A record-breaking British mountain climber has scaled Kilimanjaro for the third time aged SEVEN – and even took her favourite teddy bear.
Ashleen Mandrick has been smashing records since she could barely walk – and is already the youngest to reach the Everest base camp.
She was the youngest girl to complete the Everest Base Camp trek in Nepal in December 2019 and the youngest to have climbed Monte Rosa.
She also became the youngest girl to have climbed Kilimanjaro in 2019 at the age of just six years old.
Ashleen next wanted to climb Pico de Orizaba in Mexico but Covid-19 scuppered her plans.
So she set her sights on 5,895m Mount Kilimanjaro once again for a third time – this time via the Kenyan side of the mountain.
Amid heavy snow Ashleen reached Gillman’s Point and Uhuru Peak on December 20 with brothers Martin, 11, Nicolas, 12, and mum Victoria.
Proud doctor Victoria, 46, said she even took her favourite toy bunny rabbit all the way up to the peak .
She said: “Due to the November nationwide lockdown in England, the children could not do any specific preparation for the climb but were very confident and keen to take on the challenge.
“On her arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport, Ashleen was greeted as a celebrity by local Tanzanians who were very happy to learn about her new attempt to climb Africa’s highest peak.
“She reached Gillman’s Point and Uhuru Peak without any difficulty whatsoever, chatting and singing all the way to the summit, dreaming about creating her own ‘climbing school’ one day.
“Ashleen carried her favourite bunny rabbit toy all the way up to the peak and took pictures of it.
“She was hoping to get to the summit with her dad as this was the very first time he had climbed as he is not a fan of mountains. Sadly, he had to turn back from 5300m due to altitude symptoms.
“We started our descent the day after reaching the summit. As we left Base Camp quite late, we had 29km to do in a short lapse of time on our last day.
“One of the guides, thinking Ashleen would be too small to complete that distance within a few hours, called the Park’s rescue car.
“Ashleen was outraged and refused to enter the car – she said it would be “the most boring and embarrassing thing one could do”.
The family are currently on their way back home to the UK for Christmas but Ashleen is already planning her next adventures with her brothers.
