13 Year Old Attempts Everest

[summitchaserCJB]

Shit man...you're up. Show us how it's done.

[wimsey]

What if I climbed Diedre naked alpine style

 

how do you climb diedre alpine style?

[Dirtyleaf]

Covered in bacon grease and butter, with a full body harness, with 14 horny bacon grease ballsac licking little rat dogs attached....without getting licked even ONCE. (Yes, that includes the descent and approach too.)

[summitchaserCJB]

Hairless ballsac licking little rat dogs.

wait, that sounded wrong.

Edited May 23, 2010 by summitchaserCJB

[Dirtyleaf]

If by "wrong" you meant "perfect", you are then correct.

[marc_leclerc]

What if I climbed Diedre naked alpine style

 

how do you climb diedre alpine style?

 

No fixed ropes ofc....

[Dirtyleaf]

No fixed ropes?! The dogs might die! A good thing fer sure...

[ASmith]

It is amazing how many little thinkers there are and how envy and jealousy makes bitterness which just further keeps those that participate in this activity from accomplishing anything that is great themselves.

 

Seems so many would rather sit around and complain, make fun of, belittle, and tear down others, than to go out and make something of themselves!

 

My son started racing Motocross at 6, won his first national championship at 7, and after 10 years on the road living out of RV's from track to track, home schooled, etc... received contracts from both Honda and Yamaha. He, and our family, have gave up so much to make his dreams come true as I'm sure Jordan's parents have.

 

It is amazing in a land where one can do, or be, anything that they truly want to be if they are willing to do whatever it takes to do it, how envy and jealousy make such bitter and negative people who do little to nothing with themselves to accomplish anything. The same time and effort would be better spent on moving one self further as opposed to the opposite. Why not just go out and do good works for others and make something grand out of one's self instead? Seems to be a more efficient, enjoyable and profitable way to spend one's time and energy.

 

I suggest that you who throw stones should instead find a life for yourself that you can be proud of.

 

Rich? His dad is a helicopter pilot. They make 60-80K a year, not an amount that most would consider rich. I couldn't support my family with much, on double that, and neither will you so... so with time better spent one can better get to figuring that one out... huh?

 

Jordan.... probably ends up making $500k - $1M off of that climb by the time all is said and done. Congratulations Jordon!

 

Some Info for what it is worth:

 

"That mural just fascinated me so much. My dad picked me up from school and I said, 'Dad, I want to climb the seven summits,' and that was it," Jordan said.

His father, Paul Romero, a helicopter paramedic who is trained in high-altitude rescue, and his father's girlfriend, Karen Lundgren, have trained him for top-level mountaineering. They reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa, the first of the seven peaks, when Jordan was 10 years old.

Romero and Lundgren are both adventure racers who compete in weeklong endurance races that combine biking, climbing, mountaineering and paddling through wilderness areas.

"They are the most supportive parents ever. I do feel lucky for that," Jordan said. "I don't know if other parents would encourage their kids to go big. But that's what I'm doing this for — to encourage kids who don't have that, to go big and set goals in life."

Romero said his goal has always been to help his son attain his dream, even as their quest raised questions about how young is too young to scale Everest, a mountain where harsh conditions have claimed the lives of dozens of climbers.

"It's important to remember, this is all Jordan's idea and Jordan brought us here. It's definitely not about a dad dragging his kid to do these quests and do these mountains. That's a hard thing for people to get their heads around," he said. "People that know us ... understand it very well. They can see into his eyes and understand how driven he is."

Edited May 24, 2010 by ASmith

[Dirtyleaf]

Good work dad.

[ASmith]

Now with your comments... go ahead and show the world, or at least the others on this board what, or should I say who, you really are... and embarrass yourself's.

[LostCamKenny]

It is amazing how many little thinkers there are and how envy and jealousy makes bitterness which just further keeps those that participate in this activity from accomplishing anything that is great themselves.

 

Seems so many would rather sit around and complain, make fun of, belittle, and tear down others, than to go out and make something of themselves!

still, climbing everest is shown as a theme park ride almost - pay for the guide service and have the endurance to make it and you're there. anyone can climb everest if they have the money and drive, and that is fairly well accepted... even if it is a significant accomplishment.

