«Stephen Venables, born in 1954 in London, is an outstanding mountaineer, a gifted author and successful editor. As a mountaineer, he accomplished numerous important first ascents. His daring climb, in 1988, of Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen on a new route up the huge Kangshung-Face and his desperate retreat down the mountain, resulted in his becoming a legend in his lifetime.

As a writer, he has the extraordinary talent to communicate his experiences as a mountaineer to the public. His accounts are thrilling. However, they also convey his personal feelings when facing risk and death, and enable us to understand the passion for a savage and severe mountain world. As the editor of the book «Everest: Summit of Achievement», he has created a work of lasting significance which forms a fascinating chronicle of early climbing attempts and the final successful ascent in 1953.»

Albert Mountain Award 2004