A British minister has climbed to the summit of Mount Everest in just five days, thanks to a special gas that dramatically cut his prep time and allowed him to make a record-breaking ascent.
Al Carns, the UK's veterans minister, was seen alongside a group of ex-British Special Forces soldiers at the top of the world's tallest mountain on Wednesday. They waved the Union Jack from the peak.
An ascent normally takes two months to prepare for, as climbers have to acclimatise their bodies to deal with thin air at the top of the Nepalese mountain.
Carns said the climb was 'off the scale of a challenge'.
He added: 'Now that we have done the biggest, I am never doing another mountain again.'
