Daredevil John Sellars has braved blizzards to climb Europe's highest peak, Mont Blanc, for charity.

Mr Sellars, 44, of Steeton, scaled the 15,800ft mountain in memory of a friend, John Riley, who died from bowel cancer last year and also as part of his sister's bid to raise £10,000 for cancer research.

His sister Rosie Lee, licensee of the Westfield pub in Wyke, said the whole family had been fraught with worry during Mr Sellars' climb, which ended when he reached the summit on Thursday at about 9am.

She said: "We are all so proud of John. It's an absolutely amazing accomplishment and hopefully this will encourage more people to give to our campaign.

"I got the call from his wife, Michelle, on Thursday night to say he was back down safely. We were both so relieved.

"He's worked really hard for this, jogging ten miles every day to and from work and he went up a year early just to raise money for our campaign."

Mr Sellars, who works as a driver for an animal-feed firm, said: "It was my first time to the Alps even though I have done bits in England and it was excellent. But it's good to be home and I think I'll definitely be catching up on my sleep for the next few days.

"The weather for the best part of the walk was good but when we were heading for the summit it turned really bad and a lot of people had to turn back, so we were really lucky to make it to the top.

"All credit must go to the guide because without him I don't think we would have made it.

"I must admit at times it was a scary experience and it was hard terrain, harder than I imagined.

"We will be checking on the amount of money raised next week and I'm hoping it will be somewhere in the region of £2,000."

The fundraising campaign is also very personal for Mrs Lee who suffered from bowel cancer two years ago and has a friend in hospital having a secondary tumour removed.

She added: "There's hardly anybody these days who is not affected by cancer. It's the scourge of our society."

Mrs Lee has raised about £3,500 towards her target for cancer research so far, with a large slice being raised when she joined staff at her pub in baring their bottoms for charity.

Customers were asked to match the bottom to the face and male staff joined in the fun with a wet Y-fronts competition.

To help with the fundraising challenge, ring Mrs Lee on (01274) 676367.