Worthing pensioner climbs Mount Everest – without leaving his block of flats

Paul Mason, 75, climbed 29,030ft, the height of Mount Everest, up and down the stairs of Balmoral Court in Grand Avenue, Worthing.

The retiree completed his epic feat on May 29 – the anniversary of the first official summit in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay and, more importantly, his wife’s birthday.

Paul said: “Being over 70 I realised I wasn’t really going to be able to go out so I’d be putting on weight, so I thought why not give this a go?”

Inspired by the British Heart Foundation’s Stair Challenge, where people are encouraged to take the stairs at work, Paul started out climbing 20 floors a day but was soon taking on 80 at a time.

Knocking off up to 660ft every day, Paul easily completed his challenge on his May 29 target.

Having lost a stone of weight, he said his next challenge is to keep the weight off.

With a fourth floor flat at the new Bayside Apartments waiting for him, he said he hoped to keep the momentum going and choose the stairs over the lift in future.

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