A British mountaineering guide has been rescued after spending six days stranded on Mount Everest, in an operation hailed as heroic by the climbing community. The guide, identified as James Thornton, 34, from Kendal, Cumbria, was found alive but suffering from severe frostbite and dehydration near the Balcony area at 8,400 metres. Sources confirm the rescue was a high-risk effort involving Sherpas and a helicopter team braving dangerous winds.
Thornton had been part of a commercial expedition that turned back due to a sudden storm. He became separated from his group and was presumed dead after radio contact ceased. But a spotter plane spotted signs of life on Wednesday, triggering a desperate rescue.
“This was against every protocol,” one mountaineer told me. “They went up knowing they might not come back.” The British Mountaineering Council has called it “a testament to the spirit of the climbing community”. But questions remain over the expedition organiser’s safety practices. Uncovered documents reveal the company, Summit Pursuits Ltd, had previously been cited for inadequate emergency plans.
Thornton is now in a Kathmandu hospital. His family thanked the rescue teams. But the clock is ticking on the official inquiry into how a guide ended up abandoned on the world’s highest peak.
