As news of the disappointment reached Major David Nicholls’ wife, Deidre, at the family’s Eastney Terrace home, she said her husband had been beaten by a worthy opponent.
A freak storm beat back the two-man team of Maj Nicholls and Senior Aircraftman Al McLeod less than 1,000 feet from the summit.
They decided to give up their bid otherwise lives would have been put at risk.
Major John Fitzgerald, at the expedition’s Aldershot headquarters, said there was no doubt the men would have reached the top had it not been for the unpredicted storm.