Sunday, May 23, 2010
 Youngest to climb Mount Everest  - Jordan Romero sets world record
  MOUNT EVEREST, Nepal-Tibet border -- Jordan Romero , 13, from the ski town of Big Bear, California, near the San Bernardino Mountains, has climbed Everest, which is 29,028 feet (8,847 meters) above sea level - setting the new world record for the Youngest to climb Mount Everest .
 Photo: At just 13, Jordan Romero became the youngest person to climb Mount Everest , surviving the extreme weather that has claimed the lives of 179 climbers over the years, and air so thin that bottled oxygen is needed. / AP
  ( enlarge photo )

   He reached Everest's summit with the help of his father, stepmother and three Sherpa guides. "I just want to do something big. It's all about the experience. I just happen to be 13," he said before embarking on his adventure.

The previous world record for the Youngest to climb Mount Everest was previously held by Ming Kipa of Nepal, who was 15 when she made the climb in 2003 with her brother and sister.

Jordan Romero left for the peak from the Chinese side of the mountain after Nepal denied him permission on age grounds, according to nepalnews.com.

   It is climbing season on Everest, and so far this year 186 people have reached the summit, but two have died trying. In all, more than 2,700 climbers have scaled the 29,028ft of ice and rock since it was first conquered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

   Before starting out, Romero, of Big Bear, California, said he wanted to climb Everest to inspire more young people to get outdoors.

   "Obese children are the future of America, the way things are going," he said on April 9 in Kathmandu. "I am hoping to change that by doing what I do: climbing and motivational speaking."

    With a smile, he added: "I am doing this a little for myself, too, to do something big."

Jordan Romero , 13, has climbed to the top of the highest peaks on six of the seven continents, beginning at age 9. He was just 9 when they climbed 19,341 feet (5,895 meters) to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Jordan Romero 7 Summits
    July 2006: Mount Kilimanjaro, 5895 meters, Africa.
    July 2007: Mount Elbrus, 5642 meters, Europe.
    December: 2007 Aconcagua, 6962 meters, South America.     June 2008: Mount Denali, 6194 meters, North America.     September: 2009 Carstenz Pyramid, 4884 meters, Oceania.     May 2010: Everest, 8850 meters, Asia.
    December 2010: Planned trip to Vinson Massif, 4897 meters,                                  Antarctica.

   "This is not an isolated vacation," said Paul Romero, Jordan's father, before the two embarked up Everest in Nepal. "This is a lifestyle."

Jordan Romero reached the Everest summit with a group of mountaineers, including a Nepalese Sherpa named Apa who broke his own world record by climbing Everest for a 20th time.

   The only peak left for him to climb after Everest is the Vinson Massif in Antarctica, which is 16,067 feet (4,897 meters). A trip there is planned for December.

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