To mark his 80th birthday, Sir Chris Bonington did not put his feet up – quite the opposite in fact.

Britain’s most famous mountaineer scaled iconic sea stack The Old Man of Hoy, off the northern coast of Scotland, 48 years after he made the first ascent.

A true adventurer, Sir Chris is nowhere near ready to put away his walking books, though during a career spanning more than 60 years, he has achieved more than most do in a lifetime, including reaching the summit of Everest and leading a number of first ascents of some of the world’s most challenging peaks.

He will be giving a talk about his career and adventures at Worthing’s Connaught Theatre on January 20.

“To keep fit and to climb into my 90s – that is my goal and my personal philosophy,” says Sir Chris.

“I am satisfied. I have had a fantastic life, and I feel I have nothing to prove; I love the mountains.

“I think my generation was incredibly lucky. There were extraordinary opportunities around.

“In 1945 none of the 8,000-metre peaks had been climbed; the poles had not been traversed.

“When I started climbing, there was a terrific amount to go for.”

Sir Chris has been climbing since the age of 16, although originally he did not plan to make a career out of his passion.

After serving in the army, including two years as a mountaineering instructor, he had a job lined up as a management trainee at Unilever.

However, when forced to make a choice between a conventional career path, and the mountains, he chose the mountains.

In the years that followed, Sir Chris notched up a string of high-profile expeditions to the Alps and other major mountain ranges.

He has undertaken 19 Himalayan expeditions to date, including four to Everest.

In 1970 he led the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna, in the Himalayas, and the first ascent of the south-west face of Everest in 1975, though on this occasion Sir Chris himself did not reach the summit.

It was in 1985 that he realised a lifetime ambition of reaching the world’s highest peak (8,848 metres) as a member of a Norwegian expedition.

There was no anti-climax upon conquering Everest; rather it was a relief that he could now move onto something else, says Sir Chris.

“Everest was a very satisfying thing to have done, but it was no big deal, as others had been there before me.

“Much more satisfying was doing new routes in Greenland and Antarctica for example.”

A successful expedition is as much about the team as getting the logistics right, which Sir Chris knows well as an experienced expedition leader.

“To me one of the most important things about climbing is your mates. You had to ask very talented members of your team to sacrifice their chance of getting to the top.”

The flip-side of forming such close bonds with colleagues is the hardship experienced when things go wrong.

Sir Chris has lost a number of friends during expeditions.

“You just accept what’s happened and the hardest thing of all is when one of your team has died, but you all went into it knowing it was a dangerous game; it doesn’t change or diminish the feeling of grief.

“The danger is part of the attraction. Climbing is a risk game, just like skiing, base jumping, or driving fast cars.”

Sir Chris said that he had had the complete support of his wife Wendy throughout.

“She accepted that as the person I was. She gave me 100 per cent support. It was difficult for the children however.”

Wendy died of motor neurone disease in July this year, and Sir Chris’s ascent of 137-metre sea stack The Old Man of Hoy, in August, was to raise awareness and funds for motor neurone disease charities in her memory.

Both Sir Chris’s sons grew up with a love of the outdoors. In particular, his eldest son Joe, a personal trainer who lives in Australia, has inherited a love of the mountains from his father.

For young mountaineers and climbers now, it is much more difficult to find a completely new challenge.

“All the obvious big things have been done,” says Sir Chris.

“Our best climbers are climbing in all sorts of different ways. Their expertise is quite incredible.”

He adds that it is also much harder now for the “true adventurers” to find funding for their expeditions, as the media are more interested in big names revisiting well-traversed routes than those doing something unique.

“I think society needs people who are stretching the limits, and if you have a society that is completely a safety-first society, which is what we are moving towards, I think that actually weakens the drive, and that is very sad.”

Sir Chris has always shared his experiences – he has written 17 books, fronted numerous television program-mes, and was the first mountaineer on the lecture circuit.

In 1996 he received a knighthood for services to mountaineering.

These days, his headline-grabbing adventures are behind him.

“Nowadays I love going out with mates and doing fun, long climbs. I have been visiting Morocco with a group of friends for the last 25 years.”

Sir Chris’s favourite place in the world is the Lake District where he lives, but further afield he holds a great fondness for Nepal and India.

In Worthing, Life and Times will be an audio visual account of his 60 years spent in the mountains, complete with original images and raw footage.

  •  Sir Chris Bonington, Life and Times, is at Connaught Theatre, Worthing, on Tuesday, January 20 from 7.30 pm. Call 01903 206 206 or go online to www.worthingtheatres.co.uk