At 18, She's the Youngest Australian Ever to Summit Everest — A Year After Turning Back 400 Metres Short
Bianca Adler summited Everest on May 20, 2026, a year after altitude sickness turned her back within sight of the top — she was already the youngest female climber ever to summit Manaslu.
Key facts
- Bianca Adler, 18, summited Everest on May 20, 2026, becoming the youngest Australian ever to reach the top.
- In 2025 she turned back at roughly 8,450m, about 400 vertical metres below the summit, after early frostbite signs and dangerous winds; she and her father Paul were both later diagnosed with high-altitude pulmonary oedema (HAPE).
- At 16, in 2024, she became the youngest female climber to summit Manaslu (8,163m), earning a Guinness World Record.
- She also holds the youngest-female record on Ama Dablam (6,812m), the technical Everest-region peak.
- She trained 5-6 days a week for roughly two years, including 25-30km wilderness hikes and a 100km training loop completed in just over three days.
In 2025, Bianca Adler turned around roughly 400 vertical metres below the summit of Mount Everest — close enough to see it, too dangerous to reach it. Early signs of frostbite and ferocious summit winds forced the decision; she and her father Paul, who was climbing with her, were both later diagnosed with high-altitude pulmonary oedema, a build-up of fluid in the lungs that kills climbers who ignore it. A year later, on May 20, 2026, the Melbourne teenager went back and finished the job, becoming, at 18, the youngest Australian ever to stand on the summit of Everest.
Adler, who grew up partly in Annecy in the French Alps before her family settled in Melbourne, reached the top roughly eleven hours after leaving Camp 4, summiting while it was still dark, guided by Nepali climbers Pemba Chhiring Sherpa and Ngudu Sherpa. It was her second attempt on the mountain in as many years, and by the time she got there, Everest was already her third 8,000m-plus peak.
| Peak | Height | Age | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manaslu | 8,163m | 16 | 2024 |
| Everest | 8,849m | 18 | 2026 |
The Manaslu climb, at 16, made her the youngest female climber ever to reach that summit, a Guinness World Records title. She also holds the youngest-female record on Ama Dablam, the striking 6,812m peak that towers over the Everest region's lower trekking trails and is considered one of the most technically demanding climbs in Nepal despite its modest height next to its 8,000m neighbours. Three major Himalayan records before her nineteenth birthday is not the product of natural talent alone: Adler trained five to six days a week for roughly two years, mixing Stairmaster and spin-bike cardio with climbing-specific strength work, multi-day wilderness hikes of 25-30km through the Australian Alps, and endurance blocks that included a 100km training loop finished in just over three days.
What this means for trekkers
What this means for you
The detail worth remembering from Adler's story isn't the record, it's the turnaround. In 2025 she was thirteen storeys of vertical climbing from the top of the world, fit, trained and accompanied by an experienced climbing father, and she still went home instead of pushing on into worsening HAPE symptoms. That decision, more than the summit a year later, is what kept her alive to try again. It's the same rule every guide gives ordinary trekkers heading to Everest Base Camp or Annapurna Base Camp: altitude illness does not care how fit you are, and the trekkers who turn back at the first real symptoms are the ones who come home to try again. You don't need a Guinness World Record attempt to take that lesson seriously — you need a guide willing to say turn back, and the discipline to listen.
Adler's climbing résumé runs through some of the same Everest-region trails our own trekkers walk every season. You can trek to the base of her Ama Dablam record on the Ama Dablam Base Camp trek, follow the route toward her Manaslu climb on the Manaslu Circuit trek, or walk to Everest Base Camp itself on our 14-day Everest Base Camp trek — no summit push required.
Source: The Daily Aus
Cover photo: Siddhartha Sen via Pexels (Pexels License).
Source: The Daily Aus
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