Princethorpe College student James Hewitt has become the youngest Britain to have climbed Europe’s Highest Peak. The fifteen year old from Gilmorton, Leicestershire, climbed 5600 metres to the summit of Mount Elbrus in Russia in less than four days. The mountain, which forms part of the Caucasus Range, is within striking distance of Georgian border and is seen to challenge climbers with a long and strenuous journey.

Accompanied by his father Chris, who last year scaled Kilimanjaro, James felt confident that his level of fitness and strength would get him to the top. A district and A team College rugby player the youngster underwent a month of pre-climb hypoxic training which gave him some indication of the effects of altitude sickness.

After 48 hours of acclimatising to the new altitude James climbed to base camp where the party spent the night and day sleeping in old oil barrels left by the Red Army. At midnight the ascent began with the party being able to witness the sun rising over the mountain range.

‘That was an extraordinary sight. At this stage everyone was buzzing with excitement but little did we know what lay ahead of us.” Comments James

‘The climb to the Saddle, the area between the two summits, was so hard. When we eventually got to that point I was in real difficulties. My dad had to help me as I was wobbling all over the place and out of breath. The guide wanted me to stop and some of the adult climbers did pull out and turn back but I just wanted to get to the top.’

A further 2 hours up a 50 degree slope took James to the highest Peak.

‘I just knew I wasn’t going to fail although if I looked to the left or right of me it became very hairy with crevasses to slide into. We had practised the technique of ice axe arrest which is when you stop yourself from slipping down a slope but at that point I was on auto pilot. When we reached the peak all I wanted to do was sit down which is apparently the worst thing you can do when you are suffering from altitude sickness so everyone held me up before the climb back to base camp. I guess it was only afterwards that I became fully aware of what I had achieved. It was amazing.’

James is now back in the full swing of GCSE work at Princethorpe College. He will tell his story through assemblies and aims to climb Kilimanjaro in Summer 2011 following Princethorpe’s  Sporting Tour of South Africa.