Gauteng entrepreneur Lysle Turner is poised to become the youngest South African to summit Mount Everest at the age of 25.
Turner, who has strong family ties in Queenstown, leaves on Tuesday on a 60 day expedition to the world's highest peak.
He hopes to plant the South African flag, and that of his charitable cause for Huntington's Disease, on the top of Everest around the 20th of May.
Turner first climbed Kilamanjaro at the age of 13 and has conquered the Swiss Alps, the Andes and the Rockies.
He's never set foot on Everest before and is excited that three years of planning is finally coming to fruition.
"You can't be naive to the kind of environment you going to be exposed to. With a lot of experience you kind of become accustomed to that and know when to listen to your gut feeling. I consider high hazard not high risk, a lot of things are measured in approach, there's no doubt that there are dangers and we are aware of them but I know there's a little angel sitting on my shoulder and there's a bigger plan for me." say Turner.