82-year-old Brit sets new world record for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro

LONDON - Buckinghamshire George Solt has become the oldest man to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa’s Great Rift Valley at the age of 82.

According to The Independent, Solt took up the challenge with his son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren, one of whom is 12 years old, in memory of his wife, Jen, who died last year.

The money he raised by doing the climb will go towards Willen Hospice in Milton Keynes, where his wife spent her final days.

“It’s great, I can say I’m a world record holder and have done something no one else has ever done,” the paper quoted Solt, as saying.

It took the group six days to get up and two days to get down Kilimanjaro.

Solt prepared for the climb for months, using weights, cycling hard and walking.

The hardest part was the “headaches, nausea and plain tiredness”.

When he reached the top of the 5,895m peak, Solt said, he was “totally blank and exhausted. I was just glad to be able to turn around and get down again”.

Solt is five years younger than Frenchman Valt�e Daniel who, at 87, claims to be the oldest man to have climbed the mountain. But Daniel’s climb has never been recognised by the Guinness Book of Records, who insist on certain rules being followed in order for a climber’s claim to be accepted. (ANI)