Rebecca Stephens

The first woman to climb Mount Everest was Rebecca Stephens. Rebecca was a journalist who lived in a small flat in south London before she went up the highest mountain in the world.

Rebecca left her job and set off to Asia with some other climbers in 1993. She found life was hard on Everest. Rebecca explained that as you have to carry everything on your back, you only take things that you really need. There is no water on the mountain so you can’t wash, and in the end she didn’t even take a toothbrush with her.

Rebecca also explained that because water is very heavy, you can only take enough to drink! It was the best moment of her life when Rebecca reached the top of Mount Everest on May 17, 1993. She suddenly became famous. After the trip she wrote a book about it and people often ask her to talk about it. Rebecca also has a new job on a science programme on TV.

Today, Rebecca is well known and she has more money, but she still lives in her small flat in south London with her pictures and books about mountains!