They have all in their time stood at the top of the world. But even among those who have conquered Mount Everest, the climbers who will be appearing at Oxford Town Hall on Tuesday are viewed as giants.

Oxford, along with London and Glasgow, is to host a rare gathering of elite climbers who have all figured in landmark ascents of the world’s highest mountain over the last 60 years.

While in the 21st century it almost appears that Everest is fast becoming the world’s highest tourist destination, and the ‘biggest tick’ on the planet for those of an adventurous nature, no one can doubt that the mountain has been the stage of some of climbing’s greatest dramas.

And the speakers in Oxford can all claim to be Everest pioneers, having secured their places in the history of the mountain with groundbreaking ascents.

Among them will be Prof Peter Habeler, who broke the barrier of climbing Everest without the aid of supplemental oxygen in 1978, a feat he accomplished with the climber Reinhold Messner.

The American mountaineer Tom Hornbein will talk about the first ascent of the West Face and traverse of the mountain in 1963, and he will be followed by the legendary English climber Doug Scott and ‘Tut’ Braithwaite, who will talk about the first ascent of Everest via the South West Face in 1975.

Oxford was viewed as a fitting place to hold one of the First on Everest events, given that 22-year-old Oxford University student Sandy Irvine, who perished on the mountain in 1924, may have been the first to reach the summit in the tragic expedition with George Mallory.

The question of whether the pair had made it to the top before meeting their deaths has remained climbing’s greatest mystery, with the pair last seen just 800 feet below the summit before the clouds rolled in and they disappeared into legend.

The story of Mallory and Irvine, an undergraduate at Merton College, is now the subject of a new film The Wildest Dream, which went into cinemas last month, featuring Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman and Ralph Fiennes.

It was also the last film of Natasha Richardson, who voiced the part of Mallory’s wife, Ruth. Miss Richardson was to die in her own mountain tragedy, just two months after recording the words of a woman learning her husband would never return from Everest.

The Town Hall event will be chaired by the Oxford author Julie Summers, the biographer and great-niece of Irvine, who recently became chairman of the Mountain Heritage Trust.

Ms Summers, of Abberbury Road, Oxford, said: “I have always been fascinated by the stories of the giants of Mount Everest. The great mystery of 1924, in which my great-uncle Sandy was caught up, has been a part of my past for a long time.

“The story of Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler’s oxygenless ascent of the mountain in 1978 was one that really captured my imagination, for Sandy himself had written, in a letter from the mountain, ‘I’d much rather get to the top without it’ (meaning oxygen).

“To be able to welcome four of my heroes to Oxford for this wonderful evening of talks is the fulfilment of a long-held dream. Tom Hornbein, Doug Scott and Paul Braithwaite all completed extraordinary climbs on the mountain, but if I have to single out one, it is Peter Habeler, who I first met in 1980, two years after he had achieved the summit without oxygen.”

Since the beginning of the 1990s, more than 1,000 people a year converge on the flanks of the world’s highest mountain. But reaching the summit without oxygen, has always been, for some, the only way to conquer Everest by fair means.

Messner explained the motivation. “In reaching for the oxygen cylinder, a climber degrades Everest. A climber who doesn’t rely on his own strength and skills, but on apparatus and drugs, deceives himself.”

The evening will raise money for the charity Community Action Nepal, which was set up by Doug Scott, with his fundraising efforts strongly supported by the Oxford couple Phil Powell and Sarah Loving.

Mr Powell, of Annesley Road, is a professional fundraiser with a mental health charity, while his wife works for the Oxford homeless charity Elmore.

But in their own time they have raised more than £6,000 for Community Action Nepal, having set themselves a personal target to raise £10,000. The Town Hall event will be the third major event they have organised over the last three years.

Ms Loving said: “My husband is a keen trekker and has remained interested in Nepal after his first visit there.”

Mr Powell said: “The purpose of the event is to celebrate the achievements of people on Everest by bringing together great climbers. Anyone who recognises courage and achievement in tough situations can enjoy listening to the stories from these men.

“We have quite a lot of Everest DNA in Oxfordshire and the Mallory family also have a lot of connections to Oxfordshire.”

L.R. Wager, a geology professor at Oxford University, came within 800 metres of the summit in 1933 without oxygen. His record was held until 1978 when it was broken by Mr Habeler.

Mr Scott said the money raised would go to healthcare, education and income-generating schemes in the outlying villages of Nepal, where numerous Everest expedition porters and staff have come from. His charity has already completed more than 40 projects, including the building of eight schools and eight hospitals.

Mr Scott, 69, said: “ There is always much to do in a country like Nepal, which is the sixth poorest in the world. The charity is a way the climbers are giving something back to the country in which they lived their dreams.”

  • The First on Everest event will be at Oxford Town Hall from 7.30pm on Tuesday, November 16. Tickets are £12.50 and are available from 01865 778536 or from Blacks in St Aldates, Oxford. Tickets will also be available on the door.