Teen Climber: Too Young to Scale Mt. Everest?
June 4, 2010— -- At 13, Jordan Romero has already scaled the world's highest peaks on six different continents. Last week, he became the youngest climber ever to make it to the top of Mount Everest. It's an astounding feat that has killed 220 climbers before him.
"I try not to let it get to my head. That was the key," he told "20/20's" Elizabeth Vargas about blocking out the possibility of death while summiting Everest.
Jordan's father, Paul Romero, who accompanied him on the record-breaking summit, said he talked to his son beforehand about the dangers of Everest -- a mountain that, in recent years, has claimed the life of one climber for every 80 who summit. "It's a well-known fact. If you die up on Mount Everest you stay there. That's your grave."
While many hailed Jordan's accomplishment, some asked who would send a 13-year-old up the world's highest peak, which is also among the most dangerous.
"I trust him completely. And I have from a young age. He's never been an adrenalin junkie that seems to take unnecessary risks," said his mother, Leigh Anne Drake. "He's very comfortable with what he can do and ...what is beyond his range of ability."
But where does the line end between fulfilling a child's dream and reckless parenting? Ken Kamler, who has climbed on Mt. Everest six times and penned "Surviving the Extremes" -- containing his account of the 1996 Everest storm in which eight climbers died -- said Jordan's climb was overly risky.
"I would not send my son up there at the age of 13," said Kamler. "I think the other doctor climbers that I know are in agreement...I don't think it needs to be done -- I think he can wait until he is older."
Jordan, from the ski town of Big Bear Lake, California, in the San Bernardino Mountains, set his sights on climbing the seven summits at age nine.
While his mother may have initially expressed passive concern at her son's dream to climb the seven summits, Jordan's father, an air rescue paramedic and adventurer, trained him, and encouraged him to become the youngest American at the time to scale Mt. Kilimanjaro at age 10. Then, they moved on to the tallest peaks in Australia, Russia, Argentina and Mt. McKinley -- also known as Denali -- all before he turned 12. Next on the list was Everest.
