Many climbers take exception to the publicity surrounding Team Jordan. Everest
climber Todd Burleson summed it up by saying, “He’s got his whole life to climb
Everest. Being the youngest boy to climb is a fashionable, celebrity-oriented sort of
thing. But it’s not about the mountains. It’s like trying to get your PhD at ten.” Paul
Romero claims that he is fully aware of the risks. There is a fine line between
encouraging Jordan and pushing him too far, he says. He talked about the point where
Jordan might have “reached his maximum mentally, physically, and where the risk has
become too high.” He said, “Jordan has just not even come close to that point yet.”
And what about Jordan, now that he has accomplished his goal of climbing the
seven summits before his 16th birthday? Unsurprisingly, he has a new mission. He calls
it Find Your Everest. In 2012 Team Jordan set out to encourage young people to be
active and healthy and to pursue their own adventures. In the process, he is inviting
young people to join him in climbing the highest peak in each state. (They range from
Denali or Mount McKinley at 20,320 feet to Florida’s greatest height—345-foot-high
Britton Hill!)
“I feel good about what my parents have taught me about setting goals,” Jordan
says. And now he wants to spread that message to others.
Question:
Is the evidence given by Todd Burleson sufficient to support his opinion that Jordan and his family are just publicity seekers? Explain your answer, being sure to cite evidence, particularly from the section that discusses Burleson (begins "Many climbers...").