California: Tyler Armstrong, a nine-year-old boy from CA, United States has become the youngest person to reach the summit of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas.
Mount Aconcagua is the Highest Mountain in Americas
Tyler Armstrong climbed the mountain peak (6962 m) in the Argentine Andes, with his father Kevin Armstrong and Tibetan sherpa Lhawang Dhondup, who has climbed Mt. Everest several times.
“You can really see the world’s atmosphere up there. All the clouds are under you, and it’s really cold. It doesn’t look anything like a kid’s drawing of a mountain. It’s probably as big as a house at the summit, and then it’s a sheer drop”  Tyler said, describing the summit.
“Any kid can really do this, all they have to do is try. And set their mind to the goal,†added Tyler.
Last year, he had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak. Next on Tyler’s list is Mt. McKinley in Alaska, North America’s tallest peak.
These mountaineering expeditions proved to be financially daring for his Family. His Father says that they scraped everything they could together and cancelled their family vacations to manage.
More than 100 people have died attempting to conquer Aconcagua, which rises 22,841 feet above sea level. Only 30 percent of the 7,000 people who obtain permits to climb Aconcagua each year make the summit.
Before Tyler, the youngest to conquer  Mt. Aconcagua’s  was Matthew Moniz of Boulder, Colorado, who he reached the summit in 2008, at the age of 10 only.
Meanwhile, the oldest person to climb it was Scott Lewis, who reached the summit in  2007 at the age of 87.
History also talks about  a 7 year old Inca Boy who had climbed on the lower slopes of Aconcagua. His Mummy was recovered in 1985.
Mt. Aconcagua was first  reached by the Swiss guide Matthias Zurbriggen in 1897.