A British adventurer has said he felt he was “cycling into treacle” as he faced extreme winds riding across South America and low oxygen levels summitting the highest mountain on the continent.
Oli France, 34, from Wigan in Lancashire, marked the third leg of his mammoth challenge named the Ultimate Seven Project with the aim of cycling across the lowest geographical point before climbing the highest point on seven continents.
The expedition leader completed his first leg in Africa in September 2023, cycling across Lac Assal in Djibouti before climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and finished his second leg in North America, cycling and climbing from America’s Death Valley to Denali in May 2024.
To mark his third leg, Mr France covered 1,730 miles, starting at Laguna del Carbon – a salt lake in Argentina which sits 105 metres (344ft) below sea level – and finishing at the summit of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, which took 34 days to complete.
The mountain is located in the Andes region and has an elevation of 6,961 metres, which Mr France said was “absolutely exhausting” because of low oxygen levels in the mountains while he carried 50kg of gear and equipment.
“By the time we were on the final summit push, our progress had slowed right down and at that point, due to the thin air, winds and cold, you’re lucky if you can do five or six steps without stopping for a breath,” he told the PA news agency.
“It really is absolutely exhausting.”
The expedition leader said he spent eight to 13 hours cycling solo and averaging 95 miles a day where he battled “49mph winds” and “temperatures up to 43 degrees” across the Patagonia desert.
“The hardest part mentally was the solo ride just cycling into these extremely strong headwinds,” Mr France said.
“It feels like cycling into treacle. It’s like one of those bad dreams where you’re desperately trying to get somewhere and you just can’t make any forward progress.”
Mr France spent 18 days cycling where he encountered snakes, tarantulas, rheas, llamas and armadillos before taking a few rest days so he could join his climbing partner to take on the Aconcagua summit, which they completed in 13 days.
The adventurer admits he experienced “a bit of a wobble” and doubted whether he would reach the summit, but said his main motivation was to inspire his daughter aged four and his two-year-old son.
“When things got really hard, I would imagine a future conversation with my two young children where I said to them, ‘Look, I had a dream once, and I tried it, but it was too hard, so I gave up’,” he said.
“Thought of having that conversation with them was so unthinkable that it just spurred me on to keep going.”
He said reaching the summit was the highlight of his challenge, adding that seeing “the scale of the Andes and being in that environment was really spectacular”.
Mr France said he has “spent my life building towards” completing the Ultimate Seven Project and hopes his challenge will encourage others to chase their dreams.
“There’s a phrase which I repeat often, which is ‘the place you’ll find the most dreams is in the graveyard’ and that’s because so many of us have these hopes and dreams which we never act upon,” he explained.
“This is my dream. This is the thing I’ve spent my life building towards and I don’t want to take that dream to the grave. I want to give it a go.”
The next part of his multi-year project will see him take on Asia, cycling from the Dead Sea and climbing Mount Everest which he hopes to take on next spring.
