British MP makes history as he scales Everest just five days after leaving London using gas to help acclimatise for ascent that usually takes two months
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.'
But the Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, a former regular and a current Royal Marines Reserves colonel who was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in Afghanistan, used xenon gas to massively cut down their acclimatisation time.
Carns' team said they inhaled xenon gas at a German clinic two weeks before the expedition to prevent altitude sickness, and prepared with tents that simulated the lack of oxygen at high altitudes.
Research has suggested that xenon can increase the body's production of a protein that fights hypoxia, which can increase the chances of survival on a mountain that has claimed the lives of countless people.
Carns told the Sun before the climb: '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.'
The mountain has a 'death zone' above 8,000 metres, where oxygen levels are so low that the body struggles to function, causing sickness, cognitive impairment and exhaustion that can rapidly lead to death.
Though the minister's climb, believed to be the fastest anyone has climbed Everest without acclimatisation, was done in order to raise £1 million for British military charities, the Nepalese government has criticised the use of xenon gas.
'We are investigating the travel agency and the climbers who used xenon gas for scaling everest,' Narayan Prasad Regmi, Nepal's tourism chief, told The Telegraph.
'We will summon them, including the British minister, and take action as deemed fit under the law,' he added.
Regmi said that xenon gas has never been used by climbers in Nepal, and that legislation needed to be brought in to clarify its legality.
'All climbers and expedition organisers are required to declare the substances and equipment they use,' Regmi said.
Furtenbach Adventures, the Austria-based company that organised the climb, defended the use of the gas.
Founder Lukas Furtenbach said: 'There was no breach of any Nepali regulation. What happens outside Nepal should not be under the purview of the Nepal government.'
He added: 'It makes the climb safer and shorter while ensuring climbers are properly acclimatised, unlike those who rely solely on oxygen from Base Camp without prior acclimatisation, which is extremely dangerous.'
Furtenbach claimed that shorter trips had the benefit of being more environmentally friendly, as fewer resources are used and left behind on the mountain.
But Rajendra Bajgain, a Nepalese MP, said these short-duration climbs aided by xenon gas 'will hurt our mountain economy'.
He claimed: 'These quick summits reduce the need for local sherpas, guides and kitchen staff, cutting off vital income for rural communities who have long depended on traditional expeditions. It will collapse the support ecosystem.'
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