Photo courtesy Romero Family
This weekend, 13-year-old Californian Jordan Romero reached the top of Mt. Everest, becoming the youngest person ever to do so. He also got one step closer to achieving his goal of climbing the tallest mountain on each continent (Antarctica is up next). Romero’s team (which included his father and stepmother) climbed the more difficult North side of Everest, since the Chinese government recently closed the South side to mountaineers. Despite experiencing severe stomach pains and enduring a 10-hour period with no water when the team’s water bottles froze, Romero ascended the summit with enough energy to call his mother via satellite phone and tell her he was “on top of the world.” In subsequent interviews, Romero told the press that he’s hoping to inspire other kids to get outdoors and “go big.” His dream to climb the seven summits started at age 9 when he became fascinated with a mural at his school depicting the world’s highest peaks. Here’s a video about Romero’s achievement.
Oh Eun-Sun
As the spring climbing season on Mt. Everest kicks into gear, controversy swirls around two climbers. First, Korean climber Oh Eun-Sun recently scaled Himalayan giant Annapurna, becoming the first woman to climb all 14 of the planet’s 8,000-meter peaks. But lack of photographic evidence of Eun-Sun at the summit of another peak, Kangchenjunga, has prompted rival Spanish climber Edurne Pasabán to publicly question whether Eun-Sun actually did make it to the top. Pasabán herself is just one peak shy of completing the 14-mountain circuit. See an article about the controversy in the National Geographic Adventure blog.
Jordan Romero
Meanwhile, as 13-year-old American Jordan Romero (see his blog) prepares for a summit attempt of Mt. Everest later this month, the mountaineering community is awash with debate over whether young teens should be allowed to engage in such über-risky climbs. See what the BBC has to say about Romero’s climbing life, and check out this article in the Outside online blog for a full report on the controversy.
