A 13-year-old American boy has become the youngest person ever to climb Mount Everest, the world's highest peak.
Jordan Romero of California reached the Himalayan summit, 8,850 meters above sea level, on Saturday, surpassing the previous record holder, 16-year-old Temba Tsheri of Nepal.
Nepal does not allow anyone under the age of 16 to climb Mount Everest due to the danger involved, so Romero and his team, which included his dad and stepmother, entered from the Chinese side.
The website documenting Romero's journey said he was "unbelievably happy" when he called from the summit via satellite phone. He now needs only to scale Vinson Massif, in Antarctica to complete his quest to climb the highest peaks on all seven continents.
Romero reached the Everest summit with a group of mountaineers, including a Nepalese Sherpa named Apa who broke his own world record by climbing Everest for a 20th time.
Apa was joined by other mountaineers to collect garbage left behind by other climbers and bring awareness to the issue of global climate change.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
