A British climber has become the youngest woman to climb all of the world’s highest peaks.
Adriana Brownlee, 23, reached the 8,027m summit of Shishapangma in Tibe at around 8am on October 9 to become the youngest woman to climb all 14 of the 8,000m peaks.
She is only the second Briton to complete the feat after quitting university to pursue a career in mountaineering.
As she reached the top of the mountain located in southern Tibet she admitted that she become overwhelmed with emotion as she made her way into the history books.
‘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,’ she told the Times.
Adriana Brownlee, 23, (right) has become the youngest woman to climb all of the world’s highest peaks
She is only the second Briton to complete the feat after quitting university to pursue a career in mountaineering
Three years ago she climbed Everest as she set herself the challenge. She is now believed to be the 64th person in the world to scale all 14 peaks
‘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 fourteen 8,000m peaks and made history.’
Three years ago she climbed Everest as she set herself the challenge. She is now believed to be the 64th person in the world to scale all 14 peaks.
Her most difficult climb came in 2022 when she tackled K2, which is widely regarded as the most dangerous mountain to climb and it has even earned the nickname ‘Killer Mountain’.
Ms Brownlee, who is now the youngest woman to climb K2, previously said that they were playing ‘Russian roulette’ with falling rocks on their ascent and warned that K2 ‘shouldn’t be seen as a tourist attraction’.
She also became the youngest person to summit Gasherbrum 1 without supplementary oxygen.
Only 14 mountains in the world are over 8,000m above sea level and all are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges.
They include Everest (8,849m), K2 (8,611m), Kangchenjunga (8,586m) and Lhotse (8,516m).
Explaining her obsession with mountains, Ms Brownlee say it started when she completed the three peaks challenge, climbing Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis in 22 hours, at just eight years old.
Her most difficult climb came in 2022 when she tackled K2, which is widely regarded as the most dangerous mountain to climb and it has even earned the nickname ‘Killer Mountain’
She also became the youngest person to summit Gasherbrum 1 without supplementary oxygen
K2 – pictured from overlooking town Askole in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan -as the nickname ‘Killer Mountain’
At 8,848 meters (29,032ft) Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world
She added that her childhood dream was ‘be famous for climbing the highest mountain in the world’.
Speaking to the BBC about her decision to leave university, she said: ‘I quit university and my degree to pursue a career in mountaineering and sacrificed friendships, regular teenage life and more, but it was all worth it.
‘I hope to inspire youngsters all over the world that there is no set path in life.’
The first British climber to complete the 14 peaks was Alan Hinkes who sent his congratulations to Ms Brownlee.
He described it as a ‘remarkable achievement’ to complete all the peaks in under four years.
Mr Hinkes told the Times: ‘It took me seventeen years. None of these giant mountains are easy or safe and she has shown extreme dedication, as well as enduring a lot of suffering and risk to complete all the 8,000m peaks.’