No Summit Out Of Sight: The True Story Of The Youngest Person To Climb The Seven Summits

Jordan’s dad thinks about which mountain to tackle next, and Jordan suggests Mount Elbrus because it is fairly easy to climb. The mountain is located in southern Russia, and its summit was first reached in 1874. Karen designs a third T-shirt to raise money for the trip, and everyone trains until July. On Jordan’s 11th birthday, the family heads to Moscow. When they arrive, they have to take a much smaller, very rickety plane to a smaller airport called Mineralnye Vody. Many of the seats in the plane are broken, as are the overhead compartments, and the landing is rough. The family is towed in a broken bus to another part of the airport and waits almost an hour for a cab. Along the drive to the small mountain town of Nalchik, the car is stopped and Jordan’s father is questioned by police officers, which makes Jordan nervous. Jordan’s dad manages to somehow talk his way out of it, despite knowing no Russian, and the family then stops at a restaurant to eat. Jordan’s father sees a cow’s head lying on the floor in the hallway, and everyone decides to avoid eating meat. In Nalchik, a woman who speaks some English helps Jordan and his parents get registered, and they end up at a small hotel run by a woman named Sweetie. Sweetie tells Jordan she will make him spaghetti for after he finishes the climb. Jordan’s father later has sinus problems but insists that they make the climb anyway.

Jordan worries about his dad’s health and whether he will make it up the mountain, but the next morning, Paul is eager to go while the weather is decent. Everyone eats a large breakfast and then rides an old tram partway up the mountain to begin their ascent. Jordan leads the way with his trusted ice axe, and the terrain proves manageable while the cold and thin air starts to wear on Jordan quickly. The climb is monotonous and has a long series of “switchbacks,” or walking one direction and then back the other way to slowly ascend the mountain. When the family stops at Pastukhova Rocks to make camp, Paul calls Jordan “J Man” rather than his old nickname, “Little J.” Jordan sees it as a sign that his father knows he is growing up, and takes it upon himself to help his father get settled and to sleep.

At four the next morning, Jordan and the others wake up and continue their climb. The final stretch proves more difficult than Jordan anticipated. He starts to become sluggish and his steps slow down to a dramatic crawl, while his dad’s sinus problem worsens and he has a toothache. After a hydration break, they press forward to the summit, and Jordan uses the upcoming spaghetti dinner as motivation. On the way up, some Russian climbers warn Jordan and his family to turn back, but they continue, and when they reach the summit, Jordan falls to the ground and cries. They take pictures, and Jordan looks out over the country of Georgia and its green landscape. On the way down, Jordan uses his ice axe to slide down the mountain (called glissading), which he finds thrilling, and the family makes it down the mountain in time to catch the tram back to town. Jordan is served his spaghetti dinner, which turns out to be overcooked noodles and tomato juice, and his parents help him finish it. They spend the next two days touring various famous sites around Moscow, including the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Saint Basil’s Cathedral. Jordan already looks forward to his next adventure.

When Jordan arrives back home, he goes to visit his grandmother, who has leukemia. She and Jordan have always been close, and she encouraged him to go climb despite her illness. Jordan spends two weeks with her until she dies, and he notes that he is grateful for his friends’ help during this time. He visits with them and confesses to his best friend, Cameron, that he isn’t sure about climbing anymore. Jordan wonders if there’s a point to continuing but doesn’t want to let himself down and give up. He and Cameron practice a form of tightrope walking called slacklining, and Jordan gets good at it. The family decides to head to Argentina next, because Mount Aconcagua is the next most climbable mountain and the cheapest to fly to. Jordan must obtain a special permit due to his age, and Karen enlists the help of a friend in Buenos Aires to make it happen. When Jordan’s mom finds out that she must sign a permission form for him to climb the mountain, she starts to worry and warns Jordan that the winds can be strong enough to blow people off the mountain. Additionally, the cold can reach negative 85 degrees. Hearing all of this makes Jordan doubt even more whether he should go, but he knows his dad and Karen have sacrificed a lot to make his dream a reality, and he doesn’t want to give up. To prepare for the extreme altitude, Jordan sleeps in a plastic tent with low oxygen for a month to build up red blood cells. His dad gives him a notebook to keep track of everyone’s health along the way and watch out for altitude sickness.

