the time was the hardest climb in the Lakes at E5-6c (US 5-13a). Currently E6-6c due to a flake peeling off. British climbers reached the summit of Everest for the first time in an event that has been described as "the apotheosis of the big, military-style expeditions".Bonington's climbing career began when he was still in his teens and he was soon achieving technically difficult ascents in the Alps with several first ascents and, in 1962, the first ascent by a Briton of the Eiger's Nordwand. He made first ascents of Annapurna II (1960) and Nuptse (1962). His role as climbing photo-journalist on the "Eiger direttissima" in 1966 brought attracted attention and he was encouraged to mount his own expedition. [5] I have lots of good memories. 1959 is one of the best. It opened out all of the hard climbing of the day. Joe Brown and Don Whillans’ routes were being climbed for the first time. It was very exciting and I felt I was really breaking into the scene.