Cumbria boy 'over the moon' to reach Everest base camp
Eight-year-old Frankie McMillan has been raising money for charity
An eight-year-old mountaineer from Cumbria has said he is “over the moon” to have reached Everest base camp after setting out with his mother to raise money for charity.
Frankie McMillan has been regularly climbing mountains with mother Basia since he was a toddler, and last year took on his greatest challenge yet – becoming the youngest Briton to climb Mount Olympus in Greece.
Frankie has climbed more than 500 mountains and hills, including summiting Scafell Pike when he was four-years-old and taking on all 214 Wainwrights in the Lake District.
After reaching Everest base camp on April 9, Frankie said:
“I felt so proud of myself. I was over the moon.”
His mother, Ms McMillan, 40, said:
“It was just such a rewarding experience. It was a very proud moment. Frankie was very proud of himself but I was even more proud because I was proud not of myself but of him.
“I was watching him touching the base camp rock and seeing him making his dreams come true.”
Ms McMillan, a mountain guide, said Frankie was “absolutely fine” during the climb but she got frequent headaches closer to the end of the hike and it was “hard in parts”.
“He managed all the way all by himself – if anything, I think he was stronger than me,” she said.
The pair set up a JustGiving page and have raised over £1,800 for children’s charity Make-A-Wish UK.