15-year-old becomes youngest to summit highest peaks on all seven continents (video)

Back in May of 2010 we told you of Jordan Romero, who at age 13 became the youngest person to summit Mt. Everest. (Meanwhile your kid is stymied if the Pop Tarts are on the top shelf). On Saturday, Romero, now 15, reached the top of Mt. Vinson Massif in Antarctica, making him the youngest person to climb the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents.

The first of these (Mt. Kilimanjaro) came when Romero was only nine. Which of course begs the question: should kids be climbing insanely large mountains? From an ABC 20/20 report on Romero’s Mt. Everest climb in 2010:

Approaching Camp One, Team Jordan encountered a towering wall of ice — which suddenly collapsed. “I remember the first thing my father had said was, ‘Jordan, those things can fall any minute,’ ” he said.

Jordan and his father were dragged down the mountain, buried under ice, but able to get out. They might have died had they not been attached to a rope. Less than 100 feet away, a Hungarian climber was killed, buried under a sheet of ice.

“Me and Jordan stood right there and watched a man die right next to us,” said Paul Romero, whose head and legs were punctured by the spikes on Jordan’s boots during the ice fall. “It was a real punch in the chest, reminding you that you’re at Mt. Everest. There’s no screwing around here.”

“We said ‘hi’ to that guy right before it all had happened,” Jordan said.

Jordan is now a “veteran” climber at age 15, but that’s still a baby by some standards: you can’t legally get a permit to climb the most dangerous of the two Mt. Everest routes until you’re 16. This also brings to mind the case of Abby Sunderland, the southern California 16-year-old who attempted to sail solo around the globe last year, but had to be rescued in the Indian Ocean when her sail broke.

Then there’s 12-year-old Mexican bullfighter Michelito Lagravere, who has already been gored twice.

Of course, Romero has not yet set the record for youngest person to descend the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.

Jordan Romero, 15, reached the summit of Vinson Massif in Antarctica at Christmas, posting an announcement on his Facebook page. “It’s in the books. The kid and team summit with all fingers and toes. Descent still to come. Then we celebrate.”

With chocolate milk. And his mom will have to drive him home.

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Jordan Romero Climbs Mt. Vinson Massif: Calif. Teen Becomes Youngest To Climb 7 Summits [Huffington Post]
13-year-old climbs Mt. Everest, which is somewhat insane [Off the Bench]