Graham has never considered himself a professional climber. A native of UK, he owns a clothing business in England. He only started climbing seriously in 1990, when he and his daughter Amy climbed Mount Kilamanjaro.
In 1993, Graham made his first attempt to climb Mount Everest from the north face. His team made it all the way to 23,000 feet, but tragedy struck when Karl Henize collapsed and died of AMS.
In 1995 Graham tried again. This time, climbing with Russians Nikolay Sitnikov and Anatoli Boukreev, he successfully reached the summit of Everest from the north side.
In 1996 Graham set out to conquer Everest from the south. He was there that day in late May when tragedy struck Ratcliffe, was fortunate enough to survive. In 1999, Ratcliffe reached the summit again, this time from the south, becoming the first British citizen to successfully climb Mount Everest from both the North and the South routes.
In March 2001, Graham will set out to climb Mount Everest again, this time with a goal of cleaning up the environment. Empty oxygen tanks, discarded clothing, tents, and human waste can be found on the mountain. Over the past several years, environmental groups have joined forces with the Napalese people and worked together to restore Everest to its natural majesty.
