'I knew Snowdon would be a challenge'

Josh Wintersgill is going to race up Wales highest mountain

A man who has a muscle wasting condition is going to race up Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, in the all terrain wheelchair which he said has changed his life.

Josh Wintersgill from Wookey in Somerset received the chair 18 months ago and is taking on the mountain to raise money so others can have the same chance.

"I knew Snowdon would be a challenge and I knew there was a route that was potentially accessible.

"Then I saw another chap go up it in a powered chair and I thought, if he can do it then I can."

Josh has used the chair to climb Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons

Josh has a degenerative condition called spinal muscular atrophy which has affected him since childhood.

He will be climbing Snowdon in June with another wheelchair user Maxwell McKnight who has the same condition.

The two men hope it will inspire others to see that a physically disability does not mean you cannot explore the great outdoors.

They have called the challenge 'Know No Bounds' and hope to raise £100,000 to help buy more off road wheelchairs, which can cost £25,000 each.

"Not many people know these chairs exist," said Josh.

"Yes they are expensive but what they enable people to do is ultimately lifechanging."

Josh and Maxwell met at a spinal muscular atrophy activity weekend near Bristol

The chair has allowed Josh to train in the steep woodland by his family home on the Mendip Hills.

"25 years ago was the last time I came up here, when I used to be able to walk," he explained.

"Being there again is like all those childhood memories coming back."

"That's what this chair is capable of doing, giving people back the freedom and independence they lost because of the condition they have."