Schoolboy climbs equivalent of eight Everests

A schoolboy from Yorkshire has climbed the equivalent to eight Mount Everests.

Eight-year-old Charlie, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has hiked the huge tally by spending his weekends climbing with his dad Paul.

The duo, from Altofts, have been all over the country and tackled some of Great Britain’s highest peaks, including Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike.

Speaking to the BBC, Dad Paul said: “For his fifth birthday, we’d booked a holiday to Anglesey and we asked him if there’s anything he’d like to do while he was there. He said he’d like to climb a mountain and it all stemmed from there.

“It just escalated and escalated where he virtually wanted to go out every week to climb something new.

“We ended up going through the Yorkshire Dales, and the Peak District, the Lake District, up to Scotland, into Snowdonia. Down to the Malvern Hills. We ended up going all over the country and it’s still ongoing now.

“I can’t even remember how many in total that he’s done, but he’s done 200 different ones.”

Asked what his favourite, stand-out climbing memory is, Charlie replied: “Ben Nevis. I met a lot of interesting people and it was full of snow.”

Paul added: “I couldn’t be any prouder. What he’s done, at the age that he’s done it, is unbelievable.”

With over 200 ascents complete, they don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Charlie’s eventual aim is to one day conquer the actual Mount Everest.