Man completes record-breaking mountain challenge after climbing 742 times in one year

A man has climbed south Wales' highest peak for the 742nd in the last year - bringing his record-breaking challenge to an end.

Chris Daniel has been hiking 886m (2,906ft) up to the peak of Pen y Fan and back down again two times per day on average.

Known to his social media followers as Pen y Fan Dan, Daniel took on the challenge in April in memory of his wife Rita, who died from bowel cancer.

Before setting off on his final journey, Daniel said he would "like to think the mountain will be crying today because we're splitting up".

When he set off for his first climb on 5 April, Daniel, from Merthyr Tydfil, was aiming to beat the previous record of 365 climbs in one calendar year, set by Des Lally in 2019.

But he smashed that, with 366 climbs in just 171 days and decided to set himself a new target of 730 walks in a year.

Daniel said after starting he has met thousands of people on the mountain who have offered words of support.

The conditions however did make it difficult for him to meet his target and he described the winter months as "really, really tough".

"There were months of insane rain, hail, and when it hits you up there you have to wear ski goggles.

"The weather forecast on the mountain is very, very irregular so you can go up there thinking it's going be okay," he told Radio Wales Breakfast.

Daniel said he will not be climbing the mountain again "unless it's sunny" in the future.

Chris' wife, Rita, was diagnosed with a rare form of bowel cancer in 2012 when she was 48. She died in 2016.

Daniel previously said: "She spent so much of the last few years of her life campaigning to stop other people going through this terrible disease.

"I'm just trying to keep her, and so many other people I've met who are doing similar, their amazing legacy alive."

So in Rita's memory, he walks the same route from the Pont Ar Daf car park to the peak at 886m.

He described the mountain as a place he "loves" because it was where he and others have been able to come together with the sole purpose of getting to the top.

Daniel said he hoped the challenges he has taken on will inspire people.

"I've gone out and told people what I was scared of to try and encourage people to do the free bowel screening test, which is available from the age of 50 onwards in Wales.

"Even now, a third of people aren't doing that and it's an absolute life-saver," he said.

Prior to his Pen y Fan challenge, he was holding Nicaraguan tarantulas and "being strapped to biplanes and doing loop the loops" to overcome his arachnophobia and acrophobia.

"The very last thing I was doing was climbing Pen y Fan 50 times and I absolutely hated it, because I'm a cyclist.

"On the 25th climb, Des joined me and told me his story. On the way down I thought 'Wow, I want to have a crack at this'.

"I trained for nine months and 741 climbs later here I am."

Lally has previously spoken about feeling emotional as he prepared for his final climb and Daniel expects to have a similar feeling.

"I was up here [Pen y Fan] yesterday and there were so many people on the mountain from all over the UK.

"That got me going and I've always told my amazing followers, who have been there for me all the way, that we're all climbing this.

"I've already been in floods of tears. There'll be more water coming out of me today than the mountain."