Jordan arrives in Mendoza, Argentina, over Christmas break and must obtain his permit before doing anything else. Along with doctor approvals and other documentation from back home, Jordan must state his case in front of a judge. He sweats the entire time but manages to tell the judge about his dream of climbing the Seven Summits to look out over the world. She hugs him and grants him permission to climb. Upon entering the park and beginning the hike, Jordan faces two different rangers, both of whom try to prevent him from climbing. At one point, Jordan and his parents wait three hours for a doctor to come out and ensure his health. The rangers then insist that Jordan receive health checks at every camp up the mountain using the Lake Louise survey, a checklist of symptoms to determine severity of sickness. Jordan finds it all very irritating but endures it for the sake of the climb. He and his parents meet up with some other friends to create a team of nine, and they reach the mountain’s base camp in the early afternoon. Jordan even has a chance to show off his new slacklining skills while they are there.

Jordan starts to take on new responsibilities and feels more like part of the team rather than just a climber. After a certain point on the mountain, mules are unable to climb higher, so Jordan and the others carry their own packs. Jordan’s health is still above average considering the circumstances, and on Christmas Eve the entire climbing group crowds into a tent at Camp Canada. On Christmas day, most of the group stays at camp to rest, and the following day, Jordan and the others head out again. They cross through a field of jagged ice called the Penitentes, and by 18,000 feet the air is so thin that a few of the team members get sick and head back down the mountain. Jordan hears rumors of other people getting sick and leaving, too, and he starts to miss his mother more than ever. When he gets to call her on a satellite phone, it helps him carry on. The mountain seems to be urging Jordan to climb higher and challenge himself.

At the next camp, a storm develops and Jordan worries that his tent will get blown away with him inside it. Thankfully, this does not happen, and he awakes the next day to a pristine white world. The snow on the mountain seems to have doubled, and Jordan’s dad takes the lead, trudging through it to create a path. Jordan admires how his father’s optimism never seems to fade. The higher they climb, the weaker Jordan feels, and despite snacks and words of encouragement from Karen and his dad, he announces that he wants to give up. His dad hugs him, and he and Karen remind Jordan that accomplishing difficult goals brings a feeling that makes it all worthwhile. Jordan cries and considers his options of either climbing or going back; he decides to carry on. When the group reaches Camp Berlin, they are welcomed with cheers. Word comes in that the weather will be poor for a while, so Jordan prepares to spend a day at the camp. That night, Jordan asks his grandma for the strength to keep going.

The storm gives everyone a chance to rest, but when it’s finally time to leave again the next day, the storm is still raging. Jordan, Paul, Karen, and one other team member decide to head up the mountain anyway, carrying only what they need and finding it nearly impossible to navigate with snow all around them. One of Jordan’s crampons falls off, causing him to slip, but Karen helps him get it back on. More than 1,000 feet higher than he has ever climbed before, Jordan is at 20,931 feet. The final stretch is, as usual, the most difficult, and Paul and Karen stop to determine if they should even continue. Just then, the clouds break, and Jordan is certain that it’s his grandma’s way of helping them reach the summit. An hour before reaching the summit, the group loses their last team member, who is exhausted and decides to head back to the camp. When Jordan can see the summit up ahead, he knows he is going to make it, and all his fears fall away. He and his parents are greeted by a group of people at the top from all over the world, and Jordan dedicates the climb to his grandma. The climb back down is fairly uneventful, and the next day Jordan is in the local newspaper. He is proud to be one of the people to successfully climb Aconcagua.