Mountaineer Victor Saunders was born in Lossiemouth and grew up in Malaya. He started climbing in the Alps in 1978 and has climbed in the Caucasus, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan, making numerous first ascents. He became a UIAGM mountain guide in 1996 after a career as an architect in London. He relocated to Chamonix, France and became a member of the SNGM (National Syndicate of French Mountain Guides) in 2003. In the years as an amateur and later as a professional, he clocked up a large amount of expedition time in the Karakoram and Himalaya and recently calculated that he had spent over five years of his life under canvas. He is the author of two books, Elusive Summits - which won the Boardman Tasker Prize in 1990, and No Place to Fall.