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.

Seven Summits Mountaineer Richard Bass Passes Away at the Age of 85

Richard Bass, the first man to climb the Seven Summits, has passed away at the age of 85. He, along with his friend Frank Wells, came up with the idea of climbing the highest peak on each of the seven continents back in the early 80's, and both men set out achieve that feat. Bass did so in April, 1985 when he nabbed the final peak on his list by summiting Mt. Kosciuszko in Australia.

A Texas oilman, Bass is also the founder of the famous Snowbird ski resort in Utah. His efforts to climb the Seven Summit made that pursuit a popular one with mountaineers across the globe, and helped to commercialize climbing on some of those mountains. At the time that he completed his quest, the list of mountains included Everest (Asia), Elbrus (Europe), Denali (North America), Aconcagua (South America), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Vinson (Antarctica), and Kosciusko. The list has since been amended to include Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, as some climbers have expanded the Australian continent to include more of the Pacific region.

Long time friend and documentary filmmaker David Breashears made the announcement of Bass' passing on his Facebook page. The note simply said:

“It is with great sadness that I convey the news of the passing of Richard D. Bass late in the evening of July 26. Dick passed away peacefully in the company of friends and family; he was eighty-five-years old.”

Dick Bass wasn't as well known as climbers like Reinhold Messner or Ed Viesturs of course, but he certainly left an indelible mark on the mountaineering community. Even today, there are hundreds of people attempting the Seven Summits at any given moment, and his achievement is still considered an impressive accomplishment for any adventurer.

Bass' tale of his endeavor, simply called Seven Summits, was one of the first mountaineering books that I ever read. It left quite an impression on me when I started thinking about my own adventures, and for that I am eternally grateful.

My condolences to Dick's friends and family. He will be missed.