A MAN from Swindon is among the first to have stood on the summit of a Mongolian mountain that is believed to have been off limits to mankind – until now.
Father-of-two Roy Partington has now become one of the first to stand on the summit of the previously un-climbed mountain in Mongolia after an earlier failed attempt. Overcoming many difficulties the group of six finally reached the peak’s summit on Monday, June 13.
Among those to have scaled the peak were three women from the UK, a man from the USA and a New Zealand man.
After reaching its peak the team decided to call the mountain Mount Jochi - which means guests in Mongolian and is also the name of Gengis Khrans eldest son. This has now been submitted to the Mongolian Mountaineering Federation with a letter of the names and signatures of those who climbed the mountain.
The 53 year old said he was delighted to have been part of such an unusual feat He said: “It is great memories to tell the grand children as not everyone is fortunate enough to be the first human to stand on an unclimbed mountain these days.
“It took me out of my comfort zone as the expedition was on unchartered territory. A true privilege to have taken part in this.”
This was not Roy’s first expedition that has seen him take on the world’s highest mountain to reach Everest Base Camp as well as Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua – although each of these have recognised routes to their summit and are regularly tackled by climbers.
The expedition Roy applied for was Secret Compass who joined up with a Mongolian expedition company called Mongolia Expeditions. They attempted to climb the mountain twice with the first attempt failing because a member of the team broke her leg when a large rock rolled down on to it.
It is widely accepted that no other human had set foot on its summit before, despite a few attempts.
Roy from Park South said: “It was scary at times and you really did have to push yourself to keep going but the entire team were professional from the outset and we did have connection with the outside world.”
The team had Sat-phones to contact full UK doctors who were on standby to give expert advice 24 hours-a-day. Roy also carried a Delorme in Reach GPS system which sent out his exact location via satellite to a website for family and friends.
He returned home to a hero’s welcome on Sunday on Father’s Day at a special party held at the Swindon High Street Club where he was greeted by his family having landed at Heathrow earlier that morning.
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