Into the Death Zone a Mount Everest Adventure Sean Mccollum

Into the Death Zone A Mount Everest Adventure Sean McCollum Over the decades, hundreds have died climbing the world’s highest mountain. But that didn’t stop 13-year-old Jordan Romero from trying to reach the top. Pal Teravagimov/Getty Images/HIP Teravagimov/Getty Pal t was late April 2010, and 13-year-old So far, so good, Jordan thought. They Jordan Romero was halfway to the had already climbed to 23,000 feet-higher I top of Mount Everest, the world’s than some jets fly. He knew, though, that tallest mountain. Jordan, his father, and trouble—and death—could come without a team of climbers were just beginning warning. Violent snowstorms could trap them. a journey that could, if everything went They could be injured at any time. Or they right, lead them to the highest point on could simply become too weak to continue. Earth. Altitude sickness, a serious and sometimes Into the Death Zone ◆ PAGE 1 May be photocopied for classroom use. © 2015 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study for Teaching Reading (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH). fatal condition caused by the lack of oxygen at considered one of the great accomplishments of extreme heights, posed another danger. human exploration. But Jordan had been preparing for this At first, only expert mountaineers dared to expedition for months. So he kept placing one follow in Hillary’s and Norgay’s footsteps. By boot in front of the other. That, Jordan knew, 1980, though, several companies were offering is how a person makes it to the top of any guides and gear to less-seasoned climbers. For mountain. a very high fee, these outfits promised to help Suddenly, a deep crunching noise sounded adventurers try to reach the summit. (Today, behind them. Jordan turned and saw a heart- they charge as much as $100,000 per climber.) stopping sight. Enormous chunks of ice were Year after year, the number of attempts grew. tumbling down the slope. The ground beneath Climbers reported being stuck in lines, waiting him and his dad gave way. He was knocked off their turn to stand on the summit. Trash piled his feet and began sliding down the mountain. up at base camps. Hillary said Everest had It was an avalanche! become “a circus.” Experts feared it was only a Was this trip turning into a deadly disaster? matter of time before a big disaster struck. Their fears came true in 1996, when a Unmerciful Mountain blizzard took dozens of climbers by surprise as they struggled to reach the summit. Eight Climbing teams began exploring Mount Everest people suffered agonizing deaths in the thin air, in the 1920s. It was not until 1953, however, high winds, and freezing temperatures, beyond that two men stepped onto the snowy summit the reach of any help. and returned to tell about it. Sir Edmund Most climbers who die on Everest remain Hillary, from New Zealand, and Tenzing where they fall, frozen mummies in the cold, Norgay, from Nepal, pioneered a route up from dry air. Retrieving them is too difficult and the mountain’s south side. Their feat is still 1. Avalanche on Mount Everest. 2. Mountain climbers going up. 3. Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. 1 2 3 orical Society Inc. t © Corbis/HIP Mifflin Harcourt/HIP © Houghton By Kete Horowhenua His Into the Death Zone ◆ PAGE 2 May be photocopied for classroom use. © 2015 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study for Teaching Reading (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH). dangerous. To climbers who must pass by them, Jordan discovered how right his dad was— these corpses are gruesome reminders of the climbing these mountains was the most risks of climbing Mount Everest. difficult thing he had ever done. Sometimes he Jordan knew all of this. He knew that broke down in tears struggling up a mountain. Everest was, in his own words, a “crazy, tough Sometimes he even felt like quitting. But with mountain.” Still, he believed if he prepared his family’s encouragement and support, he carefully and showed proper respect for the found the will to reach each peak. challenge, Everest would let him reach its In March 2010, Team Jordan flew to Tibet, summit. a region of China. Mount Everest, the tallest mountain of all, was next. Dreams of Everest Questions and Criticism Jordan’s quest to climb Mount Everest began in a hallway of his California grade school. As As their Everest attempt approached, Team a third- grader, he was fascinated by a mural Jordan gained international attention. depicting the Seven Summits—the tallest Questions about Jordan’s age constantly came