Teenage climber sets sights on Himalayan peaks challenge

Image source, Alasdair McKenzie

Image caption, Alasdair McKenzie hopes to conquer 14 peaks
At a glance
  • The 18-year-old aims to tackle a total of 14 peaks
  • He has already conquered two - the next 12 could take a year
  • The teenager admits it will be a "lot of hard work"

A teenage climber from Aberdeen has set his sights reaching the summit of all 14 of the 8,000m (26,247ft) peaks in the Himalayas.

Alasdair McKenzie, 18, has already climbed two, Lhotse and Makalu.

With those already under his belt, he now aims to tackle the remaining 12 starting in September.

It is expected this challenge could take about a year to complete.

Image caption, The teenager plans to start the remaining 12 peaks in September

It is believed the 8,000m peaks challenge has only been achieved by a few dozen people but the teenager would be the youngest to finish it.

Lhotse, one of the two achieved so far, is the fourth highest mountain in the world.

Alasdair has set his sights on conquering Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world, as the next part of his quest.

鈥淚 am very excited to be continuing this journey, reaching the summit of each of the 14 mountains would mean the world to me," the young climber said.

"When I climbed Lhotse, I realised that reaching the peak of this mountain wasn鈥檛 enough.

鈥淚 know it will be a lot of hard work, but I am up for the challenge. Being on the mountains has become my life, and I cannot wait to get started again.鈥