EVEREST hero Les Binns has been forced to abandon his dream of climbing Mount Everest for a second time - again just a few hundred metres from the top.
Former soldier Les was hailed a hero a year ago when he abandoned his dream to save the life of a stranger.
More than £35,000 was raised following a huge campaign to fund a second chance for Les, 43, who lives at Manvers, to reach the 8,848m summit.
But yesterday, heartbroken Les revealed his party had been forced to abandon their two-month expedition in the final stages after being hit by deadly weather conditions after reaching ‘Camp 2’ at 7900m as they prepared to push for the summit.
“It was suicidal to stay,” said Les, who is now back at Everest Base Camp where phone and internet signal is patchy, but he has been in touch with the Chronicle via Facebook Messenger.
“Our plan was to try and weather the storm but it went on past the threshold of the tents. Around late afternoon (on Tuesday) the expedition leader made the decision to go down.
“I was well and truly gutted, I wept. I was heartbroken.
“Trying again isn’t an option. Exhaustion levels are through the roof. Summiters die on the way down usually and as I have a little girl I won’t run that risk of her loosing her daddy.”
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
