DESPITE narrowly escaping death in a mountain accident two years ago, Wiltshire climber Duncan Whichello is fearless in the face of his next challenge to scale one of the world's highest peaks

Last Saturday, the adventurous 34-year-old, of The Pippin, Calne, travelled to Peru as part of a ten-man team scaling the 22,000ft Huascaran mountain.

Mr Whichello, a lorry driver at RAF Lyneham, will spend two weeks acclimatising in the Peruvian mountains, before embarking on the three-day expedition to the summit.

He said he doesn't fear a repeat of his adventure two years ago, when he narrowly escaped death after being swept away in a landslide 11,500ft up in the Swiss Alps.

Mr Whichello was left bleeding with a broken arm and severe bruising when the landslide sent him flying 60ft across a mountain ridge mid-morning on July 22 2000.

He had dislodged a boulder on a ledge and lost his footing.

His friend Gerry Simeons slammed his ice axe into the snow to stop Mr Whichello's fall and he was also sent tumbling.

Bruce Goodlad, a guide attached to the pair, stopped them from falling further, but nobody could use their mobile phones to call for help as they could not get a signal.

The group descended around 300ft, with Mr Whichello's friend, Udai Banersi, a doctor at The Royal Marsden Hospital in London, tying a tourniquet around his arm.

A guide walked alone further down the mountain to radio for help. About four hours later, the group met a rescue team and were airlifted to safety.

Mr Whichello and Mr Simeons spent four days in a Swiss hospital before returning home, and Mr Whichello spent about two weeks at Bath's Royal United Hospital.

"An accident has happened once and I know it could happen again," said Mr Whichello, who took up climbing six years ago.

"The chances of a similar thing happening again are slim but I'll have to be on my mettle because on the higher peaks, anything can happen.

"Udai will be with me again this time, and it's going to be a real challenge.

"Hopefully we'll have no repeat of the drama from last time."

The climber has been in training for about six months, running with 20lb backpacks on the Wiltshire Downs and cycling up to 13 miles a day.

Last year, Mr Whichello conquered Mont Blanc, the mountain he had planned to climb before the accident.

In February, he went ice climbing in Ben Nevis, Scotland, with Mr Banersi and Scott Mountfield, who also scaled Mont Blanc last year.

Mr Whichello said during the coming weeks his thoughts would be with wife Louisa, 32.

"There's going to be very limited contact with her this time because of the area we're in, and I know she'll be worrying, but she's very supportive," he said.

In Peru, Mr Whichello will encounter freezing conditions, glaciers, crevasses and snow bridges.

"This is serious high altitude mountaineering," he added.

"If things are going to go wrong then at this sort of altitude, they will go very wrong.

"If we get to the top, which of course we aim to do, I would think we'll spend as little time as possible up there, because it is going to be absolutely freezing."

Mr Whichello is due to return to Britain on August 22.

He should be back in Calne on August 23.

dvaller@newswilts.co.uk