 

Backpacker magazine did a feature on Jordan and it painted a very down-to-earth picture of an adolescent taking part in some very serious business in the mountains. Jordan's climb of everest is anything but something to be jealous about. rather, one should be in awe of the mental toughness that the kid has to achieve the summit and return to basecamp safely.

 

even with that said, everest is no longer just a mountain - it is a tourist attraction for the wealthy, also. sure, jordan's parents may not be wealthy, but that doesn't take away from the fact taht everest is becoming/has become a summit that can pretty much be bought so long as you (or someone on yer behalf) can foot the bill... everest: beyond the limit, anyone? surely that show defends this claim better than any opinion related to the subject can.

 

personally, i want to see the kid make a go at K2 - when he's ready.

 

Edited May 24, 2010 by LostCamKenny

[ASmith]

Better idea... you do go K2!

 

$30k to climb Everest is NOT very much in the big scope of things. $30-$50k barely even buys a car these days... and you are right, most anyone with the fitness, determination, and money can get a pretty good shot of successfully climbing Everest and all of the 7 Summits. However, this is the case with many. many, many climbs and probably guessing every climb done by just about everyone in this and most all posts.

 

So like us, and like everyone who has done it.... go do it, then come back and tell everyone how worthless of an achievement it is if you still feel that way? Same with the other 7 summits which are even easier. Go do them.... then come back and tell us how you wasted your time, money and effort. I would go os far as to suspect that many on this board and elsewhere could say the same about the climbs that these posters have done which are even less insignificant in even more ways.

 

What's odd and ironic is that those who criticize can't do it!

 

"the fact taht everest is becoming/has become a summit that can pretty much be bought so long as you (or someone on yer behalf) can foot the bill"

 

Please share the ones you, and the others, have done that can not be?

Edited May 24, 2010 by ASmith

[LostCamKenny]

Better idea... you do go K2!

 

$30k to climb Everest is NOT very much in the big scope of things. $30-$50k barely even buys a car these days... and you are right, most anyone with the fitness, determination, and money can get a pretty good shot of successfully climbing Everest and all of the 7 Summits. However, this is the case with many. many, many climbs and probably guessing every climb by just about everyone in this and most all posts.

 

What's odd and ironic is that those who criticize can't do it!

hold on there smithy, so you mean to tell me that you have an extra 30-50K laying around? what are you - a hedgefunder?

 

and don't misunderstand me, pops... i am not criticizing the kid - he's tougher than half the sprayer population here (meself included). i can't climb everest and K2 because i am not conditioned for such an adventire and i can't afford to travel to that part of the world for the time required to make such a dream a reality. therefore i stick closer to home where i can actually afford to climb.

[wfinley]

It is amazing how many little thinkers there are and how envy and jealousy makes bitterness which just further keeps those that participate in this activity from accomplishing anything that is great themselves.

 

Seems so many would rather sit around and complain, make fun of, belittle, and tear down others, than to go out and make something of themselves!

 

It is amazing in a land where one can do, or be, anything that they truly want to be if they are willing to do whatever it takes to do it, how envy and jealousy make such bitter and negative people who do little to nothing with themselves to accomplish anything. The same time and effort would be better spent on moving one self further as opposed to the opposite. Why not just go out and do good works for others and make something grand out of one's self instead? Seems to be a more efficient, enjoyable and profitable way to spend one's time and energy.

 

Well said.

 

[LostCamKenny]

Please share the ones you, and the others, have done that can not be?

everywhere you go i'm sure you could find someone that you could pay to take you up a hill for a long walk in the snow, ice and rock(everywhere there are hills with rock snow and ice, anyway) - hell, i could find someone in portland to guide me up mt tabor if that was my goal (there's plenty of cabbies in portland that would drive me up there for sure!). point is that everest (and other BIG mountians with guided trips) isnt such a big adventure when you can take the adventure out of climbing it by paying someone to do a lot of the work for you. i mean how many lines is Jordan going to fix on his own? how much routefindning is he doing for himself? will he melt his own drinking water or cook his own meals? seriously.

