A British climber rescued after trying to climb Mt Blanc in a tracksuit on his birthday has insisted to MailOnline he was 'well prepared' but admitted 'maybe it wasn't a good idea' – as he revealed he thought he had 'died' on the peak.

Aerospace engineer Feda Hussein, 26, was discovered at 10,170ft by alpine rescue teams with his body temperature at 25c – the normal reading is 37c.

He had spent the night in freezing temperatures on the Italian side of the peak which straddles the French border and is the highest in Western Europe.

Officials have revealed he was wearing a tracksuit, hiking boots and his tent was a simple tarpaulin which had become useless in the bone numbing stormy conditions – with him just 'five minutes' from dying.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from his hospital bed in Aosta, Feda denied he had been under prepared and said: 'I got lost and the weather turned which made things worse for me.

I did have the right gear, I had crampons, a harness and rope with me, it's just when they found me all my gear was covered with snow. It's all still up there, I'd taken my crampons off so I could get in my sleeping bag.

'I will admit it was pretty scary up there – at one point I thought I had died. I remember I called the rescue teams around 5pm to say I was in trouble and they said I had to stay put as the weather was too bad for them to pick me up.

'We stayed in touch for a few hours and then I remember calling and saying "Don't worry, I'm going to die in a minute" and then I blacked out. The next thing I remember is waking up in hospital.

'They told me my body temperature had dropped to 25c and that I was five minutes from dying when they found me.