George Atkinson (born 29 May 1994) is an English climber. At the age of sixteen he became the youngest ever person to complete the Seven Summits Challenge by climbing to the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

of the highest mountain on each of seven

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

s. He completed the challenge on 26 May 2011 when he reached the summit of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

. Atkinson was 16 years and 362 days old when he completed the challenge which beat previous record holder Johnny Collinson who completed the challenge at 17 years and 296 days old. His record stood for seven months, until it was bested by Jordan Romero, who completed the challenge on 24 December 2011 at the age of 15. George has recently submitted his PhD thesis in mathematical biology at the University of Oxford.

Seven Summits

Atkinson embarked on a world record attempt to be the youngest person to climb the tallest mountain on each of the seven continents when he was 11 years old. He completed it nearly six years later just a few days before his 17th birthday. He climbed

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

, the tallest mountain in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, first. This was followed by

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus; ; is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is a dormant stratovolcano rising above sea level, and is the highest volcano in Eurasia, as well as the tenth-most prominent peak in the world. It is situated in the south ...

at age 13. Shortly before his 14th birthday Atkinson reached the summit of

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

Puncak Jaya Puncak Jaya (; literally "Victorious Peak", Amungme: ''Nemangkawi Ninggok'') or Carstensz Pyramid (, , ) on the island of New Guinea, with an elevation of , is the highest mountain peak of an island on Earth, and the highest peak in Indones ...

and returned safely from the summit despite the arrest of his guides and ultimately his own arrest. Peak four was

Aconcagua Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in both the Western Hemisphere and the ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. At age 16 Atkinson climbed

Denali Denali (), federally designated as Mount McKinley, is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base to peak on land, measuring . On p. 20 of Helm ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, reaching the summit on 12 July 2010, followed by

Mount Vinson Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located a ...

the highest mountain in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. The final peak was the world's highest mountain

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. Atkinson reached the summit on 26 May 2011, becoming the youngest person to complete the Seven Summits.

World records

Atkinson has held world records for: * Youngest British person to climb the Seven Summits * Youngest British person to reach the summit of Mount Everest (the youngest person is Jordan Romero)

References

External links

Atkinson's Seven Summits Blog

Atkinson on BBC

Mount Everest George Atkinson Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, George English mountain climbers Summiters of the Seven Summits British summiters of Mount Everest People educated at Ewell Castle School Living people 1994 births Youth record holders