At just 18, Bianca Adler has become the youngest Australian to reach the summit of the Mount Everest – the world’s tallest mountain – a year after turning back just 400 metres from the top. We’re cheering her on from down here.
Bianca Adler, the 18-year-old Melbourne mountaineer, originally featured in Teen Breathe Issue 48, has officially become the youngest Australian in history to reach the summit of Mount Everest, Nepal. She stood on the 8,849-metre peak in the early hours of Wednesday 20 May 2026, climbing alongside Nepali guides Pemba Chhiring Sherpa and Ngudu Sherpa, during the busy 2026 spring climbing season – completing a journey that had come heartbreakingly close a year earlier.
A SECOND CHANCE AT THE SUMMIT
This was Bianca’s second attempt at Everest. In May 2025, she made the heart-wrenching decision to turn back, just 400 metres from the summit, after strong winds and the onset of frostbite and illness forced her back. A year later, with her parents cheering from base camp, she returned to finish what she’d started.
Bianca reached the summit in the dark at around 2.30 am Nepal time, well ahead of the queues of climbers still making their way up – a crucial safety advantage that allowed her to climb at her own pace without getting cold or stuck in the notorious ‘death zone’ above 8,000 metres. In a radio call to her dad Paul from the summit, Bianca said she felt good, but the weather was bad, and that she needed to take photos and head down quickly because it was cold, windy, and dark.
She later shared on Instagram that she felt amazing on the summit and on the way up, but that coming down was the tough part. With Bianca’s record-breaking achievement, she takes the title previously held by 19-year-old Melburnian Gabby Kanizay, who summited Everest in 2022.
A FAMILY WITH EVEREST IN ITS BLOOD
Bianca’s love of mountains started young. Born in Melbourne and raised partly in the French Alps, she grew up flipping through her parents’ picture books of Everest and asking her dad to take her on bigger, harder climbs. Both of her parents have summited Everest themselves – her mum Fiona in 2006 and her dad Paul in 2007 – so the dream of standing on top of the world has been a long time in the making.
By 12, she had climbed Mont Blanc. At 14, she summited Aconcagua, becoming one of the youngest people ever to do so. In September 2024, aged just 16, she set a Guinness World Record by becoming the youngest woman ever to summit Nepal’s Manaslu (8,163 m), the world’s eighth-highest mountain. The following month, she summited Ama Dablam (6,812 m), becoming the youngest woman to climb that mountain too.
TWO YEARS OF TRAINING FOR THE TOP
Climbing Everest isn’t something you decide to do on a whim. Bianca spent two years preparing her body and mind for the highest mountain on Earth, doing five to six days a week of long cardio sessions on the stairmaster and spin bike, plus climbing-specific strength training. She and her dad would also tackle six- to eight-day hikes in the remote Australian Alps, covering 25 to 30 km per day while rationing their food and water – training designed to build mental toughness as well as physical fitness..
Bianca wants her climbs to mean something beyond personal records. Her Everest attempt, she says, is about inspiring others to get outdoors, embrace discomfort, and find their own love for nature – whatever shape that takes.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Big dreams rarely happen on the first try. At 17, Bianca turned back just 400 metres from the summit – one of the hardest decisions she has ever faced. She could have walked away for good. Instead, she rebuilt, retrained, and came back stronger to have another go.
If you’re working towards something that feels out of reach right now, that’s the part worth remembering. Setbacks aren’t the end of your story. Sometimes they’re just the bit that comes before you figure out how to make it work.
Read our original feature on Bianca – Bianca Adler: Climbing With Courage – from Teen Breathe Issue 48, and follow her ongoing adventures on Instagram @bianca_adler1.
SOURCES
Reporting based on interviews and coverage from ABC News, The Guardian, The Daily Aus, Everest Chronicle, Kids News and Bianca Adler’s official channels.
For more inspiring young Australians, browse the Teen Breathe Community section or pick up the latest issue for more mindful inspiration.
