My eyes lifted to the horizon and the unmistakable snowy outline of Everest.

Everest, the hill of my years as a child dreams. A hill that has haunted me my very existence. A mountain I have seen hundreds of times in photos and films but hardly ever in true to life.

In April 2018, seasoned adventurer Ben Fogle and Olympic cycling gold medallist Victoria Pendleton, along with mountaineer Kenton Cool, took on the most exhausting challenge yet – about Up: My Life’s Journey to the very best of Everest climbing Everest for the British Red Combination to highlight the environmental challenges mountains face. It might be harrowing and exhilarating in equivalent measure because they walked the fine line between life and loss of life 8,000 metres above sea level.

For Ben, the seven-week expedition in to the death zone was to become the experience of an eternity, and a humbling and enlightening journey. For his wife Marina, holding the family collectively at home, it had been an agonising wait for news. Together, they dedicated the experience to their son, Willem Fogle, stillborn at eight a few months.

Cradling little Willem to say goodbye, Ben and Marina produced a promise to live brightly. To embrace each day. To often smile. To maintain positivity and to inspire. And from your depths of their grief and commitment, Ben’s Everest dream was born.

Up, from here the only path was Up.

Part memoir, component thrilling adventure, Ben and Marina’s account of his ascent towards the roof of the world is told with their personal humour and friendliness, as well much like profound compassion.