I’M SUMMIT ELSE
Mollie youngest in Everest double Tiny Tiah gets kick start at 10
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THE youngest Brit to scale both sides of Everest was spurred on by Britney Spears.
Mollie Hughes played the US babe’s upbeat tracks on repeat until she conquered the 8,848m summit.
The intrepid explorer and her guide Jon Gupta hit the peak of the world’s highest mountain in the early hours yesterday.
Britney’s Baby One More Time can be heard playing in one of her video updates.
Mollie, 26, from Torbay, Devon, said on reaching the top: “I am elated, exhausted.”
She battled bitterly cold temperatures of -40C to set a record as the youngest European woman to achieve the feat.
The daredevil is 28 years younger than Lynne Hannah, who at 54 became the first Brit woman to climb both the north and south sides in 2016.
The treacherous route includes a climb over three rocky steps in the “death zone”.
But the challenge is far from over as the way back is “the hardest part to do”.
“I’m really proud to be the youngest Briton to scale Everest from both sides,” said Mollie. “Now we’ll focus on achieving a safe descent.”
The mountaineer, who hopes to raise more than £8,000 for Cancer Research UK, scaled Everest’s south face aged 21. FEARSOME Tiah Ayton, 10, is the best junior kickboxer in the world and fights boys three years older than she is.
The 4ft grappler started aged six but is so good she has already caught the eye of the Team GB Olympic squad.
Her gruelling six-day training schedule has already paid off.
She has been crowned British, threetime European and World junior full contact kickboxing champ.
Tiah, from Bristol, said: “I just like getting in the ring and I just enjoy it.
“If you want to be a champion then you’ve got to train a lot of times.”
The kick-ass schoolgirl has won 22 of her 23 fights, conceding just once against a girl three years older.
Mum Georgia, 27, sits in the audience but is too scared to watch her fights.
However scaffolder dad Mike, 31, said: “I don’t worry one bit about her when she gets in the ring. “I’ve watched her fight with 43kg boys. “She has never been put down. She’s always one step ahead.” However her family insist she’s a “big softie” and loves nothing more than playing with her little sisters Maddie, eight, and Alexi, four.