11-Year Old Climber Summits Elbrus in Quest for Seven Summits

Last week I posted a story about Tyler Armstrong, the 11-year old mountaineer who has designs on climbing Everest next spring. In that article I questioned whether or not such a young climber should be attempting to climb the world's tallest peak which is dangerous enough for full-grown adults. But while I was busy pontificating about Tyler's ambitions to become the youngest to accomplish such a feat, he was in Russia adding another mountain to his resume. The young man – climbing with his father – successfully summited Mt. Elbrus, the tallest mountain in Europe.

Tyler's expedition took five days to complete, culminating with a successful summit day on August 9. This was the third of the Seven Summits that he has climbed, with Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua already under his belt. The 5642 meter (18,510 ft) peak was seen as a bit of a warm-up for Everest next spring, as it gave Tyler the opportunity to work on more technical aspects of mountaineering, including rope skills and walking with crampons.

In order to climb Everest in 2016 Armstrong will need to get special permission from the Nepali or Tibetan governments. Both countries instituted minimum age requirements back in 2010 when Jordan Romero became the youngest person to climb Everest at 13 years old. Before Tyler can even start to climb the mountain, he'll need to plead his case just to get a permit. It will be interesting to see how officials from either country react to the petition.

Regardless of whether or not he gets to climb Everest, you do have to respect and admire Tyler's drive. While he is of course hoping to climb all of the Seven Summits at some point, he isn't doing it just to selfishly try to reach that goal at a young age. The young man is using these climbs to raise funds to fight muscular dystrophy, and he hopes to eventually reach a goal of $1 million for the Cure Duchenne organization.

Incidentally, yesterday I wrote a story about how Jon Krakauer admitted that climbing Everest was the "biggest mistake" of his life. In that post I wrote that Krakauer's reveal came after he received a question about climbing Everest from a young climber. It turns out that climber was Tyler, who was inquiring about Krakauer's experiences on the mountain back in 1996. I'm guessing he wasn't expecting the response that he got from the best selling author, who did just about everything he could to dissuade the 11-year old from climbing the mountain. We'll see if those words had any impact on Tyler, or his ambitions to climb in the Himalaya next year.

Jon Krakauer Calls Climbing Everest "Biggest Mistake of My Life"

Into Thin Air author Jon Krakauer raised eyebrows a few days back when he said that he felt climbing Mt. Everest was the biggest mistake of his life. Krakauer was speaking at a Huffington Post Live event at the time, which was being used to promote the new mountaineering film Meru in which he appears. His response came after receiving a question from a young climber who wanted tips for taking on the world's tallest mountain.

During the exchange Krakauer revealed that since climbing Everest back in 1996, the now-infamous season that was chronicled so famously in his book, he has suffered from bouts of PTSD, and continues to struggle with the events that too place there. You may recall that in 1996 eight climbers lost their lives on the mountain, including legendary guide Rob Hall. Into Thin Air is also he basis of the new film Everest that will be released to theaters on September 18.

Krakauer became famous thanks to the book, which was a bestseller at the time and is considered one of the top mountaineering books of all time. But, he told the HuffPo Live crowd "if I could go back and relive my life, I would never have climbed Everest."

Those are strong words from a guy who is so closely associated with the mountain. But they also show you how much of an impact the events that took place there have impacted his life, and he's probably not alone. A lot of people climb Everest for many different reasons, and the experience means different things to each of them. But when something as dreadful as the 1996 season goes down (or the 2014 and 2015 seasons for that matter), it is going to stick with you for the rest of your life.

The author went on to advise the 11-year old climber who initially asked the question about climbing Everest to think long and hard about his decision to do so. Krakauer told him "It's a serious, serious choice," adding, "If you do it, if you go for it, you'll be making really important decisions where your brain isn't functioning because of hypoxia or you haven't had enough to eat. Meru is a much harder mountain to climb, but in some ways Everest is much more dangerous. The dangers are more insidious. They're not as obvious."

Strong words indeed from a man who knows what he is talking about.

