Kathmandu – A British team of veteran ex-special forces soldiers summited Everest on Wednesday, expedition organisers said, in a bid to fly from London, climb the highest peak and return home within seven days. The four men, who include government minister Alistair Carns, left London on Friday, pre-acclimatised to the low oxygen at high altitudes — including the controversial assistance of xenon gas, a method that has raised eyebrows in the mountaineering community. The men, who slept in special low-oxygen tents before departure from Britain, are raising funds for veterans’ charities. “All four of them, along with a photographer and five Sherpa team reached the summit this morning at 7:10 am,” expedition organiser Lukas Furtenbach, of Austria-based Furtenbach Adventures, told AFP. The team, who also include Garth Miller, Anthony Stazicker and Kevin Godlington, are now descending from the 8,849-metre (29,032-foot) peak. “They will down descend to the base camp by evening and, weather permitting, will be back home within seven days,” Furtenbach said. The team is raising money for children whose parents were killed in conflict.
“I’ve seen, on multiple operations in Afghanistan, individuals who haven’t returned,” Carns, 45, who carried out five tours of Afghanistan, said before his departure.
Carns, a colonel in the Royal Marine reserves, is the most highly decorated British lawmaker since World War II.
“I think, from my perspective, doing something to support those children left behind is the most honourable thing we can do,” Carns said.
