Beyond Possible: '14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible' Now On Netflix

Also, I was comfortable with the idea of going out in my thirties. Hanging on until the age of eighty-something, a time when I’d become unable to look after myself, held very little appeal.

I recognised the tell-tale indicators of summit fever, a disorientating condition where an individual becomes so obsessed with making it to the top of whichever 8,000-er they’re climbing that they forget the importance of executing the second part of the mission: getting home.

Never burn yourself out unnecessarily.

Disguising my pain and suffering was a skill I practised at all times and I did so by focusing intensely on the job in hand; it helped to shut out the chaos around me.

the terrain was a head fuck – a bewildering minefield of loose rock, ice-covered boulders and blinding spindrift. Psychologically the route felt never-ending, the summit seemed forever out of reach, and many people turned back for home long before making it to the top.

Before any military operation, a sure sign of approaching failure was to enter into it believing that a defeat was on the cards. The only way to succeed was through positive thought.

The second was for more extreme conditions when the powder was thigh- or waist-high. In those cases, the leading individual had to push forward with their hips, creating a pocket of space before lifting their leg out and rolling the hip over in order to make the next step.

I then took on one of the hardest treks in Nepal on foot with my Sherpa team, at speed, running all the way to Kathmandu, only stopping to drink beer and whisky, until we’d completed a six-day journey in eighteen hours.

In the aftermath of Seema’s solo rescue, I’d learned a serious lesson: by using oxygen during my expedition, it had been possible to save her. Without it, the chances of me summoning up enough energy to conduct a rescue would have been slim to none. For that reason, from now on, I was climbing above the higher camps on an 8,000-er with bottled air,