Throughout history, Sherpas have herded yaks over the high trails of Mount Everest. It’s like they have been training for Everest climbs their entire lives! 

But not everyone comes to mountains equipped. 

Adriana Brownlee is a British mountaineer. She set a record as the youngest woman to climb all the 14 tallest mountains in the world. She says inexperienced climbers should not be allowed to climb the highest peaks. Why? They put themselves and others in danger.

Ms. Brownlee is 23. She climbed Mount Everest when she was 20. Like Nima Rinji Sherpa, she climbed Mount Shishapangma in China in October.

She says she has seen many climbers who lack training in basic skills. They don’t know how to handle the slopes and peaks.

“I have seen many examples of people in the mountains that should not really be there,” she says. “We have had to support them and have had to help with like small things, like how to put on crampons, how to put on harness.” She says people should make rules that make sure climbers have scaled smaller mountains before they try the biggest ones.

Right now, these types of rules don’t exist. In Nepal, climbers must be at least 16 years old.

Ms. Brownlee was just eight when she began dreaming of becoming a mountaineer like her dad. But she had to practice a great deal before that dream came true. Mountain climbers have to know how to survive avalanches, falling rocks and ice, cold, exhaustion, and sickness from too little oxygen.

In His hand are the depths of the Earth; the heights of the mountains are His also. — Psalm 95:4

Recommended Reading: To learn more about the first confirmed climbers to reach the top of Mount Everest, see To the Top! by S.A. Kramer.