A grandad has smashed the world record and become the oldest person in Britain to summit of Mount Everest.
Graham Keene, 68, has overtaken previous record holder Sir Ranulph Fiennes who was 65 when he reached the peak in 2009.
The amateur hiker, from Exeter, Devon, set the new record in a 16-day "flash" expedition where he conquered the tallest mountain in the world standing at 29,000ft.
He also landed himself a spot in the Top 20 Successful Oldest Climbers on the 7,000-person Himalaya database.
"It was a magnificent feeling," he said.
"There was lots of anticipation about what was to come. The weather, the team, my body, but I was just happy to be back in the mountains with great people."
"We spent a night each in four camps. On summit night, we left the last camp at 8.30pm, arriving on the summit the following morning," the grandad of five added.
"We spent thirty minutes at the top of the peak.
"[Breaking the record] wasn't something I was focused on before the expedition, but I hope it can inspire more golden adventurers."
In 1998, Graham and his two sons Ben and Daniel climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and he has since had a burning interest in the mountains.
Graham climbed the highest point in South America in Aconcagua in 2004 and since his retirement, he has climbed Mount Vinson in Antarctica in 2017 and Cotapaxi in Ecuador earlier this year.
In 2018, he came close to summiting his first 26,000 ft peak.
But with not enough guides to help him with the final climb, he didn’t meet his goal.
He made it his mission to complete the climb, but knew that he needed a different approach if he was going to succeed at his age.
After training frequently throughout the pandemic, spending hours in the gym with a personal trainer and going on long hikes through the Devon countryside, he felt ready to tackle the peak.
Typically, these expeditions take several weeks to complete due to regulating the body for thin air.
But from the comfort of his own home, by using a hypoxic tent, Graham did this a different way.
Removing oxygen from the tent, along with being able to adjust the altitude, his mental and physical state was left in top shape ready to tackle the mountain.
Upon arriving, Graham, along with his personal trainer and the Furtenbach Adventures flash team, climbed nearly 21,000 ft up the Mera peak for their final preparations.
After only one week, Graham left basecamp, reached the summit and returned on May 15.
At 6.30am on May 13, they climbed up the famous Everest ridge, up Hillary’s Step and finally, to the top of the world.
Upon reaching, Graham unveiled an Exeter Chiefs flag, as well as pictures of his grandchildren.
Mount Everest is the tallest of the Himalayan mountain range in Nepal standing at around 29,000ft above sea level, just below the cruising height of a jumbo jet.
It was conquered on May 29, 1953, by Kiwi Edmund Hillary and Nepali sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
Teenagers from Nepal previously spoke about how Everest is changing amid the climate emergency.
Ashmi, 15, and Diwakar, 19, spoke to Sherpas in Nepal who revealed frightening evidence that the peaks are melting.
They warned how glaciers on Mount Everest are melting, making crossing the peak more dangerous and putting lives at risk including those who live at the foot of the mountain.
Kami Rita Sherpa, the world record holder for the most ascents to the summit of Everest, said that he is concerned about the future of Everest as rising temperatures are causing glaciers and snow to disappear at alarming rates.
Photographs taken from the Tibet side of the mountain in May 1921 and January 2019 show a stark difference in conditions.
The average melting rate has doubled over the past decade due to higher temperature and less snowfall, according to scientists monitoring the region in 2019.
