A SHERPA boy who lost five fingers to frostbite last year has become the youngest climber to conquer Mount Everest.
Temba Tsheri, 15, reached the summit of the world's highest mountain from the Tibetan side on his second attempt on the peak on Tuesday.
Last year, he was forced back just 160ft from the summit due to frostbite, exhaustion and deteriorating weather.
Before starting out the final climb then, he said he opened his gloves for about 45 minutes to tie his shoes, which resulted in the frostbite. When he returned from the mountain, doctors amputated five fingers.
Three Scottish climbers have also reached the summit of Mount Everest in the past few days.
Chief Technician Dan Carroll, from RAF Lossiemouth, and Corporal Rusty Bale, from RAF Kinloss, reached the top of the mountain on Tuesday, while another man called Alexander Allan, whose details were not known last night, reached the summit earlier this week.
The two Scottish servicemen spoke yesterday of their elation after reaching the top as part of a record-breaking attempt.
They are part of a 12-strong team aiming to make history by becoming the largest party of UK servicemen to reach the 29,028ft summit.
Chief Technician Carroll, 37, described how the final part of the ascent left him too exhausted to celebrate his achievement, other than to take a few photographs of the highest view on earth.
Meanwhile, Corporal Bale, 29, kissed a photograph of his girlfriend, Nerys, as he stood on top of the world.
After arriving back at base camp yesterday - 10,000ft below the summit - Chief Technician Carroll said: ''We knew it would be a difficult climb, but it was even trickier than we had imagined.
''The oxygen was so thin that it was like trying to run up a sand dune while holding your breath.
''For the last half hour, we kept coming across a series of false summits, each time thinking we had made it, only to find that it was round the next bend.
''Then we finally made it and by the time we reached the top we were euphoric.''
They spent about 10 minutes on the summit, enjoying the sensation and taking pictures, before beginning the slow descent to base camp, he said.
There, they enjoyed their first shower in days and savoured a can of Coke.
The pair were among 16 climbers from various expeditions queuing up to reach the summit on the day after bad weather had created a backlog.
Chief Technician Carroll said one climber snowboarded back down, while another launched a paraglider from the peak.
He said: ''It was a bit of a circus up there, but that in no way detracted from the personal feeling of achievement we enjoyed.''
At least 37 climbers have taken advantage of a long-awaited break in the harsh weather and scaled Everest in the past few days, according to the Nepalese Tourism Ministry.
Strong winds and heavy snow have recently forced dozens of other climbers to postpone their bids for the summit.
The mountaineering season in Nepal ends on May 31, when climbers must return from the mountains before the monsoon brings heavy snow.
Everest has been climbed more than 800 times since the first documented climb by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.
More than 180 people have been killed on its slopes.
Ministry officials said another half dozen teams were expected to push for the summit in the next few days.
Meanwhile, an Australian and an Austrian climber died earlier this week on separate expeditions to Everest.
Mark Auricht, a 37-year-old management consultant from Adelaide, died on the Chinese side of the mountain yesterday.
Peter Ganner, 57, from Kloster
neuburg in Austria, fell at a height of 27,890f0t on his way to the summit on Wednesday.
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