UK minister Al Carns brushes off xenon gas probe after climbing Mount Everest in five days

Veterans minister sparks criticism in Nepal

Al Carns and fellow climbers on the summit of Everest. AP

A British defence minister has dismissed claims that he is being investigated by the Nepali government for his use of xenon gas to speed up his ascent of Mount Everest.

Al Carns, a Royal Marines reservist, reached the summit of Everest in five days with a group of former British special forces soldiers on Wednesday.

The ascent usually takes two months because climbers stop for long periods to acclimatise to the high altitude. However, Mr Carns said he and his group were aided by xenon gas, which prevents altitude sickness.

While the achievement impressed many climbers, it was criticised by the Nepali government who said they were investigating.

UK Minister for Veterans and People, Alistair Carns. Getty

Department of Tourism director Himal Gautam, who oversees mountaineering expeditions, said on Thursday that it had not been informed of the gas use.

“We have launched an investigation into the matter,” he told the Kathmandu Post. He added that all climbers and operators must declare the equipment, medications and substances used during expeditions.

Mr Carns denied he was under investigation by the Nepali government, telling The Telegraph that he and his climbing group had inhaled the xenon in Germany weeks before arriving in Nepal.

He believed the controversy was triggered by rumours that the climbers had used the gas during the ascent. He said this issue had been cleared with the Ministry of Tourism. “There’s no way I’m under investigation,” he said.

He told BirminghamLive that the trail to the summit was strewn with the dead bodies of climbers. “It brought it home, this was the death zone,” he said.

Lukas Furtenbach, founder of Furtenbach Adventures which organised the climb, told The National he had not been contacted by the Nepali government about an investigation.

“There was no breach of any Nepali regulation. What happens outside Nepal should not be under the purview of the Nepal government,” he said.

The gas was banned for athletes by the Worldwide Anti-Doping Agency in 2014, but this does not apply to mountaineers.

The International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation warned against the use of xenon when the expedition was announced in January. “There is no evidence that breathing in xenon improves performance in the mountains, and inappropriate use can be dangerous,” it wrote in a statement.

"Acclimatisation to altitude is a complex process that affects the various organs/systems such as the brain, lungs, heart, kidneys and blood to different degrees, and is not fully understood," the statement said, adding that the drug was "rarely" used in medicine.

Mr Furtenbach said other gases, such as oxygen and asthma sprays, were also banned by the anti-doping agency but were critical to Mount Everest expeditions.

“If the government is considering banning xenon, also all other medical aids like oxygen or altitude medicine must be banned. This is obviously not possible,” he said.

Nepali officials have also raised concerns about the impact on tourism if the drug becomes widely used.

“Traditional expeditions employ Sherpas, porters, guides and kitchen staff for weeks, sometimes months,” Dambar Parajuli, president of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal, told The Kathmandu Post. “If climbers finish their journey in days, the ripple effect on local employment will be devastating.”

Mr Furtenbach believes widespread use of xenon could make climbing safer and reduce the environmental damage that the popular expeditions are causing to Mount Everest.

“A shorter expedition also means less garbage, less resources, less human waste in this sensitive environment,” he said.

He added that Nepali guides involved in his tours would not see a reduction in salary or jobs.

“We pay them for three months in the season, even when our clients are here only for one week,” he said.