A Melbourne teenager has become the youngest Australian to climb to the top of the world.
Bianca Adler has reached the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal during her second attempt up the world's tallest mountain.
The 18-year-old turned back 400m from the top during her first attempt in May 2025 after strong winds, creeping frostbite and illness forced her to put her life first.
But on Wednesday, Ms Adler and her guides Pemba and Ngdu finally made it to the peak.
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Speaking with her father from the top of the mountain, she said she felt "really good" but acknowledged this was only half the journey.
"(I feel) really good, but the weather is really bad," she said on the call.
She has since descended to camp four and continues to make her way down the mountain with her guides and parents watching over her.
"On the summit and climbing up, I felt amazing, but coming down is tough," she said in a blog post written by her mother Fiona Adler.
"I'm just trying to take it one step at a time.
"It's so beautiful."
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Both her parents have previously summitted Mount Everest and Ms Adler has made it to the top of other major mountains.
In 2024, she broke the Guinness World Record to become the youngest woman to climb Nepal's Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world.
Climbing Everest has become a subject of controversy in recent decades due to concerns about overcrowding, commercialisation, safety, environmental issues, ethical dilemmas and more.
The number of people attempting the climb has grown significantly, causing human traffic jams that puts the lives of mountaineers and Nepalese guides at risk.
The mountain is estimated to be enveloped in about 50 tonnes of waste and hundreds of bodies.
For years, tourism up Everest was largely made up of Western guiding companies charging climbers tens of thousands of dollars per person while paying Nepalese guides - who often performed the most dangerous, important and labour-intensive work - a pittance.
In recent times, control over climbing activity on the mountain has been increasingly transferred to Nepalis and local Sherpa guides, who are now paid more and granted greater respect.
