A 23-year-old has become the youngest woman to climb all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre-plus peaks.
Adriana Brownlee reached the 8,027-metre summit of Shishapangma in Tibet on 9 October, becoming the second British person to complete the gruelling feat. It came three years after Brownlee reached the top of Everest and resolved to climb all 14 of the world’s highest peaks, The Times reported.
As she approached the top of Shishapangma, she told the newspaper: “I started to cry. I hadn’t reached the summit yet, I couldn’t even see it, but I knew it was going to happen. It took another hour before we reached the incredible summit. By this time it was just sunrise and we had a beautiful clear sky. It was the most incredible moment. I cried again remembering that I had just summited all 14 8,000-metre peaks and made history.”
Fewer than 100 people have climbed all 14 peaks, all of which are in the Himalayas and Karakorum. The peaks are Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri I, Manaslu, Nanga Parbat, Annapurna I, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II and Shishapangma.
Brownlee, who grew up in London, is said to have laid out her ambition as an eight-year-old at primary school, writing: “I would like to be famous for climbing the highest mountain in the world … and be one of the youngest girls to do this.”
Brownlee's achievement comes hot on the heels of the news that a Nepalese eighteen year old, Nima Rinji Sherpa, became the youngest man to summit all 14 of the world's highest peaks.