Everest Million climber Daniel Hughes has described the relief he felt on reaching the summit of the world's tallest peak.
Inmarsat-sponsored Daniel said: “Everest was a job. My mission was to get the Comic Relief red nose to the top and make the video call.”
He succeeded on both counts. The BBC interrupted their scheduled programming on 20 May to go live to Daniel at the summit, where he was interviewed with the UK charity's iconic red nose clamped on his oxygen mask.
Inmarsat supplied Daniel with a Cobham Satcom Explorer 700 BGAN terminal which allowed him to make the historic video call on his HTC smartphone.
“I called the BBC on my IsatPhone Pro to give them a 10-minute heads-up, then got everything ready.
“BGAN was flawless. It was as if I was setting it up at sea level. I've been testing the kit for two years and this was text book.”
Viewers were able to share the 360-degree view from 8,848 metres (29,029ft) as Daniel panned round with his smartphone.
For Daniel, a commercial airline pilot, the culmination of two and a half years' planning and training was a just brief pause at the top of the world before he began the treacherous descent.
“I was nervous being there,” he admitted. “I didn't want to stand there for 20 minutes taking it all in – I just wanted to go.
“Everest is a big, dangerous mountain, and you don't celebrate until you get back down to base camp and count all your fingers and toes.”
The toughest part of the entire challenge was waiting to make the final ascent at the Hillary Step – a 12-metre (40ft) near-vertical rockface leading to the summit.
“It gets quite clogged with people, and you just have to wait at the bottom of the step, knowing that the weather can change very quickly and that you only have a finite amount of oxygen,” he explained.
Drew Brandy, Vice President, Industry at Inmarsat, said: “Inmarsat congratulates Daniel on his tremendous achievement in scaling Mount Everest in order to raise money to combat child poverty.
“We are delighted that we were able to support him with our BGAN service and provide connectivity throughout the ascent, culminating in the first ever video call from the summit of the world's tallest peak.”
Now safely back home in London, Daniel continues to work hard to raise money for UK charity Comic Relief's projects to relieve child poverty around the world.
He can receive donations in the UK via SMS (text Nose70 £1 to 70070) or his website www.everestmillion.com
