#FollowTheFlag.... Post-Summit Update

Exhausted from their gruelling 14-hour day Rich, Brendan and the flag returned to an empty Camp Colera...

A turn of events meant a difficult decision was made to get the other team members to a much lower altitude.

Al had suffered with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) during his summit bid and it was crucial for his recovery to get him to a lower camp.

Jason, Danny, Al and Dave completed a traverse of the mountain and descended from Camp Colera all the way to Plaza de Mulas in the Horcones valley (4389m / 14400ft) which took around 7 hours.

Danny said: "it was emotional saying goodbye to Rich and Brendan at around 6400m, and I admit there were a few tears! I was gutted to get so close to the summit and see it looming up ahead, but we knew we just could not go another step higher.. Al was really suffering and we were both completely exhausted.

Dave made the decision to go down to Camp Plaza de Mulas, and even though we were devastated that we wouldn't be there when Rich and Brendan returned, we completely understood that it was the right decision"