My Passion with John Gallon: Pursuit of adventure drives climber to top of Mt Blanc

When I talk about my love for climbing, people assume I'm some kind of adrenalin junkie. To a degree, I suppose it is true. I have always enjoyed the excitement of doing adventurous things.

I spent nine years in the RAF, flying Tornado jets and then as a fast jet flying training instructor, before leaving the Air Force to become a lawyer. I first started climbing at school. The buzz you get is a thrill but, for me, it offers more than that. Climbing is one of the few sports that is as much of a mental challenge as it is physical. It's not enough to just be strong or fit, you have to use your brain to work out the best route, assess the risks and tackle any obstacles.

The decision to climb Mont Blanc was a bit of a "now or never". I have climbed a lot in Europe and the Alps, but never Mont Blanc. About six months ago, I decided I was going to do it, and made raising money for our local church and Diabetes UK my incentive. My mother died from complications arising from diabetes, so it's a cause close to my heart.

To prepare, I spent as many weekends as I could walking and climbing in the Lake District, but my standard training schedule was running up and down the stairs in our Leeds office. I would run up and down the equivalent of 100 floors in a session. You don't get a mountain view, but it certainly strengthens your legs.

A university friend agreed to do the climb with me, so we travelled to France and took the cable car up to base camp, the Cosmiques Hut at 3,600 metres, for acclimatisation and final training.

On the day of the climb, the weather wasn't ideal, but we took the Trois Monts route, which goes over two 4,000 metre mountains before the final climb up Mont Blanc. The summit is 4,810 metres above sea level and, from the Cosmiques Hut, takes about seven hours to reach. We started the climb at midnight because at night the snow is frozen, which makes the climbing easier and safer.

The fact we were concentrating so hard, and taking each stage of the climb at a time, meant that finally reaching the summit was almost a surprise. We arrived at the top at about 6.30am, just in time to see the sun rise. It was a beautiful clear morning and to see the world from that height is awe inspiring.

Unfortunately, it was also windy, freezing cold and we were exhausted and facing a six-hour descent.

Amazingly, within 36 hours of standing at the top of Mont Blanc, I was back at my desk in Leeds – but I took the lift upstairs.