'I'll run marathons despite losing toes'

Edinburgh student Alex Johnson was airlifted off the mountain after becoming stranded while climbing with a friend. Now he is raising money for Medecins San Frontieres by taking part in the Coastal Trail Series.

The 24-year-old had been climbing in the French Alps for a week early in 2006 when he and a friend decided to go for one last climb.

They were at an altitude of around 4,000 metres when things started going wrong, he said: "My friend was getting hypothermic, it had been a tiring week and the altitude does funny things. He dropped his ice axe and we got to a point where I was getting cold as well and we decided it would be a bit foolish to carry on. It was starting to get dark so we phoned Mountain Rescue – amazingly we managed to get a phone signal, but in winter it's too cold for the helicopter to fly at night."

They had left their emergency equipment in a snow hole at the beginning of the climb, so with nothing but bread, water and a few chocolate bars to sustain them, they dug a ledge in the ice and perched on it for 13 hours, chatting to keep one another awake.

The physiology student, who lives in Fountainbridge, said: "The problem is the windchill. You could say it would have dropped to about -35C with the wind, but it's probably best not to know exactly how cold it was. People always ask 'were you afraid?', but you don't think like that. You think you're sitting here, there's not much you can do, but it never really entered my head that we were in danger."

The next morning, the mountain rescue helicopter winched them to safety.

Mr Johnson said: "They took my friend in, but I seemed OK and they just let me go," he said. "I went to McDonalds and had about four Big Mac meals and thought 'My feet are still pretty numb', so I took my boots off and half my foot was totally frozen. It was like getting frozen chicken out."

He spent several weeks in hospital in Chamonix before being flown back to Plymouth, where he lived at the time. Doctors said he would have to wait for the damaged toes on his right foot to drop off of their own accord, but when he contracted MRSA they decided to amputate his big toe and the two toes next to it.

"The first time I ever saw my foot without my toes was on my 21st birthday, which I spent in hospital," he said.

He spent some time adjusting to walking again, but is now up and running, and more than halfway through his marathon challenge, which takes place over seven months in Devon and Cornwall.

Although his injury means he cannot run quickly, he has enjoyed getting fit once more and raising funds for Medecins Sans Frontieres. He said: "I just think it's a really good cause. I tried to do it for Chamonix Mountain Rescue, but they're a military organisation so it got a bit complicated, and MSF seemed like a good option."

To sponsor Mr Johnson, see http://original.justgiving.com/alex7x7x7