Ranulph Fiennes tackles Everest

Three years after he was forced to stop just short of Everest’s summit, explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes says he is having another go at scaling the world’s highest peak to raise three million pounds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Fiennes, 64, had a double heart bypass in 2003 after a heart attack.

Sir Ranulph, will be accompanied by a doctor, said that every he found the idea of retirement from exploration repellent, he said. “If I don’t have an expedition planned I’m like a ship without a rudder.”

If he succeeds, Sir Ranulph would be the first man to cross both ice caps via both Poles and to scale the world’s highest mountain. The expedition departs for Nepal today.