Jake Meyer

: "For the fictional television character, please see Jake Meyer (General Hospital)"

Jake Meyer (born 20 January 1984) is the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest (aged 21 years 4 months) and the youngest male to complete the ‘'Seven Summits'’ – the highest mountains in each of the seven continents.

From Tetbury in Gloucestershire,, England Meyer was educated at Beaudesert Park School, Cheam School and Marlborough College, then embarked on the study of Environmental Geoscience at Bristol University, where he is also a member of Bristol University Officer Training Corps

Meyer began climbing at 13. Aged 15, he watched the dawn of the new millennium with his father, from the crater rim of his first summit, Kilimanjaro. At 18, he climbed Mount Elbrus in Southern Russia, Europe's highest peak. In 2002, he was awarded with a ‘’Winston Churchill Memorial Trust’’ travelling fellowship to climb Denali, Aconcagua and Kosciuszko, the highest peaks in North and South America and Australia respectively. He completed all 7 climbs by the age of 21 years and 4 months.

"Unfortunately, getting to the top is only half the story - you have to get back down afterwards." - Jake Meyer.

Everest

Meyer ascended from the Tibetan side, via the North Col-North East Ridge route. The climb started on April 2, 2005, reaching the summit on June 4, 2005 around 0050 hrs.

He was accompanied by Diahanne Gilbert, the leader, Mingma Nuru Sherpa and Anil Bhattarai.

Meyer’s climb was in aid of the Children’s Wish Foundation.

Records

Meyer holds several records:
*Youngest ascent of Mount Vinson (highest mountain in the Antarctic)
*Youngest solo ascent of Mount Aconcagua (highest mountain outside the Himalayas)
*Fastest British ascent of Mount McKinley/Denali in 2003 (highest mountain in North America)

Meyer was 'pipped at the post', to the title of "youngest person in the world" to climb the "Seven Summits", by 20 year old American Danielle Fisher who summitted three days earlier, taking the South Col route.

At 13:01 hours (GMT) on Tuesday 1 August 2006, Jake and his team consisting of Henry Reeve also of Marlborough college and Bristol University, Juliette anderson, Duncan Thompson, George Tyson, and Saskia stoop broke the existing World Record for climbing the 48 highest peaks of Continental USA in the shortest time.

The Freestyle Challenge, sponsored by Standard Life Bank, was completed in just 23 days 19 hours 31 minutes as Jake reached the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine. The British team shaved 5¾ days off the existing record of 29 days, previously held by American Ben Jones.

The Summits

*Aged 15 – Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania (Africa)
*Aged 18 – Mount Elbrus, Russia (Europe)
*Aged 18 – Mount Aconcagua, Argentina (South America)
*Aged 19 – Mount Denali, Alaska (North America)
*Aged 19 – Mount Kosciusko, Australia
*Aged 19 – Mount Vinson, Antarctica
*Aged 21 – Mount Everest, Nepal (Asia)

External links

* [http://www.jakemeyer.co.uk/ Jake Meyer Official Web Site]
* [http://www.ellis-brigham.com/jake-meyer.htm Journal of the Everest ascent]
* [http://www.childrenswish.org/ Children's Wish Foundation International]