Video: Watch the Second Trailer for Everest

Next month, the big Hollywood adaptation of Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air will hit theaters at long last. Simply entitled Everest, this film features an all-star cast with the likes of Josh Brolin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kiera Knightly, Robin Wright, and many more. Last week, the second trailer for the film was released, giving us more of a glimpse of what to expect from the movie. This trailer includes more climbing shots than we've seen in the previous clips, including some nerve-wracking scenes of climbers passing through the Khumbu Icefall. It also gives viewers a better sense of the scope of the story as well, which most of us know inside and out by now.

When the first trailer for the film was released, I was a bit skeptical. Now, I remain cautiously optimistic. There is still some cringe-worthy dialog at times, but the climbing scenes look top notch, and cinematography is breathtaking. I think it is safe to say that we probably haven't seen a mountaineering film of this kind before, and I am now eager to see it on the big screen. Hopefully it meets expectations. Checkout the second trailer below.

How Young is Too Young for Everest? 11-Year Old Planning Expedition to World's Highest Peak

Back in 2010 there was a raging debate in the mountaineering community about how old someone should be before they attempt a climb up Everest. At the time, American Jordan Romero was attempting to complete the Seven Summits, and the tallest mountain on Earth was his next objective. He was just 13 years old, and many – myself included – felt that he was too young to attempt such an expedition. But Jordan would eventually get up and down the mountain safely, becoming the youngest person to achieve that feat. He would later become the youngest to climb all of the Seven Summits as well, completing that task well before his 16th birthday.

Jordan's efforts were certainly inspiring, and he has proven himself to be an exceptional young man. But in the wake of his Everest climb, both Nepal and Tibet instituted age requirements for climbers in an effort to ensure that there wasn't suddenly a rush of children on the mountain. Since then, no one has truly challenged Jordan's record, although there have been some other teenage climbers who have summited the mountain.

Now it may be time to start thinking about this debate once again. An 11-year old American by the name of Tyler Armstrong says that he wants to climb Everest in the spring of 2016 as he continues his quest for the Seven Summits as well, and attempts to raise money to combat muscular dystrophy. If given the chance to climb the mountain, he would be 12 years and 4 months old at the time.


While this sounds like a recipe for disaster, Tyler isn't without experience on big mountains. He has climbed Rainier on more than one occasion, and he has also climbed Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua too. He plans to go to Russia to attempt Elbrus soon as well, which he sees as a warm-up to Everest. Still, none of those mountains is an 8000-meter peak, which brings a whole new level of challenge that the young man has yet to encounter.

In order to climb Everest, Tyler would first have to get special permission from either the Nepali government or the Chinese-Tibet Mountaineering Association. Either one could easily deny him a climbing permit, although they could just as easily give him the okay as well. Considering the results of the last two climbing seasons on Everest however, I would think twice about granting permission to climb to a young man who isn't even a teenager yet.

I'll go on record now as saying that I think this is once again a bad idea. I felt that way five years ago when Jordan Romero was climbing as well, and while he went on to prove me wrong, I still believe that 8000-meter peaks are no place for children, no matter where else they've climbed. For now, we'll have to wait to see if either the Nepalese or Chinese grant Tyler a permit, but I for one hope that they stick to the guidelines enacted back in 2010 and continue to require minimum age limits for all climbers. Unfortunately I don't feel all that confident that they will indeed enforce those rules.

Nepal Reopens Annapurna Circuit

One of the best trekking routes in the world has reopened in Nepal after being closed for the past three months following the devastating earthquake on April 25. Earlier today it was announced that the Annapurna Circuit is ready to receive hikers once again after an independent inspection team certified it safe for foreign visitors.

In the wake of the disaster, the Nepali government hired a California-based structural engineering company called  Miyamoto International to survey the Annapurna trail, as well as villages, tea houses, and other structures along its length. After an exhaustive study, the firm says that it found that less than 1% of the route, and 3% of the teahouses, had suffered any damage from the earthquake.

The news shouldn't come as much of a surprise, although it is good to know that the Annapurna Circuit is safe. The initial earthquake took place in the Kathmandu Valley, destroying homes, historical sites, and sometimes whole villages in the process. But the epicenter was far from the Annapurna region, which obviously suffered very little from the natural disaster.

A major aftershock hit Nepal just a few days after the April 25 quake. That one had its epicenter in the Khumbu Valley region, which is closer to Everest. Miyamoto is still surveying the trail to Everest Base Camp – the other popular trekking route in Nepal – and will release its results on that inspection soon. It is expected that the damage will be greater in that area, but that the trekking route will be reopened as well.

