After leaving UK in early September, we made our way via Kathmandu and Lhasa to Base Camp in Tibet. 4 x 4 vehicles had been the transport up to that point, but it was shanks’ pony from then on. The plan was to establish 3 camps progressively higher on the mountain before launching for the summit. We made our first foray to Camp 1 at an altitude of 6400m on 22 September. From then on it was a game of cat and mouse as we tried to cheat the poor weather, and still move up the mountain. For a time we were like yo yos moving up and down in the rarefied atmosphere.

……..Time was running low and it seemed as though High Camp was an unachievable goal. At that point we made the decision to go for the summit from Camp 2 at 7200m. Summit day was going to be tough.

"It’s 2300 on the 8 October. We emerge from our tents, shoulder our ‘sacks, and turn on the valves on our oxygen sets. A steady hiss confirms it’s working and we set off into the night. The hours pass by and we steadily move ever upwards – a slow convoy of headtorches in a sea of snow and ice.

Steep cliffs bar the route, and we clip our jumars onto a fixed rope. Hauling ourselves upwards at just under 8000m is exhausting work. The stops are becoming more frequent and longer as we reach the summit plateau, but the sun is rising and a huge panorama opens in front of us. Another twenty minutes and we’re there. 8201m !

Exhausted, we descend to Camp 2 at our own individual pace to rest and spend the night. It is during our descent that by chance James Lancashire identifies the lone figure of an Italian mountaineer, Roberto Marabotto. He is alone and has all the symptoms of severe Altitude Sickness and frostbite. James assists him to Camp 2, makes him comfortable in his own tent and monitors his progress throughout the night. The realisation that we have a complex casualty evacuation of our hands begins to dawn.

After an uncomfortable night with interrupted sleep at Camp 2, we awake to the prospect of evacuating an incapacitated mountaineer down a complex face. The team embraces this challenge in the same matter of fact way it has dealt with all of the challenges over the last few weeks. Roberto is short roped down the first set of ice cliffs and some imaginative rope manoeuvres speed progress. He is still suffering from the effects of altitude and remains incapable of independent movement. It is here that Gordon Clark’s civilian skills as a mountaineering instructor come to the fore as he embarks on a tandem abseil with the incapacitated, but increasingly exposure aware (!) Roberto – a commendable feat of mountain rescue. We are soon safely ensconced beneath the ice cliff and en route to the relative sanctuary of Camp 1. There, a prearranged rendezvous with Tibetan Porters ensures that a now more composed Roberto is safely evacuated to Advance Base Camp and is reunited with his fellow countrymen.

It was a tired, but satisfied team that eventually trudged into Advance Base Camp in preparation for the bomb-burst of Brits, Sherpas, Tibetans and yaks to Kathmandu.

PRECIOUS AIR DRAGON 2006 is the smallest military expedition to attempt an 8000m peak and demonstrates that such aspirations are achievable within the confines of a small team with a light logistic footprint. The expedition proved to be a challenging dress rehearsal for Everest in 2007 where the aim will be to utilise the same conceptual approach to provide the lifetime opportunity to place a strong, cohesive team in its entirety on the roof of the world.
Lt Col S J Hall RM