page_title: 1976 British and Nepalese Army Expedition to Everest
section_title: Expedition
hierarchical_section_title: 1976 British and Nepalese Army Expedition to Everest / Expedition
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph taken in the gardens of Pen-y-Gwryd of the Kangchenjunga reunion of 1990. Left to right front: Neil Mather, John Angelo Jackson, Charles Evans and Joe Brown Left to right rear: Tony Streather, Norman Hardie, George Band and Prof. John Clegg.
context_page_description: The 1976 British and Nepalese Army Expedition to Everest resulted in the successful summit of Mount Everest via its South Face on 16 May. This was the second time this had been achieved - less than a year previously, the 1975 British Mount Everest Southwest Face expedition being the first up the same route. The expedition by the British Army and Royal Nepalese Army was under the command of Tony Streather, and the summiteers were Special Air Service soldiers Bronco Lane and Brummie Stokes.
context_section_description: During the 200 mile walk from Kathmandu to Everest base camp with the Army Mountaineering Association two men emerged as clear summiters - Stokes and Lane. Their combined endurance had impressed all even though they were not rock climbing experts.
  On May 14, Stokes and Lane were established at Camp 6, at 27,000 feet, ahead of the planned ascent of Everest’s south-west face the following morning. That night, however, a severe storm made movement impossible. There were concerns that a prolonged stay at such high altitudes might weaken the pair, but they were keen to press on. There’s only one way we’re going, Stokes radioed, and it's not down.
  Two days later they set off early on the morning and by mid-afternoon they had reached the summit, where they collapsed in a shattered state. After taking a few pictures on the summit they set about their descent - the danger was far from over; at 28,000 feet on the way down, the route became impassable owing to white-out weather conditions and both were forced to abandon their descent.
  As their oxygen supplies began to run perilously low, they huddled down to make an improvised camp for the night. The mercury dropped to around minus 20 degrees Celsius, made colder by the wind chill. They scraped a hole in the snow near the South Summit for the night and they had to hit each other to keep themselves awake and in so doing kept themselves alive next morning. Stokes tried and failed to attach an oxygen bottle to his face-mask. Lane had to remove his glove to attach the bottle but after an hour his hand was frozen. After the night in the open both men's feet were badly frostbitten.
  As they struggled from their bivouac site, they were met by the second pair to try for the summit, John Scott and Pat Gunson both from the Parachute Regiment – who had expected to find them dead. They were overjoyed to see them and the message was relayed to Streather who was relieved. Having dosed the severely weakened pair with oxygen – and hot soup – Scott and Gunson scrapped their own ascent and began to descend with them. All four safely reached base camp five days later.
caption: Tony Steather commander of the 1976 army expedition
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