Veterans who completed record-breaking Everest ascent reveal they battled an avalanche and deadly diarrhoea

FOUR veterans who smashed the world record for the fastest round-trip ascent of Everest have revealed how close they came to death.

Veterans minister and former Royal Marine Al Carns, 45, and three ex- elite forces pals went from London to the summit and back in a week.

AP

Four veterans who smashed the world record for the fastest round-trip ascent of Everest have revealed how close they came to death[/caption]

Andrew Styczynski

The team went from London to the summit of Everest and back in a week[/caption]

But they were hit by an avalanche, ran out of oxygen and one of the team suffered potentially fatal diarrhoea in the mountain’s “death zone”, more than 26,000ft above sea level.

Team leader Garth Miller, 51, an ex-Gurkha and elite forces officer, hailed their success as “a triumph of courage and teamwork”.

They trekked past newly dead bodies and saw rescuers carrying a corpse.

On their final ascent gusts of wind sent temperatures plunging to minus 35C.

They endured an agonising 45-minute halt while they convinced their Sherpa support team to continue.

Miller, now a long-haul pilot, said: “That was the make-or-break moment.

“Our success hinged on keeping the Sherpa team on side. Without them it was unsafe to continue.

“We had the strongest Sherpa team on the mountain.

“They were absolutely amazing, but three had already decided to descend because of the extreme weather conditions.

“Pasang, our lead Sherpa with six Everest summits under his belt, was keen for us to retreat and try for the summit the next day.”

Winds on the exposed South East Ridge were gusting at well over 40mph.

Miller said: “It was at the edge of our risk tolerance but we felt it was safe to continue.

“With our Sherpa team reduced, our safety net was gone. We managed to persuade them to continue for one more hour.

“I knew if we could do that, the sun would come up, it would warm our bones, and everything would feel better.

“In that time we could reach the South Summit, and from there we’d see the summit — making success almost inevitable.”

Most expeditions take 70 days to reach the 29,030ft summit.

But Carns, Miller, Kevin Godlington, 49, and Anthony Stazicker, 41, used xenon gas to pre-acclimatise to thin air — saving weeks.

Not known, clear with picture desk

On their final ascent gusts of wind sent temperatures plunging to minus 35C[/caption]

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