One-armed British paratrooper to climb Mount Everest

A former Para captain, badly wounded in a gun battle with the Taliban, has told how he will be using his teeth to help him climb Mount Everest. But the adventurer is concerned that his skin could freeze solid to metal clips in temperatures that can dip to -60C with 125 mph winds Martin Hewitt is about to tackle the 8,848 metre peak without the use of his right arm that was paralysed while on a third tour of duty in Afghanistan with the Parachute Regiment. Byrne and Hewitt and preparing to attempt an assault on Mount Everest, despite one having lost part of a leg and the other having a paralysed arm having fought the Taliban in Afghanistan The pair are part of a team preparing to climb the 8,848 metre peak during the short climbing season 'I will be using my teeth a lot because I don't have the use of my arm,' he says. Our demands for oxygen will be higher than others but we are very fit and well prepared so will be spending less time on the mountain than others,' adds Martin, who is being After being wounded, Martin required 12 operations to build up limited sensitivity in his bicep 'An amputee will lose about 30 per cent of his capabilities on a climb so Terry will have to work a lot harder than other climbers and he has to be careful of sweat building up around his stump and the prosthetic leg. Martin, from Wilmslow - who now runs Adaptive Challenge Ltd, which organises physical challenge events and is a trustee of the conservation charity Endangered Species Protection Agency – is tackling Everest en route to becoming the first person with one arm to achieve the Adaptive Grand Slam of conquering the tallest mountains on all Continents and making it unsupported to both the North and South Poles.