Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

It is an impressive thing to swim for long periods of time. It is an especially noteworthy feat that few people who weigh 200 kg (440 lbs.) are capable of.

It is something entirely different to support that same weight climbing up a mountain.

But if there is anyone who can do it, it is American sumo wrestler Kelly Gneiting.

Gneiting completed a 22-mile (35.4 km) crossing of Navajo Lake last year from Navajo Dam in New Mexico to the Colorado side of the lake in 22 hours 46 minutes. Now he has set his sights on realizing his dream of scaling Mount Everest.

He is currently focused on training in the Chuska Mountains, then climbing Mount Whitney (at 14,505 feet or 4,421m), Denali (at 20,310 feet or 6,190.5m), and then Mount Everest (at 29,029 feet or 8,848m) as he says, “Losing weight to get down to a healthy 300 pounds.”

Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association