Congratulations to 18 year-old Samanthan Larson: Not only is she is the youngest woman to summit Mt Everest, but she also may be the youngest person EVER to climb the Seven Summits (the highest mountain peak on each of the 7 continents.)

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From EverestNews.com

17 May, 2007: As per the report of the Liason Officer from the base camp and the handling agency, six members and five high altitude workers of “HG I Everest Expedition Spring 2007” team have successfully climbed Mt. Everest (8848meters) from the normal route on 17 May, 2007 at the following time.

… Ms. Samantha Larson (19 yrs), USA at 11:30 a.m.
Mr. David D. Larson (51 yrs), USA at 12:20 a.m …

…Ms. Samantha Larson and Mr. David D. Larson are father and daughter. Ms. Samantha is the first youngest foreigner woman to summit Mt. Everest(8848).

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I was fortunate enough to photograph Samantha about a year ago.Read the post here. I’ll have to go back and find some new photos of her to post for the occasion.

Anyway, HUGE congratulations go out to Samantha and her dad for such a tremendous accomplishment!

[Edit: The article above made me think that Samantha was 19 … but a flurry of news articles indicate she’s 18, which makes more sense. So I’ve edited this to reflect her true age of 18. -jason]

[Edit2: Some links:
Her blog: Samantha Larson Blog
Good LA Times article: Samantha at LA Times ]