Guest Bio:
Jordan Romero is an American mountain climber who, on May 22, 2010, became the youngest person to climb Mount Everest. He was 13 years 10 months 10 days old when he reached the summit. Romero was accompanied by his father Paul Romero, his step-mother Karen Lundgren, and three Sherpas, Ang Pasang Sherpa, Lama Dawa Sherpa, and Lama Karma Sherpa. The previous record for youngest to climb Everest was held by Ming Kipa of Nepal who was 15 years old when she reached the summit in 2003. He was inspired to climb the tallest mountains of each continent when he saw a painting in the hallway of his school that had the seven continents' highest mountains. He climbed the Vinson Massif in December 2011, breaking the record of George Atkinson being the youngest climber in the world to complete the Seven Summits, at the age of 15 years, 5 months, 12 days. It is likely that, barring changes in national policies, Romero's record will remain unbeaten, as Nepal does not issue licences for under-16s to climb Everest, and subsequent to Romero's ascent, China introduced similar restrictions on the Tibetan side.