Mountain man: Georgie Stewart
A student who learned to climb on Scotland's mountains is to mount a bid to become the youngest Briton ever to conquer the highest peaks on every continent, it was announced on Friday.
Geordie Stewart, 20, who studies History and Theology at St Andrews University, has already climbed the highest mountains in North and South America, Africa and Europe.
He will head to Kathmandu on April 3 to prepare for his next challenge tackling Mount Everest - the world's highest mountain.
Geordie, described by legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes as "an ambitious young man with genuine determination", will spend around six weeks on the 600million year old slopes, and aims to reach the 8848 metre high summit between May 19 and 21.
But he said he developed a love of hill walking from his Scots dad, Hugh, a venture capitalist from Keith, in Banffshire, and honed his skills on Scotland's hills and mountains.
He said: "I grew up in Hampshire but we used to visit my family in Scotland a lot and I spent a lot of my time in the hills.
"We'd go to Banffshire; the Scottish Borders; the Cairngorms where we'd ski, and also around Fort William - I climbed Ben Nevis for the first time with my father when I was 11-years-old.
"It was very exciting to reach the summit of Ben Nevis at that age, and I have no doubt it inspired me. I've loved climbing ever since.
"But I was 17 when I started to dream of becoming the youngest Briton to climb the real Seven Summits - the highest mountain on each of the seven continents.
"To date I have climbed the highest in North and South America, Africa and Europe. Everest has been a dream of mine for many years and I will be attempting the Northeast ridge route on my way to the top of the world."
Geordie is taking a year out from university to complete the challenge, which he has funded himself by coaching youngsters at football in his spare time - and will celebrate his 21st birthday on May 5 half way up Everest.
Everest is among the most dangerous mountains in the world, and has claimed dozens of lives. Its biggest challenge is the "Death Zone" above 8000 metres, where the body can no longer acclimatise and human life becomes unsustainable.
To make it to the top, Geordie will need to spend weeks acclimatising to dangerously low levels of oxygen.
But he is already well-prepared for the challenge. In 2008, he became one of the youngest Britons ever to summit Aconcagua - the highest mountain in South America standing at 6962 metres - before reaching the peak of Kilimanjaro on his 19th birthday.
He then reached the highest point in Europe - Mount Elbrus in Russia. And he recently completed Denali, the highest mountain in North America and his hardest challenge to date.
Geordie's efforts will also raise money for Help for Heroes, a fundraising body for wounded servicemen.
