Bianca Adler Sets Mount Everest Record as Youngest Australian
Bianca Adler became the youngest Australian to reach the summit of mount everest on Wednesday, capping her second attempt at the 8,849 metre peak. The 18-year-old Melbourne high school student reached the top nearly 6.30am Melbourne time, nearly 2.30am Nepal time, before resting at camp 4 and preparing to head down to camp 2.
Bianca Adler at 8,849 metres
Adler reached the summit with her guides, Pemba and Ngdu, and said from the top that she was feeling "really good but the weather is really bad". Later, she said the descent was harder than the climb up, adding that she had to be far more careful moving through the upper mountain.
She described the stretch from the South Summit to the summit as "really technical at parts" and said there were large queues with about a dozen people in the area. In a post on the family’s site, she said it was "so it was pretty tough getting around them while staying clipped in".
Paul and Fiona on Everest
The climb carried family history as well as personal payoff. Adler’s father, Paul, climbed Mount Everest in 2007 and her mother, Fiona, reached the summit in 2006. The couple received a letter from then prime minister John Howard while they were reaching the summit.
This was Adler’s second attempt. She turned back 400 metres from the summit in May last year because of strong winds, later describing that decision as "extremely tough" and saying, "But I always want to choose life over a potential summit."
Nepal Spring Permits
Nepal’s department of mountaineering reported that 410 foreign climbers had been issued permits for the spring season, which ends this month. The fee to climb Mount Everest is US$15,000, putting Adler’s ascent into a tightly controlled season where every successful summit comes after a long permit and logistics process.
For Adler, the immediate next step is the descent from camp 4 to camp 2 after a summit day that came with queues, strong weather and a route she already knew could turn her back.
