Australian mountaineer Steve Plain becomes fastest man to scale Seven Summits of the world

An Australian mountaineer who survived a broken neck has become the fastest man to conquer the highest mountains on each of the world’s seven continents.

Climber Steve Plain on the crater rim at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

An Australian mountaineer who survived a broken neck has written himself into the record books, becoming the fastest man to conquer the highest mountains on each of the world’s seven continents after he reached the summit of Mount Everest this morning.

GPS tracking indicates Steve Plain of Perth summited the 8848 metre high mountain around 6am, accompanied by his UK guide Jon Gupta and Pemba Sherpa.

“Words simply can’t begin to describe what I can see & how I am feeling - it’s very emotional!!’’, a post by Jon Gupta on the group’s Facebook page says.

“This is the 3rd time for me & 1st for Steve - but more importantly this means Steve makes history by smashing the world speed record for completing the 7 summits!!

“Totally epic & absolutely incredible - the best feeling in the world...yes we are crying!

Right - now then, lets get down safely!’’

Climber Steve Plain on the crater rim at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Plain broke his neck after being dumped by a wave at Perth’s Cottesloe Beach in 2014. The accident left him with multiple fractures to the C2, C3 & C7 vertebra, a contorted spinal cord, ruptured disc, dissected arterial artery, and torn ligaments. Doctors told him he might end up in a wheel chair.

Determined to recover he set himself the goal of walking from his hospital bed and climbing the seven highest summits of the world.

“Lying in that hospital staring at the ceiling with the thought that I may not be able to walk again and do some of the things I wanted to do, I decided right there to give myself some focus in the rehab process,” he said last year.

Steve Plain reaches the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Since January, Plain has climbed Mt Vinson in Antarctica, Aconcagua in South America, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Carstensz Pyramid in Papua New Guinea, Mt Elbrus in Russia, the highest peak in Europe, and Denali in Alaska, North America’s tallest.

By scaling Everest this morning he beat the previous Seven Summits record by eight days that had been set last year by Polish climber Janusz Kochanski, who took 126 days.

Steve Plain takes in the snowy European panorama from the summit of Mt Elbrus in Russia.