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British mountaineer Kenton Cool has defended his decision to take Sir Richard Branson's son Sam to the summit of the Matterhorn, despite the 29-year-old old falling ill with severe altitude sickness.

The 40-year-old managed to guide Sam to the top of the mountain during a recent charity climb, even though Branson began struggling to walk and had difficulties breathing as they closed in on the peak.

The pair battled on before Cool finally called for a helicopter to airlift Sam off the mountain after they had both reached the top.

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Sir Richard Branson's son Sam was taken seriously ill with extreme altitude sickness as he neared the summit of the Matterhorn in Switzerland during a recent charity climb

British mountaineer Kenton Cool radioed for a helicopter to take Sam Branson back down the mountain

Cool, who has reached the summit of Mount Everest 11 times during his illustrious climbing career, said he expects criticism for his decision not to send Sam back down the mountain when the effects of the altitude first began to show.

'I have no doubt that people will say it was a poor mountaineering decision to take Sam to the top,' said Cool. 'But honestly, the effects of the altitude took hold really quickly – only half an hour or 40 minutes at most.

'When we got around 200 meters from the top, Sam started to slow up. I started to notice this as we approached the shoulder of the mountain.

Sam Branson is airlifted from the summit of the Matterhorn

Sam Branson was struggling to walk and breathe as the group closed in on the peak of the 4,478m peak

The group managed to help Sam (yellow jacket, middle) conquer the final 200m before he was airlifted down the mountain

'Sam said to me "I don't feel good, I feel nauseous". As soon as someone says "nauseous" at high altitude you start thinking "this could be altitude". 

'It was a pretty rapid deterioration after that. He started to dry heave, the colour began to drain from his face and he slowed right down.

'Sam is a very emotional young man and the emotion may have been a little overwhelming for him. He was in tears, he thought the opportunity to summit was evaporating before his eyes.

'We gave him a pep talk and perhaps told him that he had an obligation to those around him!

'But I knew by this time that to get Sam down safely was going to be a mammoth task, bordering on the impossible. I was already thinking that we would have to call a rescue in. There was no way we were getting the boy down.'

At this stage Branson was struggling to breathe properly and on the verge of losing consciousness.

'But we were so close by this stage, and by the time he got to the top he just collapsed and was heaving his guts up,' said Cool. 'Emotionally he crumbled at this point. 

'It was the fulfilment of a dream, a challenge. It was a remarkable day, a triumph on every level.'

Remarkably, mountaineer Kenton Cool managed to help Sam reach the summit before radioing for a helicopter

Mr Cool, who is the founder of mountain and ski guide company Dream Guides, was recruited by Sam Branson to join the Virgin STRIVE challenge which has been raising money Big Change, a charity founded by six friends including Sam Branson, Holly Branson, and Princess Beatrice. The charity raises funds to help young people develop life skills.

The event involved travelling from London's O2 to the top of the Matterhorn in Switzerland. 

The different legs of the journey saw the group complete three marathons from London to Dover, rowing the English Channel, cycling 900km to Verbier before finally hiking seven days across the Alps in a bid to reach the top of the 4,478m peak.

Sam Branson (centre ) with Noah Devereux (left) and Stephan Shanly (right) at Summit

Mr Cool said that the ascent of the Matterhorn had been hit by adverse weather conditions meaning the group almost didn't attempt the ascent at all.

He said: 'Nobody had been summiting and the local guides weren't even entertaining an attempt on the mountain. But it is hard to put into words just how much energy and team spirit there was. I've got a reputation, along with the other guides working with me, for pulling off the impossible.

'We waited several days for the conditions to improve before leaving camp at 3am. Things were against us all the way up. The Hornli hunt near the base of the mountain was shut so we had to start our ascent 600m lower down the mountain.

'We still thought that if we got to the Solvay hut about half way up that would be a good result.

The group's ascent to the summit of the Matterhorn was undertaken as part of the Virgin Strive Challenge

'But people were moving fast and efficiently and we started making progress upwards. When we got half way up confidence just started to grow and we felt we were going to summit.'

Gloucestershire-based Mr Cool currently holds the record for the most amount of Everest summits by a European climber, having reached the peak 11 times.

In 2012 he took one of the 1924 Olympic Gold Medals awarded to the 1922 British Everest Expedition to the summit of the 8,848m Himalayan peak, resulting in Lord Coe personally thanking Cool and his team for 'kick starting the 2012 Olympic Games'.

In 2009 he successfully led explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes to the top of the mountain while in 2013 he and his climbing partner Dorje Gylgen became the first people to attain the Everest Triple Crown; summiting Everest, Nuptse and Lhotse in the space of just seven days, a feat previously thought impossible.

Dream Guides founder Mr Cool currently holds the record for the most amount of Everest summits by a European climber, having reached the peak 11 times

He now says he hopes to mount another record-breaking expedition next year by summiting the world's three highest mountains - Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga - within three months. It means he will have climbed a total of almost 60,000ft in 12 weeks if he is successful. The only people to have summited all three mountains have previously taken five years to complete the challenge.

He added: 'We are calling it the "Himalayan Trilogy". It will be a real test of human endurance and a huge mental challenge. I think it will take me to some pretty dark places while I'm on the mountain. And such a huge amount of time away from home where I have a young family, that is going to be really testing.'

Mr Cool has also revealed that a wealthy client once offered him a six-figure sum to take them to the summit of Everest, although he declined the offer after fearing that the individual would not make it to the top.

He said: 'My hit rate on Everest is way up there. The average success rate for most people going up there is around 50 per cent. My success rate is about 82 per cent. I don't want to jeopardise that by taking someone up there with an open cheque book and no climbing experience. I'm not interested in that.

'The buzz words at the moment are "adventure tourism". Some people are guilty of promoting Everest as the ultimate adventure tourist spot. I tried to promote Everest as the ultimate adventure.

'It has nothing to do with tourism. I want people to go to the mountain and look at it with the same eyes that I look at it with. I want them to fall in love with it like I have.

'Of course I have been approached by wealthy people. There is one person who does spring to mind. 

'He was very keen to climb Everest. It would have been expensive, put it that way, because I work one-on-one. I was once misquoted as saying "if you want to climb Everest with me, it's £500,000".

'That was a bit over the top. But I suppose it depends on how much you are willing to put on fulfilling your dream, and some people have more financial clout than others.'