| In April 2010, every commuter in London knew | | | | peak. Now, Bonita has left her own mark on |
| the face of Bonita Norris after she made the | | | | Manaslu, becoming the youngest woman to climb |
| papers by becoming the youngest woman to | | | | the world's eighth-highest mountain. |
| summit Mount Manaslu. Later that month, with her | | | | Plotting Her Progress |
| sights on the British Everest youth record, she | | | | During her preparations for Everest, Bonita |
| began a series of training climbs from Everest | | | | recorded her experiences in her blog, where she |
| Base Camp. Trekking progressively higher up the | | | | describes her training, the mountains she has |
| world's highest mountain, Bonita dreamt of | | | | seen, and her efforts to raise sponsorship for her |
| trekking her way into the history books. | | | | summit bid. She writes about the training climbs |
| Mount Everest (8,848 m) played host to two | | | | she does with her team as they approach her |
| record-breaking summit attempts in the first | | | | ultimate destination, and the acclimatisation |
| climbing season of 2010. There was | | | | exercises they do along the course of the |
| thirteen-year-old Jordan Romero, accompanied by | | | | Everest base camp trekking route, which runs |
| his family, and Bonita Norris from Berkshire, Great | | | | from Lukla airport to the foot of the Khumbu |
| Britain. Both brought a buzz with them to Everest | | | | glacier. |
| Base Camp, because they were each among the | | | | When the team got to Everest after two weeks |
| youngest climbers ever to attempt the summit. | | | | in Nepal, they settled in for the training climbs |
| Young Mountaineers | | | | ahead. Finding a weather window, and conditioning |
| Although Jordan and Bonita were both in the | | | | for a summit bid is a gradual process. With each |
| running to break an Everest youth record, the | | | | climb up Mount Everest, they carried equipment |
| mountaineering pedigree of the two young | | | | up to the higher camps to use later on. |
| Everest trekkers at Base Camp couldn't be more | | | | From Camp 2, Bonita used a satellite phone to |
| different. Despite his tender age, Jordan is the | | | | relay messages for her blog, before returning to |
| more experienced, having climbed major peaks | | | | the safety of Everest Base Camp - trekking back |
| since the age of nine, and having already climbed | | | | down to "where the air is thick", as she called it. |
| the highest mountain in five of the world's seven | | | | Not According to Plan |
| continents as part of the Seven Summits | | | | Bonita was fortunate to have an Everest veteran, |
| challenge. In contrast, at 23, Bonita was described | | | | Kenton Cool, on her Everest trekking team, but |
| by the papers as 'a novice'. She was aiming to be | | | | things did not go exactly to plan. With the training |
| the youngest Briton to summit Everest, but has | | | | runs, they discovered that one of Bonita's |
| only been climbing since 2008. She woke up one | | | | co-climbers, David, was unable to sleep sufficiently |
| morning determined to climb Everest and break | | | | at altitude. Without being able to rest-up at the |
| records, and was true to her word. | | | | higher camps on Everest, exhaustion was |
| After declaring her mountaineering intentions, | | | | inevitable. As a result, he had to "hang up his |
| Bonita soon began preparing herself for her visit | | | | climbing boots", and Bonita accompanied him as he |
| to Everest Base Camp, trekking in Snowdon in | | | | departed Everest Base Camp, trekking back |
| wintery conditions, learning to climb with ropes | | | | down to Gorak Shep where Bonita updated her |
| and tackling progressively more challenging | | | | blog. |
| mountains. This education culminated in an | | | | A complication like David's is just one of a number |
| attempt on Mount Manaslu (8,163m) in Nepal, a | | | | of elements against you when you're going for a |
| formidable 'eight-thousander' that has claimed the | | | | summit bid of Everest. If she reaches the summit |
| lives of a number of adventurers since it was | | | | in April or May 2010, Bonita Norris will replace |
| first assessed as 'climbable' in the 1950s. In 1974, | | | | Victoria James (who was 25) as the youngest |
| Manaslu was the setting for the first all-female | | | | British woman to climb Mount Everest. |
| climbing expedition to conquer an 8,000 metre | | | | |