Climber Mollie hits heights for Everest record
A WOMAN has made history by becoming the youngest British climber to scale Mount Everest from both sides.
Mollie Hughes, 26, who is based in Edinburgh, reached the summit of Everest (8,848m) from the north side yesterday.
Her feat also makes the climber the youngest European woman and the first English woman to scale the peak from both the north and south sides.
In temperatures as low as -40C, Ms Hughes, who is originally from Torbay, Devon, reached the summit at 1.14am GMT (5.34am local time in Nepal) with climbing partner Jon Gupta of Mountain Expeditions.
She hopes to raise more than £8,000 for Cancer Research UK, £1 for every metre climbed and is being supported throughout the expedition by Tiso, where she works in Edinburgh.
After reaching the summit, Ms Hughes said: “I am elated, exhausted and know I still have the hardest part to do – the long and difficult descent to base camp.
“Jon (Gupta) and I have already spent more than four weeks acclimatising on the mountain.
“Thanks to a weather window, yesterday evening we left Camp 3 (8,300m) and we’ve finally reached the top.
“The climbing has been really, really hard but our mental and physical strength got us up here.
“I can confirm that the north side is definitely more difficult than the south side.”
“Huge thanks to Jon, the sherpas, family, friends and to Tiso as my principle sponsor on this expedition. I am really proud to be the youngest Briton to have scaled Everest from both sides – and to have raised funds to support the work of Cancer Research UK.
“Now we’ll focus on achieving a safe descent from the top of the world.”
The climbing has been hard but our strength got us up here. Mollie Hughes, 26, of Edinburgh.