Michael Banks - Telegraph In January 1942 he was commissioned into the Royal Marines, and from 1942 to 1944 he served successively as a lieutenant in the battleships Malaya and Valiant, before being posted to the headquarters of 3 Commando Brigade for the last stage of the war and its aftermath. During the latter period he was involved in the amphibious landings in Burma, which led to fierce exchanges of fire with the Japanese. He always credited the dropping of the atom bomb - which came just before he was due to make a particularly perilous landing - with saving his life. Following a period at Chatham, in early 1948 he joined the Commando Cliff Assault Wing, based in Plymouth, demonstrating his rock-climbing skills in training on the Cornish cliffs. He then spent a year on the staff of the commander-in-chief, Mediterranean, in Malta, before being promoted captain in 1950 and posted to the Royal Marine Forces Volunteer Reserve in Glasgow. He spent his leave time climbing in the Alps and, in the late summer of 1951, with Lieutenant Richard Brooke, climbed some of the classic routes on the Brenva face of Mont Blanc. On his return from Greenland in 1954 he was posted to 42 Commando, but this did not prevent his thoughts turning to the Himalayas. He chose the unclimbed Rakaposhi (25,550ft) in the Karakoram Range as the objective of a four-man British-American expedition in 1956, which he led. Banks attributed the party's failure within 1,500ft of the summit to a combination of bad weather, lack of manpower, and the inability of local porters to carry above 19,000ft. An indulgent Admiralty allowed Banks further leave to lead the British-Pakistani Forces Expedition to the mountain in 1958. This time he assembled a powerful team of nine climbers, which included the Scottish mountaineer Tom Patey and Richard Brooke, who joined the expedition direct from Sir Edmund Hillary's trans-Antarctic expedition; they were supported by a strong team of porters. Despite high winds, avalanche and bitter cold causing frostbite, Banks and Patey succeeded in reaching the summit on June 20 . Banks published his account of the two expeditions in his Rakaposhi (1959). He was appointed MBE in the same year. Promoted major in 1959, Banks served in the cruiser Gambia. Later postings were to the RM depot at Portsmouth, to 45 Commando, and finally to Hong Kong. After an exchange posting with the US Marines, he retired from the Royal Marines in 1968. Meanwhile, he had found time to write of his Service experience in Commando Climber (1955) and Snow Commando (1961). He had also made a return to Greenland to play a key role in the Royal Navy East Greenland Expedition of 1966, making a depot-laying journey by dog sled in the early spring prior to the arrival of the main party, which lost two of its members in climbing accidents after Banks had returned home. In retirement Banks settled in the West Country, where he was successful as a journalist and active in local politics, standing unsuccessfully as a Liberal MP. He continued to lead or take part in expeditions as far afield as the Himalayas, notably for Mountain Travel, a Californian adventure travel firm. His clipped British accent, moustache, military bearing and fund of well-researched stories endeared him to American clients. In 1972 he was deputy leader of Commander Angus Erskine's Royal Navy Ellesmere Island Expedition to the Canadian Arctic. The expedition made first ascents of a number of peaks up to 6,000ft in the north-eastern part of the island, and left its mark in such place-names as Commando Peak and Marine Glacier, which were officially accepted by the Canadian authorities. In 1990 Saga magazine sponsored his ascent of the Old Man of Hoy, one of the most spectacular and exposed ascents in Britain. Banks, 67 at the time, was accompanied by Colin Beechey, a young Alpine climber, and the climbing photographer John Cleare, all under the aegis of Saga's art director, the late Geoff Axbey. Banks subsequently repeated the climb for charity and then, in 2000, completed the ascent a third time, again for charity - making him the Oldest Man of Hoy. He led several expeditions sponsored by Saga, all with mature but experienced companions, to destinations including Tibet and the mountain of Jaonli (21,758ft) in northern India. After an initial failure there in 1989, he returned two years later when, with success almost in his grasp, the horrific Garhwal earthquake obliterated the final ridge above their top camp. It was a narrow escape. In 1997, with Warwick Deacock, a fellow veteran of his Rakaposhi team, as well as a small Anglo-Australian party and a dozen camels, he traversed a large segment of Western Australia's Great Victoria Desert. He also published Greenland Geography (1975). Mike Banks married, in 1955, Pat O'Docherty, who predeceased him. Mike Banks's elder brother, Tom, a fighter pilot with the RAF, was killed after being shot down over France early in the war. Michael Banks, born December 22 1922, died February 9 2013