Way to go:follow a teen on a record-breaking climb to the top of the world

摘要

Aast spring, 18-year-old Samantha Larson got to seethe world from anunusual angle: She was standing atopits highest point.On May 17, 2007,after four days of skilled climbing,she reached Mount Everest's summit.By successfully scaling the high-est mountain on Earth, which rises 8,850 meters (29,035 feet) above sealevel, the teen from California brokea world record: Samantha becamethe youngest person ever to climbThe Seven Summits (see map, p. 17).Towering Mount Everest—whichis part of the Himalayan mountainrange that separates the countries ofNepal and China—is often considereda climber's ultimate challenge. Butguess what? The mountain wasn'talways so lofty.