My adventures first started on Kilimanjaro in 1999. It was a charity trek supported by the NSPCC. I was 26 at the time and looking for something different from the holidays in Tenerife, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. This trip served two purposes getting back on my feet again and training for a goal.

Denali was my most favourite mountain. Being dumped on a glacier in the national park with all your equipment and food for three weeks. Watching the plane fly off it left you with a real feel of remoteness and isolation. Carrying a one hundred kilogram pack and pulling a sledge through unbroken snow was a challenge but ultimately rewarding.

The two most hardest mountains I have climbed are the 8000ers of Cho oyu and Everest. I climbed Cho oyu in 2005 without oxygen. A hard decision and certainly placed a huge demand on my body. From that trip I think I lost around two stone in body weight. Climbing Everest I used five bottles of oxygen and used every drop of it. My summit night from camp 3 on the north side was fifteen hours. I then had to spend another night in "The Death Zone". Nearly two days where the body is slowly dying even with the use of supplementary oxygen. The best advice I could give anyone wanting to climb an eight thousand metre mountain is use oxygen.

I have only showed real emotion once on a mountain. It was in 2002 on Elbrus in Europe. The reason was because leading up to the climb I had found out that my father had heart disease. The early months it had been hard for me to take on board. The altitude on Elbrus was just a release build up of all that emotion. The trip was neither particularly enjoyable or memorable.

It is hard to pin point a particular proud moment there have been so many. Climbing Kilimanjaro, climbing Cho oyu without oxygen, being the first Cornishman to climb Everest, raising money for the British Heart Foundation, receiving my award from the Cornish Gorsedh, completing the 7 Summits in Antarctica and having a book published. They have been all proud moments for me.

On the flight home from Everest in 2011 I decided on two things. One was to complete the 7 Summits and to write my own book. The book has taken time writing it myself. Researching from old photos and notes taken over the years. Also research from reading books and autobiographies. The hardest chapters were going back to my childhood and writing the Aconcagua chapter where I had not made many notes. The more recent trips were more straightforward and what I speak about in presentations.

Possibly I am at another crossroads in my life. I still retain an interest in the mountains. Since the 7 Summits I have climbed Carstensz Pyramid, Matterhorn, the Eiger and spent some time in Scotland. I am enjoying the talks and presentations especially going into schools. Obviously selling my book is important and I intend to go to shows and fetes this summer.

Ed’s 7 summits were:

• Kilimanjaro in 1999
• Aconcagua in 2001
• Elbrus in 2002
• Denali in 2003
• Everest in 2011
• Kosciuszko in 2013
• Antarctica in 2014