A six-year-old boy has climbed the UK’s 12 highest mountains, to raise money for children’s charity.
Oscar Burrow, from Lancaster, has climbed the equivalent of scaling Mount Everest, for Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley.
The plucky lad has already scaled Scafell Pike, Snowdon, and Ben Nevis respectively – the highest peaks in England and Wales and Scotland.
Oscar said he has undertaken the challenge as he wants “poorly children to go on holiday”, and has told his father Matt, that he now wants to be the youngest person to climb Mount Everest.
Oscar said ahead of his Ben Nevis climb: “It’s the biggest mountain in the UK and there might be snow on the top.”
The young climber was given a special award by staff at Derian House, which provides respite and end-of-life care to more than 400 children across the Northwest of England, as a thank you for his hard work.
“I got a very special badge and I want to take it to school,” he said, adding: “I want poorly children to go swimming on their holiday.”
Oscar said he liked climbing Glyder Fawr, in Snowdonia, because “it was really steep and you have to climb up sections with your hands”, adding that he found climbing Cairn Gorm, in Scotland, the hardest because of the deep snow: “We made a giant snowball bigger than me and rolled it down the hill!”
His father Matt said: “Oscar has always been active, he plays rugby, swims, rides a bike, he has this crazy endurance and never-ending energy.
“He had been learning about Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the first men to conquer Mount Everest, in school and decided that he wanted to be the youngest to ever conquer it.
“I explained to him why this might be a little bit tricky, but I didn’t want to dash his dreams, so we came up with a plan to climb the highest mountains in Great Britain.”
Oscar has also been accompanied on his quest by his 37-year-old mum Kim, and grandad Mark, 67. His three-year-old sister Ada has also joined the team on some of the climbs
Kerry Pritchard, from Derian House, thanked Oscar for his fundraising efforts, saying: “Oscar is very brave and we’ve been enjoying seeing photos of him at the top of each mountain.”
