Whatever you think of his motives, you've got to admire thirteen-year-old Jordan Romero who last week realised his dream to become the youngest person to conquer Everest.
The teenager from California reached the summit of the 29,035ft peak on Saturday along with his father Paul and Paul's girlfriend, Karen Lundgren.
Romero, who wants to become the youngest person to scale the highest peaks on seven continents, declared it "was a feeling like no other." But you do wonder if normal life will seem a little boring for this remarkable teenager now.Parentdish featured Jordan back in April as he underwent preparations to smash the record held by a 16-year-old from Nepal.
However, climbing Everest was not as easy as he first thought it would be, as he tells The Early Show in an interview via Skype. Climbing the mountain "was definitely harder than I thought it would be," he says.
And when he reached the top he proved he is, in many ways, just like every other child by ringing his mother first. "Once I said, 'Mom, it's your son calling from the top of the world,' she was just going crazy on the other line," he says.
The teenager is no stranger to achieving remarkable feats: when he was nine he decided his goal would be to climb the tallest mountain in the world and aged ten he reached the top of Mount Kilimanjaro – becoming the youngest person to do so.
In 2007 he conquered Australia's Mount Kosciuszko, Mount Elbrus in Europe and Mount Aconcagua. He's also been busy closer to home when he scaled North America's tallest mountain which is considered more technical than Everest. Last autumn he reached the summit of Oceania's Carstensz Pyramid.
So, what's left for this amazing teenager? A life of homework, school and computer games that is similar to many teenagers' lives the world over? Not quite. He has one peak left to go to realise his goal he set himself four years ago – the Vinson Masif in Antarctica,. According to The Early Show he is planning to head there in December.
Source (ParentDish US)