A 7-year-old girl from Texas has broken a world record by becoming the youngest female to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. To achieve the feat, Montannah Kenney climbed Africa's tallest mountain alongside her mother Hollie Kenney and a former professional triathlete. She climbed 19,341 feet in the memory of her father who died after she turned three.
Montannah told CBS News that the climb was more than just a world record to her. She said, "I wanted to be closer to my dad. I wanted to do fun adventures with my mom and learn about Mt. Kilimanjaro." It was a discussion that Hollie Kenney was having with her sister on the climb which prompted her daughter to join.
However, there was an obstacle for the little one, she required to be at least 10 years old for it. The mom-daughter then found out that a special permit would help Montannah and decided on a date in 2019. But then they found about that an eight-year-old has summited Kilimanjaro in July 2017 thus rescheduling their trip to March, two months before Montannah turned eight.
Check out her journey here:
CONGRATS! 7-year-old Montannah Kenney makes history as the youngest person to ever climb Mount Kilimanjaro! https://t.co/RyteMuqUhZ pic.twitter.com/aERllsXihX
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 7, 2018
Although she already had a baseline level of fitness from running, swimming, and playing basketball, they were met with unexpected surprises on the mountain. Hollie, a former professional triathlete, trained along with her daughter by doing hour-long hikes on weekends.
Low visibility on the mountain, steep climb that expectation and changing weather conditions were some of the challenges they faced, however, the duo finished the climb victorious. Hollie said that though it "snowed and rained every day" of the trek, Montannah never complained.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 11, 2018 01:03 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).