Mt. Everest climber is back at base camp

Samantha Larson of Long Beach, who at 18 became one of the youngest people to summit Mt. Everest, safely arrived Saturday with her father at a base camp on the Nepal mountain, her relieved mother reported.

“The most dangerous part of climbing is the descent,” said Larson’s mother, Sarah Hanson of New York.

“I spoke with both of them this morning, and they sounded well -- much better than they had the day before,” said her stepmother, Janet Moore, who is married to Larson’s father, David Larson, 51, of Long Beach.

The father and daughter arrived at the base camp about 3 p.m. Saturday, Nepal time. Larson is a graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School. She delayed her enrollment at Stanford University to scale some of the world’s highest mountains.