Record-breaking climber visits school

This was the first time the school’s new ‘state of the art’ audio visual set up had been used and it was wonderful to have a good audience.

Jake is an experienced public speaker whose incredible story of climbing Mount Everest aged only 21 is an inspirational tale of determination, tenacity and an unerring will to succeed.

Jake was only 14 when he set his sights on wanting to climb the ‘7 Summits’ – the highest mountain on each continent. At 6.30am on the 4th June 2005, aged only 21 and 135 days old, he reached the summit of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world and his 7th continental highpoint. At the time, he was the youngest Briton to climb Mt Everest, and the youngest man in the world to complete the 7 Summits.

Not content with just the 7 Summits, he also holds the record for the fastest ascent of the highest mountain in each of the 48 states in the contiguous USA. This culminated in 48 mountains, 350 miles of trekking, 100,000ft of climbing and 15,000 miles of driving in 23 days, 19 hours and 31 minutes.

He has also made first ascents of mountains and routes in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, holds the record for the fastest ascent of the highest point in every county in England, and numerous expeditions to Africa and South America. In 2009 he spent 3 months in Pakistan on K2, the second highest mountain in the world and arguably the most difficult and dangerous (with a 1 in 4 death rate). He reached 7,700m without oxygen before bad snow conditions forced a retreat to safety.

The talk was followed by an interesting Q&A session where Jake was quizzed about his motivation and the practical aspects of his exciting expeditions.

He called on adults and children alike to challenge themselves to achieve something new in 2015.

It was a great start to the New Year and the evening raised funds for Help for Heroes which was Jake’s chosen charity.

Contributed by Dorset House School.