Eighteen year old Samantha Larson of Long Beach, California has climbed the highest seven mountain summits on all continents. On May 16th she reached the top of Mount Everest, making her the youngest American to have achieved this feat. During her Everest climb she packed her oboe along with her climbing gear so as to be ready for a band concert upon her return. And she BLOGGED during this grueling adventure! How did she do it without internet access in the rarified atmosphere of the Himalayas? She called her mom in New York via satellite phone and relayed the messages to be posted on her blog. Wow! But then Samantha is an exceptionally motivated and capable young woman. Read more about her adventures and accomplishments here.
(Samantha preparing for the climb)
From Earth's tallest point, the message was understandably breathless.
"We made it to the top!" Samantha Larson told her mother via satellite phone Thursday after reaching the summit of Mount Everest. "Now all we have to do is make it back down."
Larson, 18, of Long Beach, became one of the youngest people to scale the 29,035-foot peak, reaching the summit with a group that included her father, David Larson, 51, an anesthesiologist at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center.
The honors graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School put off her arrival as a freshman at Stanford University by a year to scale some of the world's highest mountains.
She began posting reports on her Everest trek last month at www.samanthalarson.blogspot.com, continuing her blogging until she was more than halfway up the mountain. Her mother, Sarah Hanson, and her brother, Ted, added Samantha's triumphant comments. ....
[W]hen father and daughter "finally started our summit push yesterday, making our way from base camp to camp two," Samantha wrote Sunday. "We don't have Internet access up here, but we were able to relay this information to our correspondents in New York via satellite phone. We're taking a rest day today, and plan to press on tomorrow. If all goes well, we should summit on the 17th."
Tom Sjogren, one of the founders of explorersweb.com, an extreme adventure news portal based in New York, said that as far as they know Larson is the youngest to crest the seven summits. But with such high numbers of climbers, statistics are hard to verify.
Oy. I thought I was tough because I had made it out to my mailbox today. Yikes.
Posted by: m | May 22, 2007 at 04:11 PM
That's exactly how I felt. And she is just eighteen! There must be many more than 24 hours in her day.
Posted by: Ruchira Paul | May 22, 2007 at 09:24 PM
Amazing achievement indeed!
One small correction though, the chron artilce states that she lugged her oboe along on the ascent of Mt.Aconcagua, not the Everest. I guess that she figured she might as well practice at lower altitude camps while acclimatizing, since there's not much else to do during those waiting periods.
Posted by: Sujatha | May 23, 2007 at 05:53 AM