45 pages • 1 hour read
Jordan RomeroNo Summit Out Of Sight: The True Story Of The Youngest Person To Climb The Seven Summits
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Middle Grade | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaThemes
The Power of Setting and Achieving Goals
A central message that Jordan conveys throughout No Summit out of Sight is the power of setting and achieving goals and what this can mean for an individual and for the world. When Jordan is 10 years old, he considers himself “the ultimate goal setter” (6). He knows that the goal of climbing the world’s eight tallest mountains is a massive undertaking that will be complex, costly, and require more effort than he has ever put into anything. Still, he goes for it and wisely dives into research before presenting the idea to his parents, showing his attention to planning things out carefully and thoroughly. Jordan notes several key elements in setting and achieving goals, the most important of which is determination: “I set a goal and wasn’t going to quit, no matter what” (58).
When Jordan’s parents first take him up the mountain at Big Bear Lake and tell him to climb, however, he gets tired and bored in minutes. When Karen mentions reptiles, Jordan gets excited and starts searching for snakes and lizards. Before he even realizes what’s happening, he reaches the top of the mountain without issue. At that moment, he figures out that as long as he has a goal in mind, he can press forward. Karen tells him to focus on “one mountain at a time” (12), and Jordan demonstrates patience and trains thoroughly. He prepares himself both physically and mentally for the challenge of mountain climbing. When he reaches his first summit, the feeling of accomplishment is so great that he knows he must keep going.
Jordan is not immune to doubt and experiences plenty of it along the way, but his support system keeps him going, along with his own perseverance and the desire to see himself succeeding. Karen in particular is great at reminding Jordan of why he is climbing and urging him to continue. Jordan completes small goals, such as preparing for the mountain, climbing it one portion at a time, and then eventually reaching the summit. He does this in climbing each mountain, and by the time he is at Vinson, five years have passed and he is a changed person. Everything that was required of him to succeed, Jordan considers worthwhile: “I had set myself a big goal. It had taken years of hard work, but I’d finally achieved my dream. Getting here was worth every setback, every disappointment, every time I’d fallen to the ground crying that I couldn’t make it” (343). Jordan learns the value of setting and achieving goals by breaking larger objectives down into less intimidating parts.
Focusing on a Personal Best
One of Jordan’s primary values and something he tries to impart through his book as well as to young audiences during his talks is what it means to focus on doing one’s personal best. A personal best is different for everyone, and it evolves as people grow up. For Jordan, his personal best when he was 10 was climbing Kilimanjaro, but by 15, his personal best had grown into Everest. Jordan uses this metaphor in the tagline he created, “Find Your Everest,” which he explains means having the clarity to perceive one’s own potential and having the courage to fulfill it. Jordan feels that by conquering such a difficult challenge, he has found his personal best, at least for the time being.
Proving to himself that he could do it meant that he had nothing to fear and no reason to ever shy away from life. Jordan quotes one of his heroes, Edmund Hillary (the first man to summit Everest along with his Sherpa Tenzing Norgay): “It is not the mountain we conquer, it is ourselves” (290). Jordan sets several world records in accomplishing his feat, and is given the nickname “Little Lion” because the porters in Tanzania consider him a king of the mountain. He does not let the fact that no one else has done what he is attempting stop him; if anything, it motivates him. Many factors push Jordan toward his personal best, including his own perseverance, courage, sense of adventure, and joy for life. Additionally, Jordan wants to impress and be like his father, to create a lasting legacy, and to achieve the impossible.
Jordan allows himself to be motivated by both encouragement and discouragement, and is receptive to all feedback so that he can improve. In Australia, Jordan sees a poster of Steve Irwin (another of his heroes) that reads, “Crikey! How high can you go?” (74), and takes it as a challenge to conquer his next mountain. For Jordan, challenge is life, and the growth that comes from it is the reward. With each new summit Jordan reaches, he grows wiser, stronger, and more confident in himself. He observes this in himself when he says, “The mountain was tough, but that day I was even tougher” (197). Jordan receives recognition from so many mountaineers and other people because he is so eager to achieve something great before most people have even considered it. He inspires others to focus on achieving their own personal best and to conquer the obstacles that sit in their way: “They have to find their own Everest. I just want them to know that it’s possible” (292). Thus, Jordan uses his fame to inspire others rather than for personal gain.
The Value of Teamwork
Although Jordan learns countless lessons while mountain climbing, one of the most important is that success requires teamwork. He knows from his research that people who try to summit mountains alone are at a far higher risk of death than those who travel with a team, and he is unable to climb without a team anyway because of his age. Jordan receives support and help from hundreds of people along his journey who assist in making his success a reality. Jordan’s gratitude for all of this support is evident throughout his memoir: “I was lucky to have so much love and support around me” (135). When Jordan travels throughout the US giving talks on finding one’s Everest, he emphasizes the importance of voicing one’s goals and asking for help in achieving them. He tells kids everywhere, “Surround yourself with a support system. Then anything is possible” (354).
Jordan’s journey begins with a modest support system that includes his parents, Karen and Paul, who arrange the trips and climb with him, and the Big Bear community, which contributes to his fundraising efforts and fills him with confidence and excitement. During each trip, Jordan and his parents rely on friends and service workers to assist with permits, logistics, finding accommodations, and mountain climbing itself. Jordan loves working in a team and is more than happy to have his parents by his side at all times.
On Mount Kilimanjaro, he expresses respect and admiration for the porters, who are only children but demonstrate endurance and stamina beyond any adults Jordan knows. Jordan also develops a deep admiration for the Sherpas who climb Mount Everest with him. He is consistently impressed by their skill and their willingness to risk their lives for their families, and he is honored when they tell him that climbing with him has been a privilege. Jordan receives additional help from corporate sponsors, who provide gear, and meets many other helpful people along the way, like the cab driver in Russia and King Richard, a family friend who provides excellent moral support and levity. As Jordan gets older and stronger, he matures and is gradually considered an equal in the climbing world: “I was no longer just a climber. I was a full member of the team” (129). Jordan never fails to express just how important every single person was in making his dream possible, and when it is his turn to do the same for others, he steps up and takes the responsibility seriously.
