Four-year-old Czech girl youngest female to reach Everest base camp
A four-year old Czech girl called Zara made headlines earlier this month when she reportedly became the youngest female to reach the base camp of Mount Everest, along with her father and seven-year-old brother. The overall length of the expedition to and from the base camp was around 270 kilometres, with an elevation gain of more than 20,000 meters.
Zara Šifra, who is four and a half, made headlines this weekend, after her father posted a video showing his daughter reaching the base camp of the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, on January 7, bragging that she was ahead of everyone. According to her father David, walking to the Everest base camp was not what they originally planned:
“In the very beginning, we were planning to go cycling to Muscat, Oman, but because of the war that broke out in the region, we decided to cancel the trip and we were looking for other options. And because we were on the Annapurna Circuit last year with our older son Alex, and he has already walked 24 five-thousand peaks, I wasn’t afraid to go there. What was the big question was the reaction of Zara, because she grew up in a tropical country.”
Zara, who has dual Czech and Canadian citizenship, lives in Malaysia with her parents. Her father says that with temperatures dropping as low as -25 degrees Celsius, the biggest challenge was teaching her to sleep in a sleeping bag. Other than that, his daughter showed no sign of distress. Not only did she reach the destination unaided, but she outpaced most of the other hikers. David Šifra says one of the reasons is that she is used to walking several kilometres a day through the jungle:
“The second reason is that we started in Jiri, which is about 170 kilometres from the basecamp, and we got acclimatised for the elevation of three thousand, four thousand, while most of the other people were not, because they don’t have time for it. Normal people come for the holidays and they don’t have time to go all the way from Jiri. So we met all these people and Zara was passing all of them. I was in shock, seriously!”
David Šifra says walking with Zara in the Himalayas was an amazing experience, also thanks to the reactions of fellow hikers, who kept congratulating her, giving her all kinds of treats.
“The locals were also shocked. Some of them were warning us about the cold weather and they also congratulated her. Some Sherpas who reached the top of Mount Everest took pictures with us. Everywhere we came, they would help us with the kids. They both have long hair so the local ladies helped us fix their hair. I brought the kids to the Everest base-camp, but I don’t know how to fix their hair!”
Little Zara is now back at school in Malaysia, but we may soon hear about her again. Her father David has already contacted the Guinness Book of Records asking them to officially recognise her incredible achievement.
