City News

No Summit out of Sight is a book about a boy named Jordan Romeo and his journey as the youngest person to climb the 7 summits. Jordan was 10 when he initially started and was 15 when his journey ended. At fifteen, he became the youngest person to reach the summits of the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents:

1. Denali, USA. Elevation 20,320ft.
2. Aconcagua, South America. Elevation 22,837ft.
3. Vinson, Antarctica. Elevation 16,050ft.
4. Elbrus, Russia. Elevation 18,510ft.
5. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Elevation 19,341ft.
6. Carstensz Pyramid, Indonesia. Elevation 16,024ft.
7. Everest, Nepal. Elevation 29,029ft.

He also climbed Kosciusko, Australia. Elevation 7,310ft.

Before he began climbing Jordan had to convince his parents to help him climb, by buying the tools, and being with him while he climbed. During each one of his climbs he always brought a phone to be able to talk to his mom to prevent him from getting homesick. He also had to deal with extreme weather, frustration and exhaustion.

When Jordan climbed his first mountain (Kilimanjaro) he felt like giving up, but with the emotional support from his dad, he was able to summit his first mountain. At the end of his trip he felt an amazing sense of accomplishment that pushed him to not give up on his next few mountains. When Jordan went to Russia to climb Elbrus, he noticed how alert the security was there, due to him visiting during a civil war. Before Jordan could climb the mountain he had to prove that he was capable due to his age. Jordan was frustrated. While Jordan may have been a capable climber, that doesn’t mean that he is really patient. One of the least interesting mountains Jordan climbed was Kosciusko because during most of the journey it was raining. When Jordan finished his second to last Mountain (Denali) he eventually became very popular to the point that he was being brought to talk shows and being interviewed in them. Which meant that when he was going to climb Everest, most people would recognize him. Jordan was only 13 when he climbed Everest.

I liked this book. It was really interesting and demonstrated resilience and determination. It teaches getting outdoors, being healthy, doing things as a family and setting goals.

One way the book was lacking is in interesting moments, because until the end most of the book (including the summits) felt mostly the same.

Checkout No Summit Out of Sight at the Newport Beach Public Library.