A HAMPSHIRE mountaineer was forced to abandon his Mount Everest dream just 500ft from the summit to take part in the dramatic rescue of a fellow climber left for dead.

Myles Osborne helped his guide Dan Mazur save Lincoln Hall from the treacherous slopes of the world's highest mountain after the 50-year-old Australian had been pronounced dead by his sherpas.

Mr Mazur found a motionless Mr Hall alone in the snow at 28,500ft. He had no hat, his snow jacket was torn off, his climbing equipment was missing and frostbite was attacking his hands and face.

He had been left on the mountain after collapsing with altitude sickness and had spent a night alone on Everest without food or oxygen before he was discovered.

Mr Osborne, 26, a post-graduate student from Warsash, was part of a team of four climbers who had paid Mr Mazur more than £16,000 to act as guide to the summit.

His fundraising trip was in aid of the Naomi House children's hospice at Sutton Scotney near Winchester and in memory of fellow Hampshire climber Peter Legate.

Mr Legate, 38, from Lymington died after falling 700 feet into a crevasse on Everest in 2002. His body still lies where it fell.

Mr Osborne, who is studying for a PhD in African history at Harvard University in the US, was hoping to raise around £20,000 for the hospice but had to cut his climb short because of the rescue.

Today his family was anxiously awaiting news that he had returned safely to base camp.

Mr Osborne's mum, Glynis Osborne, told the Daily Echo she had yet to speak to her son about the circumstances surrounding the dramatic rescue.

She said: "I don't know how much he did or whether it was heroic. Obviously he missed the summit. He was in the team that brought Mr Hall down - one of four climbers who Dan Mazur had brought up there."

Mrs Osborne, a keen supporter of Hampshire cricket, said that while attending a match at the Rose Bowl yesterday, fellow spectators had all offered money for the fundraising effort for Naomi House when they had learned of her son's exploits on the treacherous mountain.

She said: "They have given more money at the cricket ground because he is a hero in some ways."

During Friday's rescue, Mr Mazur stayed with Mr Hall until the sherpas and members of other expeditions arrived after giving him life-saving oxygen.

He had spotted the frozen body of the Australian and had seen signs of life after he was thought to have died of cerebral oedema or swelling of the brain which is caused by extreme altitude sickness.

Mr Mazur gave Mr Hall treatment before he, Mr Osborne and the rest of the five-man team helped escort the stricken climber back down.