Twenty-three-year-old Adriana Brownlee has became the youngest woman to summit all 14 of the world’s tallest mountains.
The Brit reached the summit of Shishapangma (8,027m) on October 9 at 08:01 to claim the title of summitting all 14 8,000m mountains. The epic challenge had taken her just three years and five months.
The final push was emotional. Adriana said: “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 8,000m peaks and made history.”
The summit also makes Adriana the second official British climber to summit all 14 peaks. She added: “British explorers have always been breaking boundaries. I’m proud to set another world first and keep that tradition alive.’’
She joins an elite list of just 64 people worldwide who can claim the same achievement. Earlier this month, we also reported news of the first US woman to climb all of the world's tallest mountains.
The list, in height order, is: Everest (recently adjusted to be 8,849m tall), K2 (8,611m), Kanchenjunga (8,586m), Lhotse (8,516m), Makalu (8,463m), Cho Oyu (8,201m), Dhaulagiri (8,167m), Manaslu (8,163m), Nanga Parbat (8,125m), Annapurna I (8,091m), Gasherbrum I (8,068m), Broad Peak (8,047m), Gasherbrum II (8,035m) and Shishapangma (8,012m).
Adriana, from London, said: “I have always had a love and fascination with mountains for as long as I can remember.”
She first showed her ambitions when she wrote in a piece of primary school homework that her dream was, “to be famous for climbing the highest mountain in the world”.
Her passion for the outdoors was further fuelled when she completed the three tallest peaks in England, Wales and Scotland – Scafell Pike, Snowden and Ben Nevis, respectively – in just 22 hours at the age of eight with her father Tony.
Twelve years later in May 2021, at the age of 20, Adriana reached the summit of Everest. Over the following three years, she continued to set world firsts as she summited peak after peak. She broke two further records, including the world's youngest woman to summit K2 and the youngest person to summit Gasherbrum I without supplementary oxygen.
For her final climb, Adriana wanted to summit without the use of oxygen – making it an even tougher challenge.
She said: “It’s all about intrinsic motivation for me and wanting to push my body and achieve my personal goals. Mountaineering is my escape in life, it makes me feel free and truly connected with myself so it becomes an obsession to go back.’
“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. You can create your own destiny and journey which can be totally unique to you if that’s what makes you happy.“
