Climb every mountain

British climber Jake Meyer was in on a high yesterday after scaling every highest peak in all of the 48 mainland US states in a world record time.

Student Jake, 23, and a support team of six pals from Bristol University took 23 days, 19 hours and 13 minutes to complete the amazing marathon.

They drove 12,430 miles and climbed a total of 275,909ft - the equivalent of almost 10 Mount Everests. Standing on the crest of the final peak, Mount Katahdin in Maine, the Army scholar grinned: "I'm on top of the world."

Jake, who started planning the marathon three years ago, added: "We've set the Americans a tough challenge to win back their record."

Mountains scaled ranged from towering 14,497ft Mr Whitney in California to lowly 345ft Britton Hill in Florida. Hawaii and Alaska - which boasts 20,320-ft Mount McKinley, North America's highest peak - were not included.

Jake began by climbing 14,410ft Mr Rainier in Washington State. He had to endure hailstorms, confrontations with grizzly bears and escaped unhurt from a car crash.

Despite blistered feet, and backache from hefting supplies up so many slopes - often at midnight - Jake beat American Ben Jones' record by nearly six days.

His mum Fiona Mitchell, 48, said: "I'm very proud." Last June, Jake, of Rodmarton, Glos, became the youngest man to climb the seven top summits in each continent and the youngest Brit to scale Everest.

What he climbed

ALABAMA Cheaha Mountain 2,407ft ; ARIZONA Humphreys Peak 12,633ft ; ARKANSAS Mt Magazine 2,753ft ; CALIFORNIA Mount Whitney 14,497ft ; COLORADO Mount Elbert 14,440ft ; CONNECTICUT Mount Frissell 2,380ft ; DELAWARE Ebright Azimuth 448ft ; FLORIDA Britton Hill 345ft ; GEORGIA Brasstown Bald 4,786ft ; IDAHO Borah Peak 12,662ft ; ILLINOIS Charles Mound 1,235ft ; INDIANA Hoosier Hill 1,257ft ; IOWA Hawkeye Point 1,670ft ; KANSAS Mount Sunflower 4,039ft ; KENTUCKY Black Mountain 4,139ft ; LOUISIANA Driskill Mountain 534ft ; MAINE Mount Katahdin 5,267ft ; MARYLAND Backbone Mountain 3,360ft ; MASSACHUSETTS Mt Greylock 3,491ft ; MICHIGAN Mount Arvon 1,979ft ; MINNESOTA Eagle Mountain 2,301ft ; MISSISSIPPI Woodall Mountain 807ft ; MISSOURI Taum Sauk 1,772ft ; MONTANA Granite Peak 12,799ft ; NEBRASKA Panorama Point 5,429ft ; NEVADA Boundary Peak 13,140ft ; NEW HAMPS Mt Washington 6,288ft ; NEW JERSEY High Point 1,803ft ; NEW MEXICO Wheeler Peak 13,161ft ; NEW YORK Mount Marcy 5,344ft ;
NORTH CAROLINA Mt Mitchell 6,684ft ; NORTH DAKOTA White Butte 3,507ft ; OHIO Campbell Hill 1,550ft ; OKLAHOMA Black Mesa 4,975ft ; OREGON Mount Hood 11,239ft ; PENNSYLVANIA Mount Davis 3,213ft ; RHODE ISLAND Jerimoth Hill 812ft ; SOUTH CAROLINA Sassafras Mt 3,560ft ; SOUTH DAKOTA Harney Peak 7,242ft ; TENNESSEE Clingmans Dome 6,643ft ; TEXAS Guadalupe Peak 8,749ft ; UTAH Kings Peak 13,528ft ; VERMONT Mount Mansfield 4,393ft ; VIRGINIA Mount Rogers 5,729ft ; WASHINGTON Mount Rainier 14,411ft
; WEST VIRGINIA Spruce Knob 4,861ft ; WISCONSIN Timms Hill 1,951ft ; WYOMING Gannett Peak 13,804ft