Rhys Jones (born 17 May 1986) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

mountaineer and was the youngest person to climb the

Seven Summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...

(the highest mountain on each of the World's seven continents), and reached the summit of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetic languages, Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is List of highest mountains on Earth, Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border ru ...

. Completing the climb on his 20th birthday in 2006, Rhys beat the previous world record set by Danielle Fisher and previous British record set by

Jake Meyer Jake Julian Barrington Meyer (born 20 January 1984) is a British mountaineer and adventurer. He achieved fame by becoming the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest in 2005, aged 21 years 4 months. In doing so, Meyer also became the youngest m ...

one year earlier. However, this record was later broken on 24 December 2011, by Jordan Romero. Rhys is the social secretary of Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team.

Early life

Rhys grew up in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, fea ...

, Hampshire, England and was educated at Romsey School and Barton Peveril Sixth Form College. He started climbing as a result of hearing a talk at a Scout meeting. The talk was by Russell Parke MBE, the then leader of Hampshire Scout Expeditions, the subject was Mount Everest. Parkes talked about recruiting a Scout for an attempt on Mount Everest in 2007, to celebrate the centenary of the

Scout movement Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpackin ...

. Jones went on to join the Hampshire Scout Expeditions team (HSX) and began training. His training with HSX included Scottish winter climbing, rock climbing and hillwalking. He also climbed with HSX on Mount McKinley, Alaska. The team successfully reached the summit and Jones claimed a record as the youngest British summiteer of North America's highest peak.

Expeditions

Mount McKinley was his first of the seven continental summits, and Jones then climbed the other six over a 3-year period.

Mount McKinley Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the thir ...

, Alaska. N. America. June Summit 2003

Aconcagua Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in the Southern Hemisphere with a summi ...

, Argentina. S. America. Attempt Dec 2003

Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and a ...

, Tanzania. Africa. Summit Jan 2004

, Argentina. S. America. Summit Jan 2005 Mount Elbrus, Russia. Europe. Summit July 2005 Kosciusko, Australia. Australasia. Summit Nov 2005

Mount Vinson Vinson Massif () is a large mountain massif in Antarctica that is long and wide and lies within the Sentinel Range of the Ellsworth Mountains. It overlooks the Ronne Ice Shelf near the base of the Antarctic Peninsula. The massif is located a ...

, Antarctica. Summit Dec 2005

, Nepal. Asia. Summit May 2006 The Everest climb was in aid of the Wessex Heartbeat charity, and Jones pledged to raise £1 for every vertical foot of Everest, £29,035 in total.

After Everest

In August 2006, Jones raced in the Round Britain and Ireland non-stop yacht race, covering 2000 nm and completing a race in which one third of the fleet were forced to retire due to bad weather. After the race he was appointed as a Patron of the Sail 4 Cancer Charity. In 2007, Jones undertook a pioneering expedition to a remote part of South East

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. Sailing to Greenland from

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, the 3 man team then trekked inland across a glacier, where Jones fell into a

crevasse A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...

fracturing his arm. During the 3 weeks waiting for the yacht to return, the team successfully made first ascents of four previously unclimbed peaks. In 2010 Jones set up a specialist trekking and expedition company RJ7 Expeditions. In 2011, RJ7 facilitated a filmed climb of Kilimanjaro for BBC documentary "Albino Witchcraft Murders", charting the plight of Tanzanians living with

albinism Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

. The lead character from the film, 34-year-old Tanzanian albino Josephat Torner reached the summit after 7 days of trekking. In 2012 RJ7 was responsible for leading

Duncan Bannatyne Duncan Walker Bannatyne, (born 2 February 1949) is a Scottish entrepreneur, philanthropist, and author. His business interests include hotels, health clubs, spas, media, TV, and property. He is most famous for his appearance as a business a ...

(star of BBC Dragon's Den) on Kilimanjaro. RJ7 organised a successful climb for 4 amputee servicemen in February 2012, and two members of the team (both single amputees) set a new Guinness World Record for the Fastest Ascent of Kilimanjaro using crutches. An avid skier as well as a mountaineer, Rhys became a Patron of Sail 4 Cancer's sister charity Ski 4 Cancer in 2012. In 2014 Jones undertook a self supported ski mountaineering expedition with his wife Laura. They made a successful ascent of Gunnbjorn Fjeld, the highest mountain in the Arctic. Currently, Rhys and Laura ru
Monix Adventures
a luxury adventure travel company. Laura is now also a keen adventurer, and has run 7 marathons around the world in 1 year as part of he
ICanRun7
challenge, including the world's highest marathon on Mt Everest, and the world's coldest marathon in the Yukon. Both keep an active profile on the speaking circuit for inspirational talks, after dinner speeches and event presenting.

External links

Monix Adventures

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Rhys English mountain climbers British summiters of Mount Everest 1986 births Living people