Four ex-UK Special Forces soldiers, including Vets Minister Al Carns, have achieved their record-breaking goal of getting from London to the summit of Mount Everest and back in seven days.
World’s fastest London-Everest-London trip
On arriving back at Heathrow today, Carns, the MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, said on LinkedIn: “We did it. London to the summit of Everest and back to London: 9 hours 46mins and 3 seconds remaining. What a challenge, what a team and what an accomplishment. Go Veterans. Go UK.”
Until today the fastest this has ever been done was 21 days.
Typically trips up Everest, the world’s highest peak, take the best part of two months due to lengthy periods spent acclimatising at base camp and other stops up the route.
But the Mission Everest team – expedition leader Major Garth Miller, Carns, Anthony “Staz” Stazicker, of TV’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, and Kevin Godlington – had other ideas.
Months of conditioning for the altitude
They spent many months conditioning themselves for the extreme altitude by mimicking conditions – sleeping in hypoxic tents and doing countless hours of step-up training with oxygen-reducing masks on to recreate the fierce ascent.
The team also used xenon gas to increase their bodies’ ability to create red blood cells thereby boosting their ability to take in oxygen. Critics have cast doubt on whether the use of xenon is safe.
The quartet carried out the feat to raise £1m in funds for veterans’ charities.
The team waved a Union flag on the 8,849m peak which ex-Royal Marines officer Carns took on every operational tour while serving in the corps.
Carns: ‘I’m an honorary Brummie’
Carns served in the Royal Marines for 24 years. He describes himself as an honorary Brummie after the warm welcome he has received since his election as an MP last summer. He waved a Brummie flag at the summit.
Before setting off Carns, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, said anything under 21 days would count as a success, but if they didn’t make it back to the UK in seven days he’d re-attempt the mission at a later date.
He has now jokingly vowed never to climb another mountain.
