A BROUGHTON man has climbed dozens of mountains all over Europe in aid of charity.

Quantity surveyor Adam Stevenson, 28, said he was a "complete novice" mountain climber six months ago.

But a friend set him a challenge which he is now just weeks away from completing - climbing the highest points in all countries of geographical Europe.

The gruelling task entails reaching the summit of 48 peaks in 50 countries.

If that wasn't tough enough, Mr Stevenson set himself the limit of six months to accomplish the feat and said he is well on his way halving the current world record for the challenge.

He still has seven countries to visit and hopes to complete the final one by September 20.

In addition to challenging himself, Mr Stevenson has also been raising awareness for the mental health charity Mind, as well as raising money.

He explained: "It was a friend's idea and I took him up on it.

"We were going to do it together but unfortunately he had a back injury on our first mountain, so I have carried on by myself.

"I was a complete novice about six months ago, before I started.

"I can definitely see progress and I feel very proud of that."

He said his favourite climbs so far have included Dufourspitze in Switzerland (4634m) and Mount Olympus in Greece (2918m).

"We had a beautiful sunrise in Switzerland," he explained.

"It was technically the hardest climb on the list because there was a lot of technical rope climbing involved."

Speaking of his journey overall, Mr Stevenson said: "It has been amazing.

"I am hoping to expand my work when I come back to include more mountaineering."

Mr Stevenson has so far raised more than £350.

Anyone who wishes to donate can do so by visiting: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/adam-europeanpeaks

For more information about his challenge, visit www.europeanpeaks.com/