Former soldier climbs 15 mountains in less than a year – with a fridge strapped to his back
A former soldier from Stafford has climbed 15 mountains in less than a year to train for the three-peaks challenge – all completed with a fridge strapped to his back.
Michael Copeland trekked 26 miles up Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon whilst carrying the weight of a 25kg fridge in an effort to raise money a mental health charity.
When training for the climb, the 38-year-old took the fridge up 15 mountains in 10 months, and even took it to the gym with him, which he said resulted in several "funny looks".
Michael said he was inspired to take on the challenge to encourage people to talk about their feelings, describing the weight of the fridge as a metaphor for mental health.
The father-of-two has so far raised more than £5,000 for the mental health charity, Mind.
He said: "When I joined the army it was all new because I joined as a kid, and then when I came out I felt lost and I struggled a bit then, I didn't have that direction. Then I found body building which gave me the structure and routine and discipline back, (but) when lockdown hit and the gyms had to close, it was the same feeling again.
"The idea of the fridge was almost to have a visual representation of the burden that mental health can have on us. It was a way for me to make people talk – it's done the job, I can't believe how far it has reached.
"When I first started this 10 months ago I climbed Snowdon with a fridge full of beer to raise awareness for mental health. I wanted to come up with a creative way to raise awareness for mental health.
"I've never actually done the three peak challenge before this without a fridge, let alone with a fridge, so it was quite an achievement to actually do it – I was quite proud and emotional."
Completing the climb in 23 hours and 50 minutes, Michael said he had to "dig deep" for motivation when climbing Snowdon in the early hours of the morning, with just a head torch to light the path in front of him.
Michael, who is a lorry driver, added: "Ben Nevis was okay, we did it in four hours and 19 minutes and then it's a six and a half hour drive to Scafell Pike from Ben Nevis, and my legs just didn't want to work so that was really tough.
"But the real challenge was we got to Snowdon at three o'clock in the morning and the heaven's opened. The actual climb up Snowdon in the dark with a head torch was a really challenging moment.
"When we were going up Snowdon, we had an hour and 32 minutes to get back down to do it in 24 hours, so we actually ran down it when we could. I think that was a point where we were really struggling, I really had to dig deep then. I started to think about all the people sponsoring me and what I was doing it for."
