Mountaineer set to climb Everest again (to beat his record)

A MOUNTAINEER from Henley is hoping to set the fastest time from London to the summit of Everest and back after first breaking the record three years ago.

Garth Miller, 51, will attempt to get to the summit — the highest on earth — at almost 8,850m next month and return in seven days.

He will be joined by Colonel Al Carns, who is a Royal Marine reservist, Anthony Stazicker, a former sniper who spent a decade in the Special Boat Service and Kevin Godlington, who joined the Royal Engineers at the age of 16.

Mr Miller, who served in the Royal Gurkha Rifles, took on the same challenge in 2022, which he completed in 21 days, claiming it was the fastest anyone has managed.

This time around, the team, who have 75 years of military experience between them, will be using Xenon gas, which is believed to help climbers pre-acclimatise to the high
altitude, dramatically cutting the time required to conquer the peak.

They want to raise £1m for several armed forces and military charities to help children of bereaved military families.

A typical Everest expedition takes an average of about two months.

Mr Miller, of St Andrew’s Road, said: “The whole thing is based on speed, innovation and sustainability.

“We’re going to smash this record. The target we’ve set ourselves has never been done before.

“Having climbed Everest, you can’t go any higher so I became fascinated by how fast you could go.

“We’re taking advantage of new technology because there is a number of things we’re doing differently to normal expeditions. There is a huge risk associated with climbing high rapidly and the change in pressure can cause potentially life-threatening related illnesses.

“Climbers can get high-altitude pulmonary oedema, a fatal form of altitude sickness.”

Mr Miller, who is a captain for British Airways, will fly with the group from Heathrow Airport to Kathmandu before getting on a helicopter to the Everest base camp. They will have two hours to get ready before setting off with Sherpa team.

Their equipment will be ready for them in Nepal, which will be blessed by a Buddhist monk during a “puja” ceremony to pray for their safe passage and they will all receive a health check from a doctor before they start the mission.

They will wear bespoke kit that can withstand sub-zero temperatures.

All four men are currently sleeping in hypoxic tents over their beds to simulate the experience of being at high altitude to get them used to the low-oxygen conditions. Temperatures in the Himalayas can get as low as –30C.

Mr Miller said: “You have to accumulate about 450 hours in the tent. We’re acclimatising in the comfort of our own home. There are also a lot of physical training and technical skills that we need to refresh.

“There’s about 14 hours of training a week. We typically do three strength training sessions a week and a long weighted hike and one long run.

“Running along the river is nice but it’s good to get some hills in so that might take me out into Fawley and in terms of local gyms, I train at F45 and TG gym in Henley.

“Then, for simulated altitude training, it’s for two sessions a week, both about an hour long. I typically do mine on an exercise bike with a mask on for about 6,000m to work at altitude.”

Mr Miller lives with his wife Ashleigh and their two children Amelie, 12, and Archie, six. He studied maths at Queen’s University Belfast then took a master’s degree in international relations at Cambridge. After university he joined the army to help him achieve his desire to conquer Everest.

Mr Miller, who has completed 10 Ironman triathlons, said his children are not fazed about him attempting the record.

He said: “My children think it’s quite normal.

“Archie wants to climb Everest with me when he leaves school and my daughter is more interested in the geography and history of the mountain. From a family perspective, it’s crazy to think in five weeks’ time I’ll be saying ‘I’m off to climb Everest so I’ll see you on Friday’, which is completely unheard of.”