Sir Ranulph Fiennes was climbing more strongly then ever when he reached the top camp (8300m) on Everest on Friday afternoon. But at 10.30pm, just half an hour into his summit attempt, he felt a twinge in his heart and thought it wiser to turn round and descend. 15 hours later, he was back in Advance Base Camp at 6,400m. Today, he arrived back in Kathmandu. Fiennes is philosophical, he had a double heart bypass in 2003 and was understandably worried about pushing himself too hard. It has been long and drawn out season on Everest with less than a quarter of those attempting the mountain reaching the top. Sir Ranulph was a member of Jagged Globe's Everest North East Ridge expedition, which saw a total of 14 climbers summit on 3 and 4 June. These included Jens Bojen (aged 62), the oldest Briton to summit, Sibusiso Vilane (34), the only black man to summit twice and by two different routes. Top British Alpinist and photo-journalist, Ian Parnell also summited as a member of the Jagged Globe team. He was accompanying Sir Ranulph to document the climb on film.
I completely agree! Alan Hinkes achievement has been mostly overlooked (so far). Yesterday's news had lots of Ellen MacArthur sailing across the channel, but nothing on Alan Hinks. Doesn't make sense. Success doesn't seem to merit news coverage unless they know who you are. This country's obsession with 'celebrity' means that those who are outstanding don't get the exposure they so rightly deserve.
This story - which is, let's not forget, one of failure - has made all the BBC news reports today. Yet there's no mention of Jake Meyer, who has just become the youngest Briton to summit AND has done all Seven Summits to boot. http://www.adventurepeaks.com/news/news.htm Congratulations Jake & all the team who helped him there.
I agree with you, it is bad news for Rans, but we should definately be happy that a brit has become the youngest male in the world to climb the seven summits, I think it is awesome. Good on Jake Meyer, and lets hope he has a safe trip home.
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