THURGOLAND mountaineer John Sanderson scaled the highest mountain in Europe last month, but not without several brushes with terrorism.

The 61-year-old had to tackle Mt Elbrus in Russia using borrowed equipment because his luggage was held up in the terror plot at Heathrow.

Then his expedition’s route turned out to be just miles away from Beslan, where 300 people died in a school in 2004, and Chechnya, a region seperatists have fought over for years.

And to make the trek even more precarious, it took place just yards away from the Georgian border where rebels are known to be operating.

But John, of Halifax Road, who only started climbing mountains six years ago, made the 5642m summit on August 23 safely and in good health.

He said: “The big thing for me though was the achievement of getting to the top. “Some of our party were a bit apprehensive about the political situation but I was fairly relaxed about it.

“The main problem was I was missing some of my clothing and did not have my own crampons or walking sticks.

“I also had to carry two ruck sacks because the one I borrowed was not big enough so I had to tie a second sack to it which made it awkward to carry.”

The only equipment John used which was his own were his boots, which he had worn during the flight to Russia to save on luggage weight. He did not pick up the rest of his kit until his journey back to England.

He added: “Part of the time I was feeling quite depressed about my kit but other times I was pleased because it made me realise I was not dependent on it.”