Welcome to this week's In Conversation Podcast with me Charlotte Collins this week I'm joined by

Benita Norris who in 2010 became the

youngest woman to climb Mount Everest age just 22. From there she's taken on

countless expeditions from skiing to the North Pole to attempting to climb the infamous K2 in Pakistan

setting several impressive records along the way. She's since gone on to become an author,

motivational speaker and a mother and having recently joined us on the Sheelux show I'm thrilled

she's back to chat to us about all she's achieved again today. Welcome, Benita.

Thank you Charlotte, such a lovely introduction. Thank you.

I so loved your interview with Georgie on the Sheel Up show.

It must have been a couple of months ago now, mustn't it?

And I'm so excited to talk to you today and find out more about your amazing story, your inspirational story, I'm feeling really paling in comparison when it comes to life achievements with you today.

I think we all feel a bit like that in lockdown though. I've like forgotten who I was.

This is the perfect opportunity to remind yourself.

So we start at the very beginning. Can you talk to me about your childhood? Where did you grow up?

Where did you go to school? So I grew up in

Wokingham a little town in Berkshire there are no mountains there there's nothing

really exciting and I went to a girl school which was actually a state school and had some great teachers there who were really inspiring and kind of told us girls that you know we could do anything that any man did.

But I didn't grow up in a climbing family. I was never taken on like walking

holidays to the late district or anything like that. My parents would much prefer to sit by a pool and

staying somewhere and drink cocktails. So we went on those kind of all-inclusive Spain trips as kids.

Every time that I got to go on a school ski trip,

I would just be completely blown away

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