COTSWOLD mountaineer Kenton Cool is preparing to honour a pledge made almost 90 years ago to the founding father of the modern Olympic Games.

On his tenth ascent of Everest, the record-breaker from Quenington, near Fairford, will carry an Olympic medal, awarded to one of the first explorers that attempted to reach the mountain’s peak.

By leaving the medal at the summit, 38-year-old Kenton will fulfil a promise made by Lt Col Edward Strutt, one of the leaders of the British expedition team that came within 500 metres of Everest’s summit in 1922.

After two years of planning for the challenge, Kenton was thrilled when the news was unveiled this week.

“We have been researching the 1922 story for a couple of years,” he said. “There are a couple of medals in museums but the rest are privately held.

“We tracked down some of the family members of the 1922 expedition and asked them what they felt about us fulfilling the pledge. We were contacted by the grandson of Arthur Wakefield who knew nothing about the pledge but got quite excited when he found out about it.

“He is obviously very proud of his grandfather and very kindly entrusted his medal to me.”

The 1922 pioneers were forced to turn back on their third attempt at the summit when seven Indian porters were killed in an avalanche.

But their achievements were commemorated when Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the International Olympic Committee, presented members with the first medals ever awarded for mountaineering in the 1924 Winter Olympics in France.

It was here that Lt Col Strutt swore to the French baron that he would leave his medal at Everest’s peak when he next climbed the mountain.

Kenton, who has also been chosen as an Olympic torchbearer, said that when he found out that the pledge had never been fulfilled, he knew he had to take on the challenge.

At the age of 46, Dr Arthur Wakefield was the oldest to take part in the 1922 climb.

“What they did in 1922 totally re-wrote the books,” Kenton added. “At the time people thought all sorts of things like that your brain would boil at that kind of altitude. They were really breaking into the unknown.

“The project has been all-consuming for the past six months so it will be a very emotional trip this time, particularly those last few steps to the summit.”