MOUNTAINEER Alan Hinkes returned from his record-breaking climb yesterday and said he would not feel truly safe until he had visited his favourite home town chip shop.
The 51-year-old, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, flew back to the UK after he reached the summit of Kangchenjunga, in Nepal.
In doing so, he became the first Briton to conquer the world's 14 highest peaks and only the 13th person ever to do so.
He flew back to Heathrow Airport yesterday morning before he travelled back to his native Yorkshire.
He described his ascent of Kangchenjunga as one of his toughest challenges ever.
He climbed to the top just before dark on May 30 and was forced to make his descent in darkness through a heavy blizzard.
He said: "If you read any book on mountaineering or any of the epic stories about climbs, you will find that one thing you do not do is start your descent in the dark.
"It was a risk, but it was a calculated risk because it means that I now do not have to go back over there and start all over again."
He said he was not truly able to celebrate his feat until he got back to base camp two days later.
He said: "You cannot really celebrate when you are at the top of an 8,000-metre mountain. If something goes wrong up there, there are no helicopters and no one to rescue you. You are on your own.
"It is a different matter if you're on Roseberry Topping, then you can celebrate, but not Kangchenjunga.
"You cannot really celebrate until you are relatively safe, and I will not know I am safe until I have been to Turnbull's, in Northallerton, for some fish and chips."
He started his challenge 18 years ago when he completed his first 8,000-metre climb, up the north face of Shisha Panguma, in China.
Now he has conquered all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre-plus peaks, he said he has no plans to stop climbing, but would be happy in the Lake District and hills of Yorkshire for a while.
He said: "If you cut me in half, it says 'mountain climbing', I am like a stick of rock. I will always be in mountains all my life.
"Life is going to be a bit different for a while. Maybe I should take up ballroom dancing because they do not have blizzards in ballroom dancing."
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