The Youngest Person to Climb Mount Everest
Ever since humans first reached the Top of the tallest Peak on the Planet, Mount Everest in 1953, the trend in climbing the world’s highest mountain has been more dramatic.
Unlike the traditional inclinations, thanks to the improvement in knowledge, technology, proper infrastructure and equipment with significant guided assistance it has made it a lot easier for climbers willing to make it to the summit.
Mountain Everest- Known in Nepali as “Sagarmatha” and “Chomolungma” in Tibetan bestrides the border between Nepal and Tibet at the apex of the Mahalangur Himalayan Range.
Regardless to say, reaching to the top of the world definitely is demanding and potentially deadly due to extreme altitude, avalanche, icefalls, and other hazards. However, in spite of every possible risk, Everest draws thousands of mountaineers from around the globe to its top every year.
The popularity of the Everest expedition got hyped in the 90s as international guides began to inventor commercial trips to the top. Not just the number of visitors but 60 million years old Everest is itself growing. Since the mountain was formed as the upwards force was formed by colliding Tectonics plates pushing rocks that formed the highest mountain.
Age does not matter on the way to success. What makes you successful is the belief that “you are not inferior to anyone” Here in this article, we provide you with these brave young lads who on teenage reached the top of the world.
Temba Tsheri
The fourth youngest person to climb to the top of Everest, Temba Tsheri is a Sherpa from Rolwaling Valley, Dolakha. Tsheri became the youngest person to the summit to the top of Everest on May 23, 2001 at the age of 16 years and 14 days. He held the title for two long years until it was broken in 2003 by Ming Kipa.
Tsheri was still in school while he went out on this wild expedition and lost five of his fingers to frostbite while he was attempting to summit Everest from the Southern side in the year 2000. However, the fifteen-year-old Temba could not succeed the climb on the first try, rather he made his successful ascent from Tibet (North side of Everest) in 2001.
Ming Kipa
An amazing young lady Ming Kipa is the third youngest person to reach the top of the tallest mountain in the world. Kipa belongs to the legendary Sherpa community and has held the record of the youngest person to climb Everest from 2003 to 2010. She was just 15 years old at the time of her revolutionary achievement
Only a few people had been able to manage to summit the volatile mountain among which only a few were women. Well, it was on the 24th of May 2003 when Ming Kipa along with her brother Mingma Gyula and her sister Lakhpa summited Everest from the Northern side. She had to follow the route from the Tibetan border as Nepal doesn’t allow the climbers under 16 to climb Everest.
At the tender age of fifteen, this brave young girl commenced her climb towards the 8,848 meters high peal. Her success made a very loud noise as the news of her extraordinary achievement reached the base camp where she was congratulated for her strength, endurance, and stamina.
Malavath Purna
Malavath Purna is the second youngest person to summit Mount Everest. At the novice age of 13 years, Purna successfully reached the top of Everest becoming the youngest Indian and the Youngest girl in the world to have reached the summit.
When Purna first saw the Everest, the thirteen-year-old said cheerfully, “It’s not tall, we can climb that in a day”. She came to Nepal from a government residential school in the state of Telangana after a couple of months of exhausting mountaineering training. As part of her training, she also scaled Mount Renock in the Kanchenjunga range and several other mountains of Ladakh and Darjeeling.
Malavath’s fun declaration that it is possible to summit Everest in a day and making up to what she said has made us familiar with her biopic “Poorna – courage has no limit”.
In the movie, the real struggle of a young girl with big dreams and happiness after the dreams come true has been drawn so beautifully that it feels like we have been through her journey of success.
Upon an interview with the BBC Malavath said that she was initially afraid but the training she received earlier helped her to overcome her fear. She did the climb with an experienced mountaineer, Shekhar Babu and her friend Anand Kumar and a group of Sherpas. Officials also admit that her achievement is even more impressive as she climbed the peak from the Northern side (Tibetan Side) which is more difficult.
Belonging to an agricultural family in a small ethnic village of Southern India, Poorna was encouraged by her parents and teachers to take such a big step. Just after three days after she had arrived to the base camp, there was a deadly avalanche on the Nepalese side of the mountain killing about 16 climbers but that
did not discourage her from scaling the peak.
While she made the climb, she was just a month older than the former record holder Jordan Romero.
Jordan Romero
The record for the youngest person to have summited Everest is currently held by Jordan Romero. Grown up in California, Jordan submitted to the top of the world on 22nd may 2010 when he was just thirteen years old breaking all the records ever created. Romero made the climb along with his father, Paul Romero, his stepmother, and three Sherpas.
The team chose to climb through the northern route from Tibet with satellite phones and GPS tracking. During the journey, Romero took part in some interviews from the base camp at about 18,700 feet elevation. Thirteen-year-old Romero telephoned his mother from the top of the peak and shouted: “Mom, I am calling you from the top of the world”.
Prior to climbing Everest, Jordan had already climbed five of the seven highest peaks in the world in his craving to scale all the tallest peaks of the seven continents. Romero was curious about mountaineering and was inspired to climb the tallest peak on every continent when he saw a painting that had the “seven continents’ highest mountains”.
After a successful summit to Vinson Massif (Antarctica) in December 2011, Romero holds a record of “the youngest climber in the world to complete the seven summits”.
Before the expedition, there was some criticism over whether or not a 13-year-old boy should be allowed to attempt this dangerous adventure. This criticism led to Romero being asked questions by medical advisors which then went on to prove that he is mentally mature enough to have done such expedition.
After his successful summit to Mount Everest, he and Katherine Blanc wrote a book, The Boy Who Conquered Everest – The Jordan Romero Story. Jordan Romero with Linda LeBlanc has also published a children's novel called “No Summit Out Of Sight – The True Story of the Youngest Person To Climb The Seven Summits” based on his experience.
A little boy to trek to the EBC
Besides these brave young fellas, here is an honorable mention of a five-year-old toddler who has become the youngest boy to trek to the Everest base camp. Harshit Saumitra, from New Delhi, India, spent 10 days trekking on the foothills of Everest to reach the famous Everest Base Camp.
According to his father, Harshit is already an aspiring mountaineer and has been trekking on challenging terrains since he was three. Ever since the little man heard about the tallest peak he had an urge to climb to the summit. However, his parents were worried about him being too young for the huge mountain (which he definitely is) and they made him do a stunning trek to the base camp.
To everyone’s surprise, this little toddler kept walking without even complaining about once. “He is actually our motivator as he always encourages us to try new things. He keeps things simple and natural”, his parents added. Even though the parents are proud, they are a little terrified for their toddler.
We know for a fact that most of us will never climb Everest. But every time we think about it, it still looms large in our minds in every spring as hundreds of trekking junkies travel to the mountains for an adventure. Trekking in the Khumbu Valley is incredibly beautiful and is definitely a once in a lifetime journey.
Summoning all their strength and nerve to pull themselves up to where every breath and every movement is tough, these young climbers kept moving forward. Getting through every obstacle and reaching to the top of the world is what these young heroes lived for.
Kudos! To these young mountaineers!!!