SUMMIT SPECIAL!
Briton, six, becomes the youngest girl to scale Kilimanjaro ... then does it again
A BRITISH girl aged six has become the youngest female to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.
Ashleen Mandrick’s feat amazed experienced mountaineers and guides after she refused offers of being carried or helped as she scaled the 19,341ft mountain entirely unaided.
She enjoyed her climb so much that two weeks later she climbed the Tanzanian peak again by taking a different route, this time in freezing temperatures and high winds.
Ashleen – who hopes one day to conquer Mount Everest – needed special permission from the Tanzanian authorities because the normal age limit is ten. Last night the primary school pupil said: ‘It was amazing to make two climbs. It was the best thing I have ever done. We enjoyed the first climb so much we immediately wanted to go up again.’
To put her achievement into perspective, only two-thirds of climbers ever reach the top.
Ashleen, from West Sussex, was accompanied by her mother Victoria Mandrick, 45, a doctor, and 11year-old brother Nicolas on part of the climb.
She first reached the top on September 29 before returning on October 13. Her first climb took six days while the second took just five. Mrs Mandrick said Ashleen had broken the record held by American girl Montannah Kenney who reached the summit aged seven years and ten months last year.
The youngest person to climb Kilimanjaro is Colton Tanner from New Mexico. He scaled the peak in October 2018 at six years, one month – just a few months younger than Ashleen.
Mrs Mandrick said: ‘I am so very proud of all the children. It was an amazing experience.’