An eight-year-old has revealed how he’s climbed the equivalent of eight Mount Everests. Charlie Batham, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, spends his weekends climbing all over the UK with his father, Paul.
The father-and-son duo have tackled Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, and Snowdonia, as well as visited the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales, and the Lake District.
Speaking to the BBC, Paul, 54, 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… I couldn’t be any prouder. What he’s done, at the age that he’s done it, is unbelievable.’
I can’t believe I’ve done so much,’ added Charlie, who said his eventual aim is to climb Mount Everest, the highest mountain above sea level.
Charlie has climbed more than 232,260 feet (70,792m) after summiting over 200 different peaks in just under four years across the UK.
He said: ‘I love doing it to explore and tick the peaks off, and I love seeing the different animals and wildlife that we wouldn’t find at home.’
Charlie caught the bug for adventure when he turned five and asked his parents if he could reach a summit to celebrate his big day.
He has since conquered Britain’s tallest peaks, including Scafell Pike (3,210ft) in the Lake District, Yr Wyddfa (previously Snowdown, 3,560ft) in North Wales, and Ben Nevis (4,413ft) in the Scottish Grampians.
Charlie bagged his eighth ‘Everest’ on Chrome Hill, in the Peak District, with his father Paul, who logs the heights he’s climbed.
But the proud father thinks he’s actually covered far more ground than he’s recorded after he gave up documenting mountains they’d climbed more than once.
Paul said, ‘If there’s anything to climb, he’ll climb it regardless of whether it’s 200 feet or 2000 feet—he’s like a mountain goat.
‘At five years old, we couldn’t stop him, and even now, he’s the same. Sometimes if we’re going anywhere, he’ll lead me, and I’ll have to follow him up the routes now.
‘We go up to the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales pretty much every weekend, and he just climbs and climbs, so I don’t even put all of them down any more.
‘In reality, he may have climbed up to 100,000m (328,084ft). So far, he’s definitely done eight Everests, but he may have done nine or ten in reality.’
The primary school pupil, who lives with his father and mother Donna, 53, near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has now travelled hundreds of miles in search of new mountains.
Childminder Paul said Charlie had never asked to go home during a hike, with the pair only forced to cut short their trips due to bad weather on three occasions.
But he said his toughest challenge was reaching the top of the UK’s tallest mountain, Ben Nevis, sitting 4,411 feet (1345 meters) above sea level on the West Coast of Scotland.
He said, ‘That was probably the hardest one in terms of determination and endurance for him. It’s ten miles, but it’s five miles up and five miles down. It was a very hard climb.’
‘Scafell Pike was also hard because the weather was absolutely atrocious. We got halfway, and there were a lot of people turning around. But we said “Let’s give it a go”.
‘There was a really heavy stream. I had to throw Charlie over my shoulder and carry him. It was between my knees and waist. Then the bad weather, the mist and the rain came in.
‘There were some tears but he wouldn’t give up, and we did get to the top of both with him.’
Paul said he’d spoken to Guinness World Records when Charlie climbed his first ‘Everest’ but they had told him he couldn’t be recognised as he was too young.
He said, ‘I entered him into Guinness World Records – the youngest person to climb higher than Mount Everest.
‘They said, “We can see you’ve done it all, but we can only classify it as a sporting endurance award. We can’t give it out until he’s 16.” But since then, Charlie’s done it another seven times.’
Guinness World Record guidelines state: ‘It is not permitted for individuals under the age of 16 to attempt or hold records that are considered unsuitable for minors.
‘Anyone between the age of 16 and 18 must provide consent from a parent or guardian to attempt these records.’
