By Samantha Jones-
A teenager has become the youngest Australian to climb Mount Everest, having scaled the summit with her mother at the weekend.
The 19 year-old Melbourne hiker now holds an impressive record – becoming the youngest Australian to climb Mount Everest.
Gabby Kanizay and her mother, Jane, 52, reached the peak of the world’s highest mountain together just before sunrise on Saturday.
“We definitely helped each other stay strong and helped each other get to the summit,” she said.
Aged 19 years and 68 days when she reached the summit, she is a few months younger than the previous record holder, Alyssa Azar, was when she completed the climb of the 8849-metre mountain in 2016.
Jarrod Kanizay said that his daughter had nominated scaling Everest as a goal when she was 14 and had been working ever since to achieve it.
“These things don’t happen to many people, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, not only for Gabby, but for all of us to enjoy and to be proud and to be a part of,” Jarrod Kanizay said.
He wept “tears of joy” when he spoke with his wife and daughter after they completed the remarkable feat.
“We all share in that success and we’re all blessed that it happened,” he said.
“In our home, we’ve got the famous photo of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Everest,” he said. “We talk about big goals in the family.”
After four trips to the Himalayas in 2018 and 2019 for acclimatisation climbs, Gabby was ready to make the ascent in 2020 when she was 17. The COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on hold.
Kanizay and her mother, Jane, 52, reached the peak of the world’s highest mountain together just before sunrise on Saturday.
“We definitely helped each other stay strong and helped each other get to the summit,” she said.
Aged 19 years and 68 days when she reached the summit, she is a few months younger than the previous record holder, Alyssa Azar, was when she completed the climb of the 8849-metre mountain in 2016.
Jarrod Kanizay said that his daughter had nominated scaling Everest as a goal when she was 14 and had been working ever since to achieve it.
“In our home, we’ve got the famous photo of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbing Everest,” he said. “We talk about big goals in the family.”
After four trips to the Himalayas in 2018 and 2019 for acclimatisation climbs, Gabby was ready to make the ascent in 2020 when she was 17. The COVID-19 pandemic put those plans on hold.
“I wasn’t expecting or prepared to be at the summit with mum,” she told the ABC.
“We’d kind of convinced ourselves that it just wasn’t possible.”
After descending from Everest, Gabby wasn’t finished. The day after, she went and climbed neighbouring mountain Lhotse – the world’s fourth-highest peak at 8516 metres.
“I love being on the mountains, I love pushing my body. I’d be more than happy to do it again,” she told Nine News.
Image:Cbs news