Aussie mum, daughter conquer Everest
Cheryl Bart with daughter Nikki
Photo via www.news.com.au
May 25, 2008 12:00am
TWO Australian women have earned a place in the record books, becoming the first mother and daughter team to conquer Mt Everest.
Businesswoman Cheryl Bart and her medical student daughter, Nikki, reached the summit of the world’s highest mountain at 9.05am yesterday. They are also the only mother and daughter to have reached the highest peaks of all seven continents.
When Mrs Bart reached the top, she shouted: “I’m at the top of the world!”
She told her support team by radio: ‘The sun is just rising and it’s just the most glorious spectacle ever, any time.”
Asked what was the hardest part, she replied, “all of it”, before breaking into cheering.
The pair has endured bitter cold and delays during their 8850m Himalayan ascent, including having their equipment confiscated as the Olympic torch relay passed by.
With temperatures dropping as low as -30C, the final leg took seven hours.
Acclimatising to the low-oxygen environment at high altitude made the last stages especially difficult.
Nikki was first to the top, enjoying magnificent views and clear skies before her mother arrived 25 minutes later.
Though they were ecstatic to make the summit, their journey was by no means over, with a perilous descent back to camp ahead.
Dubbed “Oz Chicks with Altitude”, the Sydney pair braved avalanches and extreme weather conditions during their 8.8km ascent, which began in early March.
Their journey has been emotional, with frayed nerves and admissions that they were “terrified” by the enormity of the challenge.
They told of the harsh physical toll of living on the mountain, suffering from frequent nose bleeds, dysentry and the constant threat of frostbite.
“The best comparison seems to be to childbirth - at the time you can’t imagine anything more painful and yet, with time, you can’t remember all of that and all you’re left with is glowing memories,” they wrote in their online blog.
Their climb was sponsored by BigPond, which set up a website to share their experience worldwide.