A SOLDIER from the Infantry Battle School in Brecon conquered Mount Everest to mark 200 years of Gurkhas service in the British Army.

Rifleman Rakesh Sunuwar, originally from Kodari in Nepal, successfully reached the summit on Tuesday, May 16 at 9.42am during his second attempt at scaling the famous mountain.

The Gurkhas are a fierce brigade of Nepalese soldiers who have served under the British Army since 1815. The original attempt to mark the bicentenary, on April 25 2015, was halted due to an earthquake early on in the expedition. The Nepalese Government suspended all climbs as the path was too dangerous.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake and its subsequent avalanche swept away the base camp, causing a large number of casualties and deaths among the many members of the international climbing fraternity who gather each spring for the annual weather window when it is easiest to make an attempt on the summit. The route to the summit was completely destroyed.

Thinking back to that terrible earthquake, Rfn Sunuwar said: “It was a tragic moment for me and for the whole Brigade of Gurkhas. It had taken me three years of hardship and intensive training to come this far.

“I had gambled with my life, family priorities and even postponed my first career course, Junior Leadership Cadre, in preparing for Mount Everest. I felt completely helpless for the first time in my life.”

Despite losing his home and earnings in the following earthquake, Rfn Sunuwar continued training so that he could attempt Mount Everest again.

Talking about the conditions during the climb, he said: “As we gradually gained height the temperature dropped drastically. I was feeling extremely cold even though I was wearing all the advanced protective summit suit.

“The path was extremely dangerous involving walking on a narrow ridge line in many places. Every footstep had to be perfect as one wrong step might have proven fatal for me and my team.”

Only ten of the 22 members on the expedition managed to reach the summit, along with the three instructors and the rope-fixing team. Due to the short weather window restrictions, the second group in the party was unable to ascend.

When asked about how felt on reaching the summit, Rfn Sunuwar said:

“I couldn’t even express in words the feelings of being able to make it all the way to the top. I was very delighted and felt very lucky to be there.”