A Melburnian has become the youngest person to climb the highest mountain and volcano on every continent

A Melburnian has become the youngest person, and the first Australian, to scale the highest mountain and highest volcano on all seven continents.

37-year-old Dan Bull was officially recognised this month by Guinness World Records, after climbing Mount Kosciuszko in January.

He was joined for the final climb by his whole family, including his 99-year-old Nan and his father, who was recovering from a hip replacement.

“It was pretty special saving Kosciuszko for last… and for them to join me. I know Nan has always been up for a challenge so to me it wasn’t too surprising but a lot of people are impressed”, Dan told 3AW’s Denis Walter.

Completing the challenge hasn’t been easy, and Dan has had some near misses. There’s an incident which happened while he was descending Mount Everest which he said was particularly frightening.

“I was quite exhausted and needed and break and to sit down… I remember looking to the left to someone sitting next to me in a very similar position, and then looked a little closer and realised that they were actually dead and had been sitting there for a couple of years… that kind of hit home and basically shook me into getting up”, he said.

Despite the risks, Dan is already planning his next challenge. He’s hoping to break the world record for the highest altitude swim by swimming in the world’s highest lake, Ojes del Salado, on the Chilean-Argentinian border.

The water in the lake hovers between 1 and 2 degrees, which Dan says will be a challenge.

“I have been practicing by taking ice baths in the evening and have managed to get down to 5 degrees which I can tell you is pretty intense, but I hear that each degree colder in that range is exponential in terms of the impact.”

He said that he’s not sure if he’ll keep chasing “I’m already looking forward to being back here at sea level back in Australia, looking at water that isn’t covered in snow or ice”, he said.

Press PLAY below to hear Denis Walter’s full interview with Dan Bull.