 

i like what leclerc suggested - alpine style - though i shudder at the thought of doing it myself.

[ASmith]

No not a hedge funder and I appreciate your honesty you should be commended it will take you far.

 

Not everyone on Everest in wealthy or well off for that matter. Most are hard working people who have worked, raised funds and marketed themselves raising money for months and years to have a chance. My friend TA is a school teacher, Nat Smelser who summited with us in 07 builds furniture etc... Lots of good everyday folks who work hard to do great things.

 

I also have several friends on Everest right now and several that have both summited and some that have not... yet. Anyway you do Everest is tough. Yes...it can be made tougher as can most any climb and done in different or a variety of "styles" by fixing ones own ropes, cooking ones own food, heck why not even find your own way thru the ice fall like Whittaker did years ago? However, there is no right to condemn if one has not done the feat in any "style." To criticize or condemn is a right earned from success and experience not a privilege for those who have done nothing.

 

A thought that has served me well over the years:

 

The poorest way to face life is to face it with a sneer. There are many men who feel a kind of twister pride in cynicism; there are many who confine themselves to criticism of the way others do what they themselves dare not even attempt. There is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities - all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affection of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves in their own weakness. The rôle is easy; there is none easier, save only the rôle of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.

 

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Edited May 25, 2010 by ASmith

[XXX]

Not to knock the kid, but didnt a 12 year old sherpa make the summit on a whim just a few months ago?

 

T

Edited May 25, 2010 by XXX

[Dirtyleaf]

I don't even know what the word "embarrass" means. I'm proud of who I am. Thanks for the kind words and helping me to "step outside the box" and to show the world "who i really am" and to "look at the bigger picture." It sounds like your going for a fatherly/grandfatherly role. It's cute. It's also not working. I'm too wily for your jedi impersonation.

[Dirtyleaf]

"Daddy?" Yes son? "I love you Daddy." I love you too son. Awww....

[aussie69]

Better idea... you do go K2!

 

$30k to climb Everest is NOT very much in the big scope of things. $30-$50k barely even buys a car these days...

 

Ok here's the scope. You've put in an equal amount of bitching to people who are more than likely just kidding around. Do you feel like an idiot yet? If 30-50 K isn't that big of a deal to YOU well, feel free to donate some to an orphanage and get off your high horse. For $30,000 USD I can start a business over here in China AND feed like the entire part of this province that hasn't seen rain in a while. Feel like a dick yet? As for pursuing own dreams, well more than likely a lot of people have. Unfortunately REAL people have responsibilities they have to take care of. Did you forget that fact? Over all I hate to come off as a prick, but really man, think about these sort of things. And let me ask you this; If that kid had died, how would you have viewed the situation?

[aussie69]

Not to knock the kid, but didnt a 12 year old sherpa make the summit on a whim just a few months ago?

 

T

 

Doesn't count. Sherpas arn't people... They're something completely different

[LostCamKenny]

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

words spoken by someone who has been tested fully, no doubt, and i have no ill words for someone who speaks with such experience.

 

it is my feeling - being such a terribly inexperienced extreme altitude mountaineer - that there are many other such mountains in the 8000 meter area that i would much rather try than everest. by this i only mean that everest has lost its luster to me as a conquest. being on the top of the world does have a certain allure, just not for me. i'd much rather summit cho oyo, or K2 ( see now i'm dreaming ) than attempt the extreme altitude version of mt hood. but smithy, i hear your experience.

[marc_leclerc]

Not 8000m or even close, but i would rather climb Changabang....

[aussie69]

I'd rather climb Kinga! Does she count, I mean, I'm dreaming for it!

[korup]

How many long, international, multi-person uber-expensive trips is that for the family in the past few years? They are clearly not poor. Great for them, but don't pretend little Johnny got there by hard work, or has anything approaching the experience necessary to be there. Remember when Everest was the *culmination" of decades of climbing experience? Now it's just a stunt. A long, physically challenging stunt, but a one-off stunt all the same. Any sane parent would say, "Gee that's nice, it's important to have dreams at your age." Not buying the little prince a plane ticket....