Woollen garments have played a key role in helping a father of four achieve his dream to climb to the top of Mount Everest.
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Nathan Anderton, 52, was sponsored wool brokers Fox & Lillie in his journey, with him completing the climb in 53 days.
Mr Anderton is the nephew of Fox & Lillie managing director Jonathan Lillie.
Mr Anderton described the experience as life changing.
"Words do not do it justice about how surreal the experience was," he said.
"Imagine climbing under a full moon, not a breath of wind, the sky is clear because the cloud cover is below you, and you can see the smaller surrounding peaks poking through the top of the clouds.
"You reach the 'single file' ridge between the South Summit and the actual Summit, with the sun rising to your right-hand side from Tibet and casting an enormous pyramid shadow on your left-hand side over in Nepal.
"The 10-year wait was over, and you've reached the Summit of Mount Everest, feeling sheer relief, and knowing all your financial investment and 10-years of training has paid off."
Fox & Lillie sponsored the costs associated with the climb with the trekking company, Adventure Consultants, as well as supplying Nathan with two technical wool garments made by a brand called Rapha from 17.5-micron 105GSM and 125GSM fabric.
These 60 per cent Merino and 40pc polyester blend garments were produced by one of Fox & Lillie's global supply chain partners in the United States, from wool sourced through Fox & Lillie's Genesys program, certified under the Responsible Wool Standard.
Fox & Lillie supplied Nathan with the technical garments because the company wanted to see how they performed under extreme weather conditions, with the blend of Merino and polyester recommended for their thermal and wicking properties, to provide both warmth and to wick moisture.
Mr Anderton also packed some Merino garments from the well-respected brand, Icebreaker, with a higher GSM composition.
He said that his experience wearing wool on the mountains was extremely positive, with the garments providing upper body sun protection and sufficient warmth, excellent wicking properties and not smelling at any stage, unlike the synthetic alternatives.
Mr Anderton summited Mount Everest at a reported minus 20 degrees Celsius, wearing his Mountain Down Suit and nothing more than Merino thermal leggings and a Merino long sleeve top underneath.
"Tashi, my climbing Sherpa was very surprised when I started unzipping the down suit vents while we were climbing the summit to allow extra air flow in for cooling wearing nothing more than my thermal layer underneath," he said.
