'Mom, I'm Calling You From the Top of the World'
Jordan Romero, 13, becomes youngest American boy to reach Mount Everest.
May 22, 2010 — -- Just 13, Jordan Romero is the youngest climber to make it to the top of Mount Everest.
And tonight, he's partway down -- just below 25,000 feet.
And that's enough for his mother, Leigh Anne Drake, to exhale. She has sort of been trained for this too, after all.
"He called from the summit. It was great," Drake told ABC News. "He called and I was thinking, 'Oh no, he's got to be near, he's got to be near, any time now.'"
His mother will never forget his first words: "He said, 'Mom, I'm calling you from the top of the world.' And it was amazing. Words aren't even enough."
It's sort of like the boy who brings home the A-pluses on the report card.
Jordan, from the ski town of Big Bear, California, near the San Bernardino Mountains, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa when he was just 10.
And the family wondered, what does a mother say when her young son says Mount Everest is next.
"When he first told me about it, of course, like any other parent, I'm thinking, oh, I'm a little nervous about that. Mount Everest. [But] this was just the next logical step for him," Drake said.
And when does mom get to see him again?
"Not soon enough, not soon enough. I think in about 10 days, I'm hoping, but not soon enough," Drake said.
Congratulations will certainly be in order as well as a big high five when he makes it home.
Drake said, "Well, hugs first, kisses and then a high five."
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