Lancashire man first Brit to go from Death Valley to Denali

Endurance athlete Oli France's latest feat took place from March 23 to June 3, starting in Death Valley in California and finishing at the summit of Mt Denali in Alaska.

Mr France cycled the 3,500-mile journey from the continent's lowest point - 86 metres below sea level - to the base of Denali, before undergoing a four-week climb to the top.

Alaska's Denali, formerly known as Mount McKinley, has a reputation for being the world's coldest mountain due to its high elevation of 6,190m and subarctic location.

The summit often experiences temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius.

Death Valley is one of the hottest places on Earth (Image: Moon Flower Books)

Each year, permission to mount the icy terrain is granted to only 1,000 climbers, with less than a third succeeding.

Mr Francis is among only four men this year to scale Denali from the foot of the mountain - most climbers are air-lifted to base camp 2,154m up.

During the expedition, Mr France and his team navigated treacherous glacial fields, weathered gale-force winds, and grappled with freezing rivers.

The weather patterns even forced a five-day halt to their journey while they waited for a storm to pass.

In one harrowing incident, one of Mr France’s team members fell into a crevasse but was saved due to the men being roped together.

On the day he reached the summit, one climber died on the mountain and another group had their camp "torn to shreds".

Mr France's achievement is part of his record-breaking challenge known as 'The Ultimate Seven'.

He aims to be the first person to travel from the lowest geographical point to the highest on all seven continents solely using human power.

The ambitious venture will require Mr France to navigate deserts, jungles, ice caps, mountain ranges, and oceans on foot, bike, ski, and kayak.

He's previously cycled 1,600 miles from Djibouti to Tanzania and scaled the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro.