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Revision as of 19:07, 7 December 2006 by 71.105.79.48 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Stephen Venables (born 1954) is a British mountaineer and writer, who in 1988 became the first Briton to ascend to the summit of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen, an unfortunate choice as he was forced to bivouac and had to be rescued the next day The rescuers' photograph of Venables, clutching their thermos bottle, mouth agape in terror, has become an iconographic photo of Everest.
Venables's other Himalayan first ascents include new routes in the Hindu Kush (1977), Kishtwar Shivling (1983), Solu Tower (1987), the south-west ridge of Kusum Kanguru (1991) and Panch Chuli V (1992). During the descent from Panch Chuli V Venables broke both his legs in a fall, when an abseil anchor failed; thanks to his Indian and British team mates and the Indian Air Force, he was lucky enough to be rescued from a very precarious location, and his rescue, just three years after his Everest rescue, has provoked widespread discussion on high altitude rescue ethics for multiple rescuees.
Venables is also the father of the only known child in the UK to suffer from both autism and leukaemia. His son, Ollie (born June 1991), was diagnosed with autism aged two and leukaemia aged four. After several cancer-free years, he developed a brain tumour and died, aged twelve years old. His life was the subject of Venables's tenth book Ollie, published in 2006.