Marlette de Jager has become the sixth South African woman to conquer Mount Everest!
Johannesburg, South Africa (30 May 2021) – A 41-year-old South African reached the summit of Everest around two weeks ago.
In her latest courageous trek, she has now made history by climbing Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak above sea level.
Mount Everest, also known as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Chomolungma in Tibetan, is situated in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The international boundary between Nepal and China goes across its peak.
This is the story of Marlette “Molly” de Jager, the sixth South African woman to reach Mount Everest’s peak!
“We left the base camp on the morning of 8 May. We summited 08:20 on 12 May,” De Jager said to goodthingsguy.com.
“We returned to the base camp on the 14th day of May.”
During her first try in 2015, De Jager had earlier escaped an avalanche that swept across the Everest base camp in Nepal due to an earthquake. At least 22 climbers were killed in the April 2015 avalanche. This, however, did not put an end to her hopes.

Photo: Facebook @speakersincsa
De Jager claims that she first believed that the avalanche would never return to Everest. She was encouraged, though, when her medicine climber Wilmien van der Merwe summited Everest in 2017 after surviving the horrific earthquake and avalanche.
She ultimately reached her goal earlier this month after climbing 8,850 meters together with Irish mountaineer Noel Hanna, living in South Africa. De Jager is a Johannesburg-based alpinist and motivational speaker.
De Jager has now climbed six of the world’s highest summits, often known as the “Seven Summits.”
Kilimanjaro (Africa) in 2000, Mount Elbrus (Europe) in 2010, Aconcagua (South America) and Mount Denali (North America) in 2014, and the Carstensz Pyramid (Australasia) in 2019 are among her accomplishments.
Finally, the great Everest, what an achievement!