mountains on each of the seven continents. up. At 13, he was three years younger than the Mount Everest, on the border between Tibet youngest person who had ever reached the and Nepal in Asia, dwarfed all the others. “My summit. dad picked me up from school and I told him Some critics argued that a 13-year-old lacks that I wanted to climb them all,” Jordan recalls. the judgment to risk his life this way. Others “Especially Mount Everest.” said the high altitude could damage his growing His father, Paul, took his son seriously. As a body and brain. Some even wondered if paramedic, long-distance runner, and mountain Jordan’s dad was using his son to get attention. climber himself, Paul believed in setting tough Jordan and his family believed they were the goals. He explained to Jordan that this would best judges of Jordan’s abilities, and they agreed be more difficult than anything Jordan had ever that he was up to the challenge. Jordan believed done. his quest was making him a stronger, better Jordan soon proved that his idea was more person. “It is not the mountain we conquer, but than a daydream. He toughened his body ourselves,” Sir Edmund Hillary had said. This by running and riding his bike. He built his was one of Jordan’s favorite quotations. strength by attaching a tire to a chain and dragging it up and down the family’s long Going for the Summit driveway. With his family’s help, he organized Mount Everest is so tall that it must be climbed events to raise money and get donations of in stages. Base camps are set up along the route, climbing gear. where climbers can rest and let their bodies Jordan and his dad and stepmom Karen adjust to the altitude before climbing to the formed Team Jordan. During the next three next camp. Karen, Jordan, and his dad hiked years, they climbed five of the Seven Summits. into the first base camp on April l6. They were Into the Death Zone ◆ PAGE 3 May be photocopied for classroom use. © 2015 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study for Teaching Reading (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH). joined by four Sherpa teammates: Ang Pasang, Lama Dawa, Lama FACTS AND FIGURES Karma, and Kumar, the talented This map shows the highest mountain on each continent. camp cook. The Sherpa are a mountain people native to the area. Since the first explorations of Everest, they have helped and guided foreign climbing expeditions. By late April, Team Jordan had climbed as high as 23,000 feet. Their bodies were getting stronger in the high altitude. Then came the avalanche. Jordan fell and slid. His Everest by the Numbers* crampons, the ice-grabbing spikes strapped to his boots, stabbed his Attempts 11,000 dad in the thighs. But the main Summits 4,500 flow of ice and snow had missed Deaths 220 them. Their nerves were shaken, but they were able to continue. Corpses still on the mountain 150 Not everyone was so lucky. *Numbers are approximate Some distance away, two other climbers had also been caught in the avalanche. One was hurt. The other disappeared into a crevasse—a large crack in the glacier ice. His body was never found. By mid-May, Team Jordan felt ready to try for the summit. They strapped on their packs, roped themselves together for safety, and began the climb. This was the big push. *Does not include 2010 Into the Death Zone ◆ PAGE 4 May be photocopied for classroom use. © 2015 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study for Teaching Reading (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH). On May 21, they reached 26,000 feet—the rope might be all that would save him from “Death Zone.” At that altitude, the air is so disappearing forever into the valley below. thin a person can suffocate in minutes. Like A few more breaths, a few more steps. And most climbers, Jordan and his teammates then, there was nowhere higher to go, nowhere used oxygen masks. Even so, they found that in the whole world. Jordan was looking out on climbing in the Death Zone took every ounce one of the most spectacular views on Earth. of their willpower. They climbed through the The jagged snow-capped peaks of the Himalaya night. They had to be on and off the summit mountains poked through the clouds to the in the morning. Afternoons are when the worst east and west. To the north, the Tibetan plateau storms roll in, and the mountain is most deadly. stretched for hundreds of miles. Gazing south, As they approached 28,000 feet, Jordan Jordan could see the country of India. Jordan spotted “Green Boots.” He was an Indian hugged his dad, Karen, and the Sherpa crew.

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