Mikołaj Adamczyk has gone down in history. The youngest, only six years old. His father, Mr. Łukasz, regularly participates in mountain climbing, and he organizes trips so that his wife and son are also present. Trips, let’s add, are professionally organized when it comes to security and equipment.
The presence of a six-year-old in the high mountains was quickly attracted by the media, because although crowds of tourists have been climbing Mount Everest for years, the sight of a preschooler on such a trail is still unusual.
Everest Base Camp? “Little ones are brought there”
– It is hardly a success or achievement, although it sounds good in the media. After all, toddlers are carried to this height on the backs of porters, when parents-tourists going to the mountains do not want to carry them anymore – he says in an interview with Sport.pl, who recently celebrated the 42nd anniversary of winter climbing Mount Everest.
– Hundreds of tourists visit the base under the summit in high season, there are fewer in winter. Besides, people on four thousand with a hook normally live. I would treat this entrance of the Adamczyk family rather like a regular trekking. The idea is, of course, cool when mum and dad go with their son to the mountains, but it is probably unnecessary to give this event some uniqueness – tells us one of the legends of Polish mountaineering.
The narrative around the expedition was indeed rich. The six-year-old has been preparing to climb 5364 meters for some time. He has his orthopedist and cardiologist, as well as the clinic that looked after him. Special, professional suits were made for him, special small crampons and ice axes were ordered. TOPR rescuers assisted and advised in the preparation for the expedition.
– To enter the Everest base, neither crampons nor ice axes are needed. It is a rather safe trip, even from the point of view of acclimatization, because this height is reached within a few days – says Wielicki. He adds that there is no climbing on this part of the trail, sometimes you go on flat terrain or on stones.
“Is this the father for the son or the son for the father?”
Wielicki, who is portrayed in some internet materials as Mikołaj’s patron, is a bit surprised by all the noise around the six-year-old. – I liked it at first. I knew a story about a preschooler who is pulled into the mountains, I met him when it was not loud about it. Then I had the feeling that it was more of a media story than a personal one. I started to wonder if the father is for the son or the son is for the father? – tells us the 72-year-old climber.
When we ask Wielicki, who has four children himself, if he also went to the mountains with his kids, he shakes his head. He also says that he does not remember such a story in his environment.
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– I haven’t met a six-year-old climber. It is interesting that in our environment this mountaineering is rarely passed on to children. We approach it differently – mainly for the sake of security. Those who climb the high mountains for a long time know how many things there are not up to us. When you have this knowledge and watch a child start climbing and do dangerous things, I consider it a normal parental reflex to inhibit it. Here, what matters less is the child’s fulfillment or its success, and more about the fact that it lives – Wielicki describes the case quite seriously.
Tennis and football are safe sports. “And if you fail upstairs?”
– This is a discipline for mature people and then you should enter it. This is a responsible thing, it requires every person’s own decision. I am able to understand that this six-year-old is excited about the mountains, only in children it is so that their enthusiasm often wears off. Or maybe he will want to swim or write poetry in three years? There is no point in making him a climber, because you can only harm him – says Wielicki.
– I understand it better – although I do not like it quite – when parents want to make a great tennis player or football player out of their child. Maybe the child will succeed, maybe not, but at least they are relatively safe sports. What if it fails upstairs? – Wielicki asks rhetorically.
The Adamczyks, taking advantage of the trip to Nepal, also intend to climb with their son to Kala Pattar, the summit, which is 5644 meters high and which has to be climbed a bit. So far, due to the low temperature, they have not implemented this idea.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
