A FORMER soldier has climbed three mountains in one day - including Yr Wyddfa - with a 25kg fridge on his back.

Michael Copeland, 38, scaled the three highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales in under 24 hours to raise cash for the mental health charity Mind.

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The former Grenadier Guard conquered the Scottish peak Ben Nevis before scaling Scafell Pike in the Lake District and then Yr Wyddfa in Eryri National Park in just 23 hours 50 minutes.

Michael set off on his tough climb on Saturday (29/4), starting the first mountain at 6.54am.

He completed the triple mountain climb at 6.44am on Sunday (30/4) and raised over £5,000 for his mental health charity.

During the three peak challenge, Michael had to overcome grueling weather conditions and obstacles on the way – including heavy rain, snow and 40mph winds.

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The ex-serviceman even had to run the last hour of the challenge to make sure he was able to get down from the top of Yr Wyddfa, which he refers to as Snowdon below, to complete the challenge in under 24 hours.

Michael, from Stafford, said: “The biggest challenge was the timings between the mountains.

“The fridge aimed to illustrate the burden of carrying mental health issues around.

“The whole challenge felt like a movie with the changing weather conditions.

"It was a bit of a struggle. We had heavy rain, 30-40mph winds as we were going up Snowdon so it almost felt like a grown adult was trying to push me over.

“Climbing Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike was okay as there wasn’t any wind however, when we got to the top of Ben Nevis we were met with 12 inches of snow and minus conditions.

"We got to the top of Snowdon and we realised we had an hour-and-a-half to get back down.

"It was very dramatic, we had to run for the last hour to make it on time.

"I was running with the fridge on my back, it was banging against my back and it was very uncomfortable, but I couldn't not finish it.

“We ran down all the parts of Snowdon which were safe to do to complete the challenge in under 24 hours.

“I felt like Forrest Gump.

“The whole challenge was mentally demanding. I had no sleep and the fridge was very awkward to carry.

“You could stand upright with it on so for the whole challenge I had a hunch back."

Michael began hiking and exploring the outdoors after lockdown to help with his own mental health.

The dad-to-two added: "The challenge was all about promoting mental health and positive outlooks.

"I don't have PTSD from the army, but a lot of my friends do and I have family members that have suffered badly with their mental health in the past.

"When I came out of the army just before the birth of my second son, I felt very lost and found it hard to get back into society.

"This is when I started bodybuilding and I did this for 10 years.

"But when lockdown hit, I stopped, and I needed to find something else to keep me in routine and to look after my mental health and this is when I found hiking.

"I overthink everything I do and for me this challenge was part of helping me to find a positive outlook on things and to try and stop worrying about what I can't control whilst raising money for a good cause.

"A few weeks before the challenge I was struck down with a nasty stomach infection and I lost loads of weight and then a week before my challenge my mum had two heart attacks.

"So the lead up to the challenge was tough and these incidents meant training stopped early.

"I think I am one of the first to do the three peaks with a fridge on my back and people keep telling me I should apply for the Guinness World Records."