Vertigo

The explorer and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has conquered vertigo to reach the summit of the Eiger.

It took the Exmoor-based explorer some five days to reach the top of the Swiss mountain.

He wrote on his MySpace blog:I'm 63 years old. I'm terrified of heights. I've had a double heart bypass. This March I will be climbing the North Face of the Eiger. Why? Well, I've been an explorer for more than 25 years, but this is my challenge of a lifetime. The North Face is 6,000ft of vertical rock and ice. It's claimed the lives of 50 climbers since the first ascent in 1938 and is notorious for rockfalls, avalanches and unstable weather.

But I'm determined to get to the top-vertigo and all. "It felt pretty good to reach the summit. We started yesterday with the Traverse of the Gods. I knew it was going to be a difficult climb."

Sir Ranulph aims to raise £1.5m for to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer's Delivering Choice Programme, which allows terminally ill people to be cared for, and to die, in their place of choice.