Mount Elbrus

The highest peak in Europe • 5,642 meters • Russia

Training for the world’s highest mountain began months before the expedition - and continued after it started. I had completed a technical training course in Scotland the winter before, learning about climbing ice walls, for example. And my fitness training had been intensive. Yet still there was much more improvement needed in the early days of the expedition.

After the first ice wall climbs in practice, and the first, demanding, rotation through the formidable Khumbu Icefall, I learned two things: that my fitness and technical skills were not quite of sufficient standard for summiting in the Death Zone - but also that I am a fast learner.

Reaching the top of Everest had been a dream of mine since I began mountaineering, but dreams are not enough. Helped by an exceptional guide, Oswaldo Freire, or Ossy, who was an inspirational coach as well as technical expert, I improved rapidly during the next rotations and prepared for the summit push. In the early hours of 22 May, in complete darkness, we reached the iconic highest physical point on earth. I felt numb with cold, tiredness and disbelief, slowly turning to a quiet inward euphoria as I absorbed this achievement.