Mark Pfetzer

At 18, Mark Pfetzer has done more than many of us would imagine doing in a lifetime.  At 11, he earned a black belt in Karate. At 12, he began rock-climbing.  Since age 14, he has climbed nine of the world's most challenging mountains.  He was the youngest to summit on four and the expedition's youngest climber on three more.  At 15, he climbed Everest from the difficult North side, then returned a year later for a second summit attempt from the South side in 1996.  He stopped just short of the summit when the notorious storm, profiled in the IMAX film Everest, hit killing eight people.  He postponed a third Everest attempt to return home to his father who was dying of cancer.  Within Reach, his autobiography, tells this remarkable young man's story.

Mark Pfetzer enjoys these adventures  "for the personal challenge," says Mark.  "I climb to climb, to push my body to its limit, to pass the pain threshold."  Not surprisingly, Mark's climbing career has sparked criticism in the highest quarters, including some in 1996 from Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first man to summit Everest in 1953.  Professionals who have climbed with Mark admire his courage and good sense.  "Mark's attitude and approach to climbing belies his age," says ESPN anchor Chris Fowler.  "Mark doesn't take unnecessary risks." Pfetzer has regularly sought out older, more experienced mountaineers as mentors--somewhat rare for a teenager-and thanks them publicly for their teaching and wisdom.

Pfetzer works hard to get where he wants to go.  At 13, he gained a reputation for expert fly-fishing and fly-tying and signed on for a National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) course.  At 14, he was trained in high-angle rescue and evacuation.  At 18, he earned a medical training license.  He lifts weights six days a week, runs six miles a day and does 1,000 sit ups before bed.  Outside Magazine has said, "Given his accomplishments, the one truly irritating thing about Pfetzer is his demeanor:  He's really a swell kid."

In 1994, when Mark Pfetzer announced he wanted to climb Everest, Chris and her husband Kenneth who had seen him train vigorously for two years said, "Okay, if you earn the money, you can go."  Mark raised the money.  In 1996, Chris Pfetzer trained to climb to Everest's base camp to be with her son on his second attempt.

His book, Within Reach, provides basic, essential guidelines for all athletes, young and old.  It emphasizes the importance of thorough preparation, careful training and avoiding unnecessary risk.  After postponing his 1997 Everest attempt for his father, Pfetzer said, "It's time to be a son, not a climber...  I [climb] for myself and no one else.  I know I can climb it.  The mountain's always going to be there."  But the bottom line is, "No mountain's worth losing even a finger or a toe."

Pfetzer, 18 at the time of publication, describes his summits of a number of peaks worthy of a climber twice his age, including Huascarán, Aconcagua, Ama Dablam, Kilimanjaro, and Cho Oyu. He tells at length of his two expeditions to Everest, where he reached 25,000 feet from Tibet and 26,000 feet from Nepal. Though a paying client, Mark Pfetzer was unusually well prepared: a karate black belt, courses in National Outdoor Leadership School, and high-angle rescue, full EMT (emergency medical technician) training (even though he was too young to be licensed), in addition to being in top physical condition, which he rigorously maintained.

He has appeared on CBS This Morning, ESPN, NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, and in Time, Time for Kids, and numerous newspaper articles.

Mark Pfetzer lives in Providence, Rhode Island.