Xu Zhuoyuan, a 16-year-old girl from Changsha, capital of Central China’s Hunan Province, successfully reached the summit of Mount Qomolangma on Monday, becoming the youngest female athlete from China to conquer the world’s highest mountain from the south side.

Photo: icswb.com

The high school freshman left Changsha for Nepal on April 15, and started her hike from Pokhara on April 21. She arrived at Qomolangma Base Camp on April 28, and started adaptation training.

At 10 pm on May 14, Xu set off from Camp No.4 at an altitude of 7,950 meters on the south side of Qomolangma. After 10 grueling hours of climbing, Xu successfully reached the summit of the mountain known in the West as Mount Everest.

Xu’s father Xu Jianglei is known as the first person to summit Mount Qomolangma from Hunan Province. Xu has followed her father to go mountain climbing since she was very young, while her peers were playing games. At the age of 12, she declared her ambition to climb Mount Qomolangma. Four years later, she did it.

Xu has rich experience in mountaineering, and has been unceasingly carrying out intense professional training to climb Mount Qomolangma. Last year, she reached the peak of Muztagh Ata at 7,546 meters, laying the foundation for her expedition to climb Qomolangma.

“Standing in front of nature, we humans are really tiny. We should respect nature and get close to Mount Qomolangma,” Xu said. Xu hopes to keep climbing and achieve the highest honor of "7+2" (7 summits and two poles) after graduating from college.

(Compiled by Chen Xu)