Teenager sets Everest record
18/05/2007 12:57  - (SA)  

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Sherpa sets Everest record Everest's Hillary in hospital Queue grows to scale Everest

Kathmandu - A 19-year-old American woman has made it to the summit of Everest, becoming the youngest foreign woman to scale the world's highest peak, Nepali officials said on Friday.

Samantha Larson from Long Beach, California, reached the 8 848m summit on Thursday, Tourism Ministry official Khadananda Dhakal confirmed.

The feat also makes her the youngest person to scale the highest peaks on all seven continents.

The youngest person to have reached the summit is Ming Kipa Sherpa, a 14-year-old Nepali girl who climbed from the Tibetan side in 2003.

A brief window between the spring and summer monsoon season means that most climbers tackle Everest in May, and officials said at least 66 climbers have reached the summit in the last three days.

Some 550 are attempting the peak, which was first climbed in 1953 by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary.

Three climbers including two South Koreans and a Sherpa guide have been killed on the mountain this season.

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