Brit MP completes record-breaking Everest ascent reaching summit after 5-day dash from UK…& says ‘I won't climb again'

The Irish Sun

21-05-2025

A BRITISH MP has made history with a record-breaking ascent of Mount Everest.
Ex-Special Forces Commando
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Alistair Carns OBE MC MP has completed a record-breaking ascent of mount Everest
Credit: Arthur Edwards / The Sun
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L-R: Veterans minister Al Carns, 45, Kevin Godlington, 49, Anthony Stazicker, 41, Garth Miller, 51
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Veterans Minister and ex special forces Major Alistair Carns (L2) with his three ex special forces colleagues in training, Garth Miller (L), Anthony Stazicker (R2) and Kevin Godlington (R)
Credit: Simon Jones
Their lightning ascent came five days after leaving London and they survived an avalanche on the way up.
Most expeditions take 70 days to let climbers acclimatise to the deadly thin air.
Carns said the climb was 'off the scale of a challenge'.
And he joked: 'Now that we have done the biggest, I am never doing another mountain again.'
He and his former comrades Garth Miller, 51, Kevin Godlington, 49, and Anthony Stazicker, 41, slept in low-oxygen tents to prepare their bodies for the conditions.
And they inhaled controversial xenon gas which helps the body produce red blood cells to avoid deadly altitude sickness.
Expedition leader Lukas Furtenbach, who spoke to The Sun from Everest Base Camp, said the climbers were "feeling strong".
'They said it was really windy and cold. But they are doing great, in high spirits and highly motivated to come down.'
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A photo from the summit showed Carns, 45, waving a Union Jack which had carried on all of his military tours, including multiple combat trips to Afghanistan.
They are hoping to raise over £1million for veterans charities.
Limbless Afghan veteran Gurkha Hari Budha Magar from Canterbury who hopes to reach the top of Everest by Coronation Day has set off from Base camp
The final ascent was 'tough' because winds were gusting over 35mph.
Speaking from Everest Base Camp, Furtenbach told The Sun: 'Conditions were windy, so it was a hard summit day for them, it was right on the edge. Not dangerous but hard.'
'They spent about half an hour on the summit then came down to camp 4 at 8,000 metres, they rested for about half an hour and now they are on their way to Camp 2, just above the Khumbu Icefall.'
The four Special Forces veterans were flanked by cameraman Sandro Gromen-Hayes and five Nepalese Sherpas, Pasang Tendi Sherpa, Pemba Rinji Sherpa, Gelu Sherpa, Nima Nuru Sherpa and Phu Dorji Sherpa.
They are planning to descend the Khumbu Icefall in darkness tonight because the plummeting night time temperatures make it safer.
Furtenbach said the team had a narrow escape on the first full day of their climb, whern they were covered in powder from a nearby avalanche.
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Mountain guide Lukas Furtenbach in Kathmandu, Nepal
Credit: AP
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The Everest team on the night they set off
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Most climbers take 70 days to tackle Everest but Al Carns and his team of ex-Special Forces pals finished in under a week
Credit: Getty
He said: 'Right after they had crossed the Khumbu Icefall, at the upper end, there was an avalanche that came down on their right hand side from Nuptse, a 7,800 metre peak.
'The powder from the avalanche hit the climbing route.
'They were not buried with snow or ice, but thet were covered white and it was definitely a shocking moment for them.'
Furtenbach has pioneered the use of xenon gas.
But it has split the climbing community as traditionalists fear it could make mountains like Everest even more crowded with the cash-rich, time-poor Instagram crowd buying their way to the top.
Speaking before the ascent Kev Godlington joked that their training had been so gruelling that, 'no one's gonna want to put the four months we have put in, whatever the price."
Carns said the team were treating the climb like a Special Ops mission – using every advantage they could get.
He told The Sun: 'This is like a Special Forces mission. We have the best people, the best training, the best kit and we are at the very cutting edge of science. We'll go in, hit the objective and leave no trace, no waste.'
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Garth Miller, a Gurkha officer turned long-haul pilot, said xenon was safer for the climbers and better for the environment — as the team's footprint on the mountain will be a tenth of normal expeditions.
He said: 'We are all fathers, so as fathers we are going to load as many of the variables as we can in our favour.'