A Dundee woman is thought to have become the first from the city to scale Everest.
Melissa Bowerman is the only woman in the regular British Army to complete an ascent of the world’s highest peak.
The 41-year-old lieutenant colonel, who is commanding officer of 225 Medical Regiment based in the city, reached the summit just months after being caught up in an avalanche that killed 11 climbers on Manaslu, an 8,000m peak in the Himalayas.
“I escaped death because the guy I was climbing with wasn’t feeling well and we returned to base camp,” she said.
“When we returned to where we’d pitched our tents the day before, they were completely gone. It really made me think.”
The tragedy made Melissa even more determined to reach her goal but she did not take the “easy” option, instead opting for the notoriously difficult North East Ridge.
The route, which goes through Tibet rather than Nepal, is technically more difficult than tackling the mountain from the south side but she was not daunted.
She said: “I wanted an extremeadventure, the ultimate challenge, to know that if I succeeded I hadn’t gone for the easier option.”
Melissa moved to Dundee a year ago and said the landscape was the perfect training ground. Runs on Kinshaldy Beach, ice climbing on Ben Nevis and exercising on the Law all contributed to her getting in shape.
“People used to look at me as if I were completely mad, especially when I met them at the bottom of the Law and then turned and ran back up to the top.”
Bad weather and acclimatisation meant it took Melissa almost two months to reach the summit.
She said: “Sometimes I spent all day inside my tent waiting for the wind at the summit to drop. I got very good at doing very little.
“The climb was really tough. I developed a chest infection, which meant at times I could barely breathe.
”I also suffered from partial blindness in the so-called death zone, the area where most people die on the mountain because conditions are so treacherous.
“Not being able to see where to place your feet and having to feel to make sure your rope was secure, was pretty frightening. All I focused on was my next step.”
Melissa’s ascent coincided with the 60th anniversary of the first ascent of Everest and, after her success, she and fellow climbers were invited a celebratory tea at the British Embassy in Kathmandu.