Nepal sees about 140,000 visitors each year just to hike these two routes. As the country struggles to rebuild, you can understand why it would want to reassure travelers that these areas are safe. Tourism dollars will play a big role in getting the country back on its feet, and this is a good step in rebuilding that industry. With the fall trekking season now just a couple of months away, it will be interesting to see how many people return, and how many stay away.

Man Completes Virtual Bike Ride Up Everest

So here's an odd, but interesting story. On Sunday, cyclist Frank Garcia became the first person to complete a bike ride to the summit of Mt. Everest, although he did so without ever stepping foot in Nepal. Garcia completed his monumental task onboard a stationary bike that had been programmed using Zwift to recreate similar slopes and distances he would encounter had he been on the mountain – minus the incredibly low levels of oxygen of course. The ride was than verified by an organization called Hells 500, which has created a new activity called "Everesting."

It took Garcia 17 hours and 18 minutes to complete his virtual ride to the summit, as he faced an average grade of the slope of 7% along the way. He burned approximately 18,000 calories en route as well, which should give you an idea of just how difficult this undertaking was, even if it didn't take place on the real mountain.

Everesting is apparently a relatively new phenomenon amongst cyclists who are picking a mountain road to ride anywhere in the world, and continually doing it over and over again until they rack up 8848 meters (29,029 ft), the exact height of Everest. The rules say that they are allowed to take breaks along the way, but they can't sleep. Several people have successfully done it already, including a man by the name of George Mallory (I can't make this stuff up!) who completed his attempt by cycling Mt. Donna Buang in Australia. Garcia's version of Everesting is the first to do so in the virtual realm.

Obviously this is nothing like climbing the real Everest, but it is still a pretty tough feat to accomplish. Gaining 29,000 feet of vertical in a single go is always going to be a challenge, no matter when and where it is done. According to the Everesting Hall of Fame however, it has been done on a number of occasions already.

This is pretty crazy stuff, and interesting to think about. I guess no matter how many people summit the real Everest, it will always remain the standard by which endurance activities are measured.

Everesting Mt Donna Buang from Simon Atkinson on Vimeo.

Mt. Everest Moved 3 cm by Nepal Earthquake

As Nepal continues to rebuild and recover from the deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake that took place there back on April 25, we are starting to get a better understand of just how powerful this seismic event actually was. According to new reports, the earthquake was so strong that it actually moved Everest 3 cm (1.2 inches) to the southwest. That might not sound like it is very far, but when you consider the size of the mountain – the tallest in the world – and the slow pace of geologic movement, it is an incredible shift.

Precise measurements of Everest's movements have been observed since 2005 when the Chinese placed a satellite tracking system on the summit. Since then, they have seen the mountain move about 4 cm (1.5 inches) to the north each year, and grow at a rate of about .3 cm (.11 inches). But the earthquake not only reversed the direction of the movement, it also shifted the peak nearly an entire year's distance in one sudden, jarring motion. That motion caused avalanches to occur on Everest, with 18 people losing their lives in Base Camp on the South Side.

Despite this massive shift, it does not appear that the mountain lost or gained any altitude. Instead, it appears that it shifted horizontally, without moving vertically in any way. Furthermore, the 7.5 magnitude aftershock that occurred on May 12 had no impact on the mountain at all in terms of movement.

The initial quake in April claimed the lives of more 8000 people, and destroyed hundreds of buildings throughout the Kathmandu Valley. It also brought an abrupt end to the spring climbing season, with most major expeditions taking place in Nepal shutting down in the aftermath of the disaster. It is unclear whether or not there are any plans to return to the mountain this fall, but numerous trekking teams have already canceled their trips that were scheduled to take place in the post-monsoon months.

In the greater scheme of things, this shift in Everest's location would have gone unnoticed were it not for the precise instruments installed on the summit. But, that said, in terms of geological forces at work, it does give us an indication of just how powerful this earthquake truly was. When mountains are literally shifting it is easy to understand why the destruction was so widespread and massive in its scope. Thankfully, recovery efforts are well underway, but it is going to take years for Nepal to fully get past this disaster.