Mont Blanc. Photo: Alain Wibert

Three British mountaineers have died abroad, including the youngest Briton to climb Everest.

Rob Gauntlett and his climbing partner James Atkinson, both 21, died in a fall on the east face of Mont Blanc. Michael Freeman, 42, collapsed and died of a suspected heart attack just metres short of the summit of Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas.

The parents of Mr Gauntlett, David and Nicola Gauntlett flew to Chamonix today. The young climbers, from Sussex, died while ice-climbing on Saturday.

Mr Gauntlett achieved the record of youngest Everest summiteer at the age of 19, when he climbed the Himalayan peak with James Hooper in 2006. Mr Atkinson was a student at Durham University.

The Everest summiteers went on to be named National Geographic 2008 Adventurers of the Year after they trekked from the magnetic North Pole to the magnetic South Pole using only natural means, to highlight climate change.

Mr Freeman’s death is the fourth on the 6,962m (22,941ft) Andean peak in a week. The Argentinean mountain has also claimed the lives of an Italian mountaineer and his Argentinean guide, and a German man.

Mr Hooper was with Mr Gauntlett in the Alpine resort but decided not to climb the day of the fatal fall.

See also

Young Brits on top of the world