Phil's on top of the world

WHAT a view! Phil Nolan on the summit of Mera Peak at more than 21,000ft

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AN EX-British Army Officer pushed his body to the limit when he took part in a 12-day expedition across the Himalayas.

Phil Nolan, a former student at St Edward's school in Lees, who now lives in Dubai, completed a 50-mile trek throughout the Himalayas where he, along with companions David Green and Alexandra Ashikhmina, climbed to the 21,197 ft (6,461m) summit of the Mera Peak, the highest trekking peak in the world.

An avid group of climbers, Phil, Dave and Alexandra have previously climbed Gran Paradiso (13,451ft 4,100m), in Italy, and Mont Blanc (15,879ft 4,840m), in the Alps and decided to tackle the Himalayas to increase their exposure to high altitude before progressing onto Aconcagua (22,841ft 6,962m), in Argentina, and Elbrus (18,510ft 5,642m) in Russia next year.

Phil's team started at Lukla on April 15 and travelled through beautiful scenery which ranged from snow and ice to flower-lined forest paths to walking through the Inku riverbed.

As they climbed, the altitude proved to be troubling. The group had acclimatised well until 5,800m where they lost their appetite, suffered thumping headaches and couldn't sleep very well. However, they persevered, eating and drinking what they could.

At one point on his way to the summit, the water inside Phil's hydration straw froze, but he was not to be deterred from reaching the top on April 22.

Phil said: "Trekking through the region is like nothing else. I feel amazing after the trek. I would definitely rate it as an accomplishment for a number of reasons. We had planned the trip together and successfully completed it together despite the possibility of a number of things going wrong.

"Many other teams had people who dropped out or were helicoptered off the trek because of various issues. Not only did we complete the trek but we did it in good time and arrived back in good shape.

"I personally was tested but had the capacity to be stretched much more and had plenty of reserves to dip into. The whole trip was really encouraging for our future plans for higher and harder mountains."

A former member of the armed forces, Phil maintains a good level of fitness but knew if he were to tackle Mera Peak he would need to be even fitter.

So he put in a three-month training programme of intensive cardiovascular exercise to get his heart, lungs and legs ready. Phil spent a lot of time on the elliptical machine in the gym and countless hours walking up and down the stairs in his 32-storey apartment building.

He said: "There's not terribly much else you can do for altitude training. I have climbed at altitude a few times and that experience is really valuable and knowing how your body will behave and how you'll feel cannot be taught, you have to experience it.

"I have always been pretty active but I think my military background helped with putting my own training programme together and then having the discipline to stick with it."

Phil gave special thanks to the local porters. "These guys have super-human strength and endurance. They carried the majority of our kit from lodge to lodge with no complaints."