There will not be another chance — the weather has legislated against that, as the snow monsoon season begins — and he will be devastated at what he will almost certainly regard as his failure.

Sir Ranulph’s heart problems were the immediate reason for the decision. His double bypass in 2003 means that he has had to listen to his heart, quite literally, throughout the long stay on Everest. He has been on oxygen while sleeping since arriving at Advanced Base Camp and his climb has had to be much slower than that of others, as he has been forced to stop when his pulse rate rose.

Last night it was still not clear exactly what went wrong 27,300ft (8,400m) up that unforgiving mountain, but the strain on his cardiovascular system has proved to be too much.

His bitter disapointment will not be for himself: he has told me repeatedly in the weeks we have spent in frustration at Advanced Base Camp waiting for a window in the weather that he cared little for the title of Everest summitteer.

But he will feel that he has let down the British Heart Foundation, for whom he was making this odyssey and for whom he wanted to raise £2 million.

The two-month wait put enormous pressure on his body. At these heights, the extreme conditions make even the fittest man’s body deterioriate as each day passes. The extra strain on the cardiovascular system of a fit man is three times that at sea level, even if he is only sitting still. We all worried, as each day passed, that the “rotting” of our bodies, as Sir Ranulph put it, would put paid to the summit attempt.

As it was, he and his fellow climbers — Mark Campbell, of South Africa, Jens Bojen and Ian Parnell, of Britain, and Neal Short, the assistant leader of the Jagged Globe expedition — set out last night with enormous optimism.

Shortly before they set off from Camp 3, Mr Short said: “We are all eating and drinking well, Norwegian cereal and Mars bars mainly. The Sherpas are confident about Ran’s ability and have been awesome in their tenacity and support. We would not be here without them.”

The team spent three hours making the arduous ascent from the North Ridge at Camp 2, crossing on to the expansive slab of the North Face to Camp 3, the springboard for their summit attempt. Camp 3, the highest mountaineering camp in the world, is one of the most desolate spots in the Himalayas: the tattered remains of long-abandoned tents and the rubble of mountaineering equipment that has accumulated from George Mallory’s time litters the rock.

Having nervously rested there for only five or six hours, the team then set off again. It is likely that the exertion of that difficult ascent took its toll on Sir Ranulph’s system; the six- hour rest was probably not long enough for his body to recover for the climb.

The expedition had already been overshadowed by the near-tragedy that had happened earlier in the day, when fellow climber Sibusiso Vilane, a member of their sister team who had reached the summit yesterday, disappeared on the way back. Sibusiso, the only black man to have conquered Everest, was eventually found alive but disorientated at 26,250ft where he had been without oxygen for five hours after losing contact with his group. It was a reminder that the descent from the summit is more hazardous than the ascent as fatigue takes its toll. Perhaps it was this memory that forced Sir Ranulph to abort his climb. It will be seen by the mountain community as a wise and courageous decision. Duncan Chessell, who has led 35 expeditions to the Himalayas, said: “For a 60-year-old man to make it even this far is extraordinary.

“You would expect only 50 per cent of climbers to reach anywhere near this high, especially during this season.

“Sometimes, even when you know you are in difficulty, it is harder to turn around than it is to push on.”

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