Mad Dogs and Englishmen:

We sneak over the locked gate and into the forbidden zone. It is early morning but already the volcano before us is sliced in half by a vast white cloud, the summit swallowed. We haven’t been moving for more than five minutes when we spy a truck. We duck behind thornbushes and then creep along an embankment trying to get a view. There are five men marching single file through the volcanic moonscape. They must be official---they had a key to get their truck through the gate. If we’re spotted, we will be immediately arrested.

“We need to circle around,” whispers Ginge Fullen, who has many years of evasion skills. Ginge is bald-headed, built like a wrestler and has a heavy Yorkshire accent. He was born in Nigeria, grew up in England and has been around the world dozens of times. He’s the only person I’ve ever met who has been arrested in more countries than I have.

This is the story of our illegal ascent of the Soufrière Hills stratovolcano in the Caribbean.

Top Left: Fullen, who has climbed to the highest point in 171 countries—more than anyone in history—is a man of extremes. Here he celebrates atop Scotland’s Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in the British Isles—in a historic diving suit

Top middle: Peak-bagging is Fullen’s passion. But being a clearance diver—removing unexploded ordnance at sea—is his trade.

Top Right: Along the way, Fullen has summitted 53 high peaks in Africa and suffered a tragicomical list of medical issues. And yet he keeps going.

Bottom left: Fullen has refused to let armed rebels, heart attacks, various diseases, government restrictions and other obstacles obstruct his quest to the top.

Bottom right: Fullen is not easily deterred. Here, with helicopters hovering overhead, he hides somewhere on the Soufrière Hills.