Australian mountaineer, Steve Plain has become the fastest climber to scale the highest peaks in seven continents in just 117 days. The 36-year-old has completed the 'seven summits' challenge after scaling the 8,850m summit of Everest, the world's tallest mountain. Plain set the record on Monday, four years after breaking his neck in a surfing accident. With the recent achievement, Plain has become the first person to reach the highest mountain on each of the world's seven continents.

He and two team-mates left the last camp to make their final ascent for the Everest summit on Sunday. Iswari Paudel of Himalayan Guides Nepal, which organised logistics for Plain's Everest ascent told AFP, "Steve reached the summit this morning with Jon Gupta and Pemba Sherpa." According to the report, Plain's GPS tracker also showed he has been at top of the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) mountain.

In a blog update on Sunday, Plain wrote, "We are now resting at camp 4, for a few hours at least. Our plan is to set off this evening aiming to reach the top early tomorrow morning. Time to get this finished off." The previous record for the fastest ascent of the seven summits was set in 126 days by Polish climber Janusz Kochanski last year.

However, there is a controversy on which mountains should be among the list of the highest continental summits. While on lists states that Australia's Mount Kosciuszko makes the list, while the other list defines the Carstensz Pyramid 4,884 metre climb in Indonesia as the highest peak of the Australian continent. And Plain climbed both.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 15, 2018 12:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).