Snowdon: Amputee Paul Ellis' 13-hour crawl to reach summit

A man who has had both his legs amputated has completed a 13-hour crawl to the summit of Snowdon.

Paul Ellis, 56, from Widnes, Cheshire, said he was in good spirits after completing the nine-mile (14.5 km) Llanberis route on Friday.

He has so far raised more than £3,000 to send amputee children on holiday.

Mr Ellis suffered a spinal injury in a fall in 1992, leaving him in excruciating pain and unable to stand for more than few minutes at a time.

In 2008 he chose to have both legs amputated below the knee to gain more mobility.

The married father-of-two said: "I did the first three miles in about three hours... the last two miles took me more or less nine hours probably."

He said passers-by kept him going: "I've got a few blisters on my stumps, blisters on my hands... you're putting your wrist down all the time so my wrists got quite sore.

"But with all the support of the people on the mountain saying 'come on you can do it', that spurs you on.

"People are so generous, I ran out of water twice and people gave me water and food as well...

"I enjoyed it actually, it was a good day."

It was a big relief to reach the top: "I was made up," he said.

After reaching the summit, Mr Ellis then spent the night at the top of Wales' highest mountain.

Two members of the charity Amp Camp then brought his prosthetic legs to him and helped him walk back down on Saturday morning.

The first Kids Amp Camp, aimed at building fitness and confidence after an amputation, will take place in February, and will allow six children and their families to go on a paid holiday to Tenerife.

Mr Ellis also climbed Ben Nevis with a group of 10 other amputees earlier this month.