Mountaineer Alan Hinkes was celebrating another glorious achievement Thursday after becoming the first Briton in 32 years to conquer Annapurna.

His success in reaching the summit of the giant Himalayan mountain has brought him one step closer to his goal of climbing all 14 of the world's 8,000-plus metre peaks.

Mr Hinkes, of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, is the country's most successful extreme altitude mountaineer and has already reached the top of 12 of the most famous and dangerous peaks on the planet, including Everest and K2, as part of "Challenge 8000."

He reached Annapurna base camp in the last week of April, where he spent a few days getting used to the climate and planning his assault on the summit.

Although the camp was hit by ferocious storms which blew away his mess tent last week, Mr Hinkes said weather conditions on the 8,091m Annapurna had generally been good enough to allow an attempt to be made.

The mountain was scaled within about 11 hours and, once at the top, Mr Hinkes arranged his traditional summit photograph.

Speaking via satellite phone from base camp, Mr Hinkes said: "As far as I am aware I am the first British man to have summitted Annapurna in 32 years and I even used a new route close to the French route on the north face, which is a great feeling.

"It's one of the most amazing mountains I have climbed - the scenery is awesome. I'm exhausted and overwhelmed to have achieved all this so quickly and am looking forward to returning home to rest and especially to see my daughter, Fiona."

Mr Hinkes hit the national headlines in 1997 when he sneezed on excess flour from a chapatti while on Nanga Parbat and prolapsed a disc in his back. He was trapped on the mountain for ten days before struggling down to be rescued.