A Norfolk man's incredible story of a mountaineering adventure gone awry has been immortalised in film by a major Hollywood studio.
Ben Halms - a former paratrooper from Norwich who was disabled in a freefalling accident six years ago - was scaling a Himalayan peak when he was cut off from rescue by a freak weather event.
More than 6,000m above sea level and with nothing but the clothes on his back, Ben and his team battled to survive the frigid elements and sub-zero temperatures for the next 36 hours.
"We didn't set out to do it but we got more than we anticipated that day," he said.
"It reached minus 25C at one point and some of us were coughing up blood, it was very frightening."
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The epic ordeal was captured by the group videographer and turned into a documentary called The Mountain Within Me by Universal Pictures, one of Hollywood's leading movie studios.
It follows the journey of Ed Jackson, a former professional rugby player turned charity founder who was diagnosed as quadriplegic after diving into a swimming pool's shallow end.
Ben's own journey of recovery began in 2018 when he was serving in the British Army Parachute Regiment and his parachute failed to deploy properly during a routine jump, hurtling him at 75mph towards the ground.
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He suffered a burst fracture and spinal cord damage. With no initial feeling from the waist down, he was told by surgeons that he was unlikely to walk again.
But defying the odds, he was able to recover some mobility and joined Ed in being the first person with spinal cord injuries to climb over 6000m.
"After my accident, I had very little purpose but the expedition was life-changing," he said.
"Not only have I exceeded other people's expectations, but I have also exceeded my own."
The Mountain Within Me releases was released in cinema's on August 23.
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