Alyssa on top of the world:

Alyssa youngest Aussie to climb peak

TOOWOOMBA teenager Alyssa Azar has climbed the highest mountain in the world.

The 19-year-old now lays claim to being the youngest Australian to have scaled Mt Everest.

Word came through from her team at Adventure Professionals at 7.30pm Australian time on Saturday that she had made it to the summit.

It was her third attempt to climb Mt Everest, with the first two dashed by an earthquake and an avalanche.

“This has been a goal she has been determined to achieve for several years,” a spokesman for her team said.

“Alyssa has had her share of setbacks but has never wavered in her determination.”

She will now attempt to descend the mountain, a feat which will take less time but is equally challenging.

Adventure Professionals spokesman Sonia Taylor said Ms Azar’s family would not celebrate until she had made it down to Base Camp.

“At the end of the day she still needs to get off that mountain. You don’t know what the mountain will surprise you with.”

Climbing Mt Everest has been Alyssa’s goal since she was a small girl and she started climbing high mountains about five years ago.

She got a taste for it and honed her mountaineering skills in New Zealand and in Nepal – and also trained in the Blue Mountains.

Her father, Glenn Azar, is currently walking the Kokoda Track and could not be contacted, but Ms Taylor said he would be enormously proud of Alyssa.

“I’m sure that Alyssa would be humbled by the amount of attention she’s received.”