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Jordan Romero, 13, has broken the record as the youngest climber to ever reach the summit of Mount Everest. He was accompanied by his father Paul Romero, his stepmother Karen Lundgren and three Sherpa guides. They used a satellite phone to report the news from the world’s highest peak on Saturday, May 22, 2010.

The climb of 29,035 feet took nearly 6 weeks of preparation. Statistics indicate that one in ten attempts end in death. The upper portion of the climb has often been referred to as a graveyard.

The boy was inspired to begin climbing when he saw a painting in the hallway of his school that featured the seven continents’ highest mountains. Everest makes the fifth of these peaks that can now be crossed off Jordan’s bucket list.

The climb received criticism from David Hildebrand, medical adviser to the British Mountaineering Council, who questioned whether Romero was mentally mature enough and suggested that the stunt was verging on child abuse. He went on to call the teen “a token passenger”, who would be effectively winched up the mountain by the Sherpa guides, doing all of the work for him.

Romero’s latest climb broke the record held by Temba Tsheri of Nepal, who reached the peak of Mount Everest when he was 16.

We’ve included footage that was shot on April 28. It took the group 13 days to reach the point where the real climbing began.

View photos and video below:

Photos: PicApp