Boy to scale Mount Everest Base Camp for food bank

Jake and his son Rio are both attempting the 15-day challenge to Mount Everest Base Camp in November

An eight-year-old boy is set to attempt a gruelling 15-day trek to Mount Everest Base Camp and back with his father while raising money for a food bank.

Rio's inspiration was first piqued at the age of five when he watched Bear Grylls on TV scaling different mountains across the world.

The schoolboy from Derby has already conquered Yr Wyddfa - also known as Snowdon - Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike and the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge, but has now set himself the mammoth task in the Nepalese Himalayas.

His father Jake told the BBC: "The mountains have brought us closer."

Rio's father Jake said their adventures had brought them closer together

From every challenge he's done, Rio has collected snow from the top of each peak he has climbed and the resulting jar of water sits on his bedroom shelf as trophies.

Along with scaling the UK's tallest peaks, Rio has also completed the gruelling 24km (14m) Fan Dance Race Series - used as part of the wider SAS selection test.

Listen: Spondon boy to travel to Everest Base Camp

A march is staged over Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in the Brecon Beacons.

Rio will "always remember his ninth birthday" as it falls during the excursion in Nepal, his father added.

Rio has completed a number of challenges already in preparation

Jake, who has some experience with the outdoors, said it had been taken to a new level with his son's hobby.

"I've always tried to let him lead the way in his own life and we'd just come along for the journey - he says he wants to do something and we try and make it work," he said.

"We started small with Scafell Pike, which is a big challenge for some people, but he smashed it to be fair.

"We started getting into winter climbing because Rio loves the snow and likes to get layered up... the most recent one was in the Cairngorms."

Jake said in that particular challenge, the pair camped out in -10C (14F) conditions but it did not faze Rio, who had to encourage his father along the way.

"I wasn't scared [in the Cairngorms] I was just asleep," Rio said.

"The best thing has been to share this journey together... the mountains have brought us closer... I'm super proud of him," Jake added.

Rio said he took inspiration from Bear Grylls to get into mountaineering

Rio said he wanted to raise money for "people who can't afford food".

All of his fundraising efforts will go towards supplies provided by the Reach Community Grocery in Derby.

Asked what his school friends think of his challenge, Rio said: "They think I can't really do it, they think it might be a bit too hard."

But he added his teachers had been really supportive.

Rio has also had a chance to meet his hero Bear Grylls at a festival he attended last month.

The adventurer signed his book and took part in a basic survival skills event.

But sadly, Rio said he did not have time to tell him about his challenge.

Rio said he loved scaling peaks in the freezing weather