16-year-old girl summits world's tallest mountain

A 16-year-old girl from Changsha, Hunan province, successfully reached the summit of Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, on Monday morning, becoming the youngest Chinese female to conquer the world's highest peak from the southern slope, according to State broadcaster China Central Television.

Xu Zhuoyuan is a first-year high school student at Hunan Normal University Affiliated Middle School. On April 15, she left Changsha for Nepal. On April 21, she began her trek from Lukla. On April 28, she arrived at the base camp and started her altitude acclimatization training.

At 10 pm Beijing time on Sunday, Xu started trekking from Camp 4 at an altitude of 7,950 meters on the southern slope of Qomolangma. After a grueling 10-hour climb, she successfully reached the summit.