Jordan will attempt the ascent to 29,035 feet with his father and his father's girlfriend, both experienced outdoors people who have helped train the teenager for top-level mountaineering.
At age 10, he became the youngest American to summit Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak. He's steadily checked off four of the tallest peaks since then, including Alaska's Mount McKinley, which many climbers consider to be a more technical climb than Everest.
Yes, I did read the article. I stand by my conclusion. Kilimanjaro and McKinley are pea shooters compared to Everest. At the highest camp on either the North or South route to the Summit, the body begins dying because of the extreme altitude and lack of oxygen. That’s why only a few people who have been trapped up near the top overnight have ever come down alive—Lincoln Hall being the most recent in 2006. In 1996, Rob Hall survived overnight but his legs wouldn’t move in the morning and he died there.