Climbing to new records

Photo: Liz Rose

From Everest to Denali, a B.C. mountaineer has climbed to a record after spending more than two years scaling some of the tallest peaks on Earth.

North Vancouver's Liz Rose reached the summit of Mount Kosciuszko in New South Wales in Australia this week, marking her successful completion of the Seven Summits, a series of climbs up the highest mountains on each of the world's seven continents.

Only about 400 climbers around the globe have completed the feat.

At 26 years old, Rose is believed to be the youngest Canadian to have reached all the summits. Jason Rodi was 27 when he finished the climbs in 2004, according to statistics from 7summits.com.

"It was incredible to come full circle with the journey that I've been on," Rose said from Gold Coast, Australia, on Wednesday.

Seventeen friends and family members were with Rose on her final climb this week.

It took the group about four hours to reach Mount Kosciuszko's summit, a fraction of the time it took Rose to get to the top of Mount Elbrus in Russia or Mount Vinson in Antarctica.

"It was definitely the easiest (climb) of them all, but it was nice that I could share it with everyone," she said.

The climber also carried a flag signed by about two dozen kids from Canuck Place, a children's hospice in Vancouver.

She dedicated her Australia climb to helping raise money for the facility's recreational therapy program, and has brought in more than $54,000, which will be matched by a local foundation.