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8 September 2013 Last updated at 09:34 GMT
British team first to scale Himalayan mountain
Caroline McCann, a graphic designer and outdoor instructor, said it was the first time she had scaled a peak of that height
A British team has become the first in the world to scale a 6,046m (19,835 feet) Himalayan mountain.
Caroline McCann, 40, from Glossop, and Matthew Jones from Salford ascended to the summit of the Cha Ri mountain on 24 August.
The team had been given official approval by the Indian government to explore the unvisited mountain range.
Miss McCann, a graphic designer, said it was the first time she had scaled a peak of that height.
'Snowstorms, hailstorms and frost'
"It's been a bit of a blur," she said, of the expedition, which had been planned for two years.
"The reality of what we had done didn't hit us until we got back to civilisation and could let our friends and family know we were safe."
The trek was led by Doug Briton, a climber from Linlithgow, in West Lothian.
He had become aware of the mountain Cha Ri (which means Mountain of the Flying Bird) while working in the area and found it was listed as unexplored by the Indian government.
How high is high?
- The Cha Ri mountain stands 6,046 metres (19,835 feet) above sea level. But how does that compare to other mountains?
- Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, is 1,344 metres (4,409 ft) above sea level
- Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, is 4,810 m (15,781 ft) above sea level
- Everest, the highest mountain in the world, is 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) above sea level
"There are quite a few mountains in that area that haven't been scaled because they are quite out-of-the-way," said Miss McCann, an experienced climber and part-time outdoor instructor.
"The people who live there aren't as interested in climbing them as westerners are. It's quite a harsh life and they work hard enough just to make a living."
The expedition took 12 days. The team left the nearest town, Leh, on 17 August, accompanied by a small support team, plus an Indian government official who monitored the climb.
Miss McCann said the conditions were extremely challenging.
"At night we were getting snowstorms, hailstorms and frost," she said.
"The atmosphere was incredibly dry and everything we did was an effort."
During the expedition, the team found a previously undiscovered glacial lake and were able to alert the government to its existence upon their return.
However, Miss McCann said their main motivation for climbing the mountain was "a love of exploration".
The storms over the mountains
Upon reaching the summit, Miss McCann said she felt "too exhausted" to appreciate the scale of her achievement - and was anxious about the descent.
"We knew it was towards the end of the climbing season and we had about a week to get the climb done," she said. "We were flying by the seat of our pants. We had no way of getting a weather forecast up there.
"We could see the weather was deteriorating and we had to get out."
However, upon the team's return to base camp, she began to feel "overwhelmed" at what she had done.
"I still can't quite believe it," she said.
Miss McCann, who returned to Derbyshire on Sunday, said she hoped to do more exploration in the future.
