Youngest Briton to scale Everest killed in climbing accident

LONDON, England (CNN) - Rob Gauntlett, the youngest Briton to summit Mt. Everest, died in a climbing accident along with another mountaineer in the French Alps, the British Foreign Office confirmed Sunday. Both were 21.

Gauntlett scaled Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, in 2006 just
days after his 19th birthday, along with 19-year-old James Hooper, his Web site says. He shattered the previous British record set by Bear Grylls at the age of 23.

Last month, National Geographic Adventure magazine declared Gauntlett and Hooper "adventurers of the year" for their 26,000-mile journey from one of Earth's magnetic poles to the other using only skis, sleds, sails and bicycles.