Mountaineer Alan Hinkes is to tackle one of the world's highest peaks - wearing a snorkel and flippers.

He will attempt to scale Mauna Loa, on the island of Hawaii, but his adventure is starting underwater.

Measured from its base on the sea bed, the peak is 1.2km - higher than Mount Everest, which stands at 8,700m.

Mr Hinkes, from Northallerton, North Yorkshire, will not start the ascent from the sea bed, but just below the surface.

He said: "Other people have climbed the mountain, but haven't started below the water line, so this might be a first."

His previous climbs have been dogged by bad luck. In 1998, he sneezed on chapati flour and slipped a disc while climbing Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth highest mountain.

And he recently climbed Monta Roas, in the Alps, with a broken toe after banging it on a doorway.