A FORMER Royal Marine has climbed a mountain while carrying a full size piano strapped to his back.

Super-strong Max Glover, 33, single-handedly carried the 400lbs upright instrument to the peak of 1,000-foot Garth Mountain.

It took the professional bodybuilder just three-and-a-half hours to complete the endurance charity challenge on Sunday.

Max said his feat was inspired by the 1986 discovery of a church organ at the summit of Ben Nevis.

It was later discovered that the Scottish strongman Kenny Campbell had heaved it up there for charity in 1980.

The piano weighed nearly 400lbs and was carried on Max's back for two miles.

He wanted to raise funds for the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospital, which treated his friend for a genetic lung condition.

After climbing the mountain near Llantwit Fardre, Max, of Penarth, South Wales, said: “I’m feeling a little bit achy today but not too bad. It just feels really great to have done it.”

“The day before, I’d been a bit under the weather and I wasn’t where I wanted to be, and I almost began to defeat myself mentally.

“But then I had a word with myself and said ‘what are you talking about? You said you were going to do it - so you’re going to do it.’

“It’s funny because when you’re actually up there it’s just about putting one foot in front of the other and thinking: ‘I know I can do ten steps, so if I do ten of those in a row that’s 100 steps’, and then before you know where you are you’ve done a kilometre."

Max has reached his £1,000 fundraising target, but has urged people to keep donating.

He added: “The ironic things is that I did it for a charity that helps people with lung problems and spent the whole time out of breath - which actually really put things in perspective.

“My friend Julie, who had a double lung transplant and inspired the whole thing, even said: ‘this is what it’s like for us all the time.' So it's hard to complain.

“The lifespan of a high-tech research lab is about ten years, and the one they have at the Brompton is now a little older than that - so I really hope this helps to raise funds for building that lab and saving lives.”