Everest 14 team Douglas Barbaro Sant, Raphael Fenech Adami, Gregory Attard and Matthew Xerri landed safely at Malta International Airport yesterday. Photos: Matthew Mirabelli

Drained, dehydrated and oxygen-deprived, members of the Everest 14 team were haunted by hallucinations as they forced their weakening bodies down the world’s highest mountain.

As they made their way down from the summit, the team was swept by a fierce blizzard, forcing them to seek refuge in an abandoned tent.

“One of our worst moments was being stuck for 30 hours without food, water and oxygen in a tent we gate-crashed at Camp 2 at an altitude of 7,800 metres,” expedition leader and medic Gregory Attard, 37, recalled.

“We were stuck at the gates of what is called the death zone alone and without our Sherpas, who had made their way down.”

With parched skin and sunburnt cheeks standing as testament to being ‘kissed’ by the mountain, the four Maltese climbers returned to their families’ embrace yesterday after scaling the towering peak.

“When the cheeks of a climber are burned and blistered after a climb, the Sherpas refer to this phenomenon rather poetically as the ‘Everest Kiss’”, Dr Attard explained, amidst friendly taps on the back and admiring handshakes.

However, Douglas Barbaro Sant, 37, reminded that Everest could never be truly conquered.

“As you’re navigating your way up the summit, you see bodies of people from past expeditions. It’s a constant reminder that Everest decided to grant you a safe passage.”

As you’re navigating your way up the summit, you see bodies of people from past expeditions. It’s a reminder that Everest decided to grant you a safe passage

Raphael Fenech Adami, 52, was a mere 200 metres short of making it to the summit.

He was stricken by altitude sickness, which affected his balance, prompting Dr Attard to advise him to turn back with his Sherpa.

“Our biggest success was not reaching the summit, which was nice, but returning home safely and in one piece,” Dr Attard said.

“We have also gained the respect of the mountaineering community, as we were one of the relatively few teams who successfully made it this year.”

On the best of days, Mount Everest is a challenging mountain which slowly sucks one’s energy.

However, this year, mountaineering expeditions were given a particularly rough ride.

At least 16 Sherpas were killed in a massive avalanche which swept the area known as the “Popcorn Field”, in the southeast ridge route from Nepal.

While the Maltese team, which also comprised Matthew Xerri, was not directly affected as they were taking the northeast ridge route from Chinese-ruled Tibet, they were plagued by consistently bad weather and fierce winds.

One of the most deeply frustrating moments for the entire team occurred two weeks ago, when problems with the Chinese route-fixing team threatened to shatter their dream of summiting the mountain.

The red tape and bureaucracy meant that the team was forced to miss out on an optimal weather window between May 17 and 18.

“When we learnt that the ropes to the summit weren’t in place, we feared we had missed our shot altogether,” Dr Attard recalled.

“Our Everest expedition was turning out to be just one long and expensive trip to Tibet.”

After summiting, the team made the first few hundred metres sharing one oxygen cylinder.

However, at 8,300 metres, the cylinder was completely depleted.

Suffering from hypoxia, or lack of oxygen, the four men began to hallucinate.

“When I was ascending the summit, I was lucid enough to momentarily look around me and take in the beauty of the surroundings,” Mr Xerri, 26, recollected.

“You see neighbouring peaks which are massive when you view them at sea level but which appear small when you look at them from above.”

The monsoon season began as soon the team descended, blanketing the mountain in deep snow.

Asked what his next adventure will be, Dr Attard said he would concentrate on “the most important things in life” – to the obvious relief of his partner.

However, upon being prompted, he admitted he had been toying with the idea of a mountaineering expedition in the South Pole for a long time. Watch this space...