Florida 8-year-old becomes youngest girl to reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro


Roxy Getter had a summer vacation she'll never forget — during a family trip to Africa in July, the 8-year-old climbed to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, becoming the youngest known girl to do so.
The Punta Gorda, Florida, resident made the trek with her parents and older brother. It was their first time camping, and on the seventh day of the trip, they reached the 19,341-foot summit. Getter was born with a heart defect and had open-heart surgery as a baby, making her successful journey to the top of Africa's highest peak even sweeter. She told ABC News she's ready for her next adventure, but might want to do something on a smaller scale. "I would like to climb a little mountain, but not like six night and seven days," she said. "I would like to go up the mountain for a couple of hours and then come back down and go home." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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