In January 1999 Andrew and his friend Jamie Fisher got caught in a storm after having climbed the north face of
Les Droites in the
Mont Blanc massif. Having made it up the north face the two men were beset by snow, winds of 90 mph and temperatures of -30 °C, for the following four nights. On the last night Fisher died of hypothermia. Despite having developed frostbite, Andrew survived the experience, being helicoptered off the mountain by the French rescue services. His ordeal was featured on the documentary series ''
I Shouldn't Be Alive. The episode is titled Death Climb'' and first aired on 26 January 2011.
After amputation Amputation of all four limbs was necessary to save Andrew's life from
septic shock. After he recovered from the surgery, he spent several months in rehabilitation. After his first walk (with no hands or feet) up
Blackford Hill Andrew took part in
skiing,
snowboarding,
paragliding,
orienteering,
running,
hill walking,
caving,
rock climbing and
mountaineering. He has walked up
Ben Nevis, raising £15,000 for charity in the process, run the
London Marathon in 2001 raising £22,000 for charity, made many ascents of 4,000 m peaks in the Alps and climbed
Kilimanjaro with three other disabled mountaineers raising £5,000 for charity. In 2007 he partnered with another quadruple amputee,
Olivia Giles, to create the charity
500 Miles (named after
the song). They were given permission to use the name by
The Proclaimers. The charity was launched to fund prosthetic care abroad. In 2012 Andrew climbed the Olympic Stadium of the
London 2012 games as part of
Channel 4's "Meet the Superhumans" campaign to launch the
Paralympic Games. Andrew gives talks throughout the UK and in 2004 published the book
Life and Limb which tells his story. According to Andrew his challenge for the future is his young daughter and twins. In April 2014 he was a guest on the
BBC Radio 4 programme
Midweek. Seven Summits with boparfet. On 4 August 2016, Andrew climbed to the top of the
Matterhorn in
Zermatt, accompanied by two local mountaineers. ==Personal life==