Brothers both under the age of 10 may have become the youngest pair of siblings to climb Mount Everest, and it was all just part of their normal family holiday.

Fording a swollen icy river across a makeshift bridge of ladders, 5000m up in the Himalayas, is just the O’Donnell family’s equivalent of going on a beach holiday as they completed their annual visit to Nepal this August.

Jon and Karen O’Donnell, who live just off The Ridgeway, Wimbledon, have always gone on adventurous vacations, and the arrival of their three sons Aidan, 11, Tobin, eight and James, six has done little to alter that attitude.

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The family cross a river on a makeshift bridge

For the past 10 years the family has holidayed in Nepal, exploring the remote and largely untouched country which saddles the Himalayan mountain range.

Mr O’Donnell, 46, who works for IBM, explained that the five typically avoid the Everest region because of the number of tourists it attracts, but work and school commitments forced the family to holiday in late August, the end of monsoon season.

He said: “We asked advice on the best area to go, and were told Everest.

“We would usually go to lower heights – particularly when the boys were younger, and even as we set out we didn’t intend to go to Base Camp.”

He explained that when they arrived in Lukla Airport on August 14, the area was so quiet they decided to brave the touristy region and venture up the mountain.

However as they neared the site, about 5,400m above sea-level -approximately four times the height of Ben Nevis – a nearby river burst its banks, causing a delay to their plans.

Mr O’Donnell said: “All the water came rushing down from the glacier slope. We hadn’t planned to stop there, but with this we had an extra day and decided to go to Base Camp.”

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Mount Everest

Helped by their guide, the family began scaling the glacier, watching ice flows and rock falls around them, and even having to create a bridge fashioned from two ladders lashed together to cross a swollen river.

Mr O’Donnell said: “It was only after we left on our way back that I started thinking 'I wonder if our boys are the youngest to ever get there.'”

He added that his early research suggests James, who attends Wimbledon Common Prep School isn’t the youngest to make the journey, but James and Tobin, who goes to Kings College with his older brother, may be the youngest pairing at a combined age of 14 years and two months.

The family returned to the UK on Monday and Mr O’Donnell has said he is planning on looking into it further to see if his boys have made history.

He said: “It was never part of our plan – we don’t go seeking records – but it would be a nice little claim.

“We get a few raised eyebrows when we talk about our holidays, but our sons are used to it.

“If we take a walk to the shops, you’ll get the same complaints, but with some lively chatter, and armed with a football, they are able to manage six or seven hours a day.

“It might seem strange but going to Nepal is our equivalent of going to the beach.”