Pair to highlight inaccessibility of hiking spots with Snowdon wheelchair climb

Two disability advocates aiming to set a world record for the fastest climb up Mount Snowdon in a powered wheelchair while raising awareness of the inaccessibility of hiking spots have said they are “really excited”.

Josh Wintersgill, 30, and Maxwell McKnight, 19, who both have spinal muscular atrophy, have raised more than £27,000 so far for Spinal Muscular Atrophy Charity UK.

Mr Wintersgill, based in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, told the PA news agency that the pair will be taking on the challenge in all-terrain wheelchairs with the assistance of “quite a big team” in June.

Maxwell McKnight (left) and Josh Wintersgill (right) are preparing to climb Mount Snowdon (GFX Media NO/PA)

Mr Wintersgill, the founder and director of Able Move, which creates products for wheelchair users, said the challenge was “doable with the right support network around us, which we will have”.

“What I’m trying to do is highlight that with the right equipment, people with disabilities that need to use these pieces of equipment can access the outdoors,” he said.

The pair met at a spinal muscular atrophy activity weekend near Bristol and “connected really quickly because of our love for nature and the outdoors”, Mr McKnight, a student based in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, told PA.

Mr Wintersgill has used his all-terrain wheelchair to do several climbs but has encountered man-made obstacles which have sometimes made his path inaccessible.

He said: “I purchased one of these all-terrain wheelchairs about a year-and-a-half ago, after one of my friends told me that they don’t feel they would be able to go out walking with me because it’s not accessible and it just wouldn’t be the same.

“I thought, well, why shouldn’t I be able to go out and explore the outdoors and do things.”

One of his first climbs was to Pen y Fan in Wales but after arriving he found that the only pathway had a stile and a locked gate, which he could not get past.

The Mount Snowdon challenge will be the first time Maxwell McKnight will use the all-terrain wheelchair ‘out and about’ (GFX Media NO/PA)

“We literally had to turn around and drive all the way back home, so I wasted five hours because of a padlocked gate,” said Mr Wintersgill.

“Fast forward about four months or so and Pen y Fan actually announced that they have a dedicated onsite team now so we went back, and we managed to successfully do the climb.”

Mr Wintersgill said there are lots of kissing gates and other obstacles in his area, which makes certain trails inaccessible to wheelchair users.

“As a wheelchair user, I’m not able to go on those routes because of these man-made structures that stopped me from being able to pass through,” he said.

The Mount Snowdon challenge, called Know No Bounds, will be the first time Mr McKnight will be using the all-terrain wheelchair “out and about”, he said.

He took geology for his GCSEs but “couldn’t really explore the outdoors” with his classmates due to the type of wheelchair he had, so Mr McKnight is excited by the opportunities opened up by the all-terrain wheelchair.

Josh Wintersgill successfully climbed Pen y Fan in an all terrain wheelchair (GFX Media NO/PA)

“These wheelchairs won’t only help people’s mental health and ability to explore the world, but they’ll also help people’s educational lives,” he said.

“I’m feeling really excited about the challenge to hopefully change somebody’s life within the community.

“Everybody should be able to explore nature by themselves and have the freedom to go outside and not to worry about the safety of themselves.”

Pascale Harvie, president and general manager at JustGiving, said: “Josh and Maxwell’s Know No Bounds campaign is extraordinary.

“In less than three weeks they have raised a phenomenal amount of money for SMA UK and have increased awareness of the many difficulties that people in wheelchairs face everyday.”

To donate to their JustGiving fundraiser, visit justgiving.com/campaign/knownobounds .