seven second summits
Record-Setting Climber, Mom of 7, Author, and Speaker Jenn Drummond
The first thing you should know about Jenn Drummond is that she was the first woman on earth to climb the Seven Second Summits, which means she successfully reached the top of the second highest mountain on all seven of the world’s continents. Those are K2 in Asia, Ojos del Salado in South America, Mount Logan in North America, Mt. Townsend in Australia, Mount Tyree in Antarctica, Gora Dykh-Tau in Europe, and Mount Kenya in Africa.
All told, these summits constitute 127,7917 feet of elevation. And FYI, climbing the Seven Second Summits is considered to be a harder challenge than climbing the Seven Summits, the challenge that feature more famous peaks like Everest and Kilimanjaro. By the way, Jenn Drummond has climbed Everest, too.
The second thing you need to know about Jenn Drummond is that she only started climbing in 2017 and didn’t get into serious mountaineering until 2020, completing her ascent of the Seven Second Summits, Everest, and more than a half-dozen other challenging peaks in a span of less than three years.
And the third thing to know is that Drummond achieved all of that after a two-decade career in financial services and while also managing to write, to give speeches, and raise seven children.
She’s kind of an achiever, in other words; kind of into that whole “growth mindset” thing. How she managed to achieve all that and how she’s still barreling ahead in life was both an inspiration and stupefaction, so we just had to have a chat with her and talk it all out.
When did you first get into climbing and mountaineering? Was there an informative person, place, or experience, or have the outdoors and nature always played a major role in your life?
So, I moved Park City, Utah in 2015 which really introduced me to the mountains and the outdoors and everything beautiful amazing about all of that, and shortly after moving here, I met somebody that used to be a guide in Jackson Hole, and we went to go climb the grand Teton, which I thought was an amazing experience all the way around. And then I kind of kept mountains on the back burner, but in my vision of something fun and that I liked to do. Then I got into a car accident in 2018 which should’ve taken my life and didn’t, but it did put me on this quest of why was I saved? Who am I and what do I want to do with his life? Fast forward to 2020, I was turning 40, for my 40th birthday I decided I wanted to climb a big mountain to just knock out the decade and get excited about what the 40s meant. So I asked a bunch of friends: ‘Like if you were to climb what mountain, what would it be?’ And the general consensus was a mountain called Ama Dablam, so that whole pursuit really sent me on this quest of being the first female to climb the Seven Second Summits. So, was I into climbing and mountains and all forever? Absolutely not, I really got into the outdoors and hiking in mountaineering later on in life, 100% — when I signed up to climb Everest, I’d been camping once. It was out of those things where I fell in love with it, and deep dove into all of the pursuit,, and still love it.
How did you get the idea to try for all seven 2nd summits? Was it a slow burn of an idea or a lightbulb moment type of thought?
The birth of this quest came from a challenge from my son. So, I’m training to climb a mountain called Ama Dablam. Then COVID happens, so all the sudden now I’m a homeschool teacher doing all these things with my children, and one of my kids was struggling with his math homework, and I’m like: “Come on buddy, we do hard things, we’ve got this, don’t you worry!” and he looks at me and he goes: “If we do her things, why are you climbing a mountain called ‘I’m a dumb blonde instead of a real mountain like Everest?” And I’m like: “OK Ama Dablam, not I’m a dumb blonde, but thank you. Finish math homework, we’ll look up Everest.” So he finishes his math homework, we look at Everest, and he gets the perception that Everest is the end all, be all mountain climb, so I called a coach. The coach said: “Yes, I can train you for Everest, go buy this book.” So I bought the book The Uphill Athlete and started reading it, and in the front of it there was a little forward by a lady that had gotten a Guinness World Record. I was talking to my coach on the phone and I was half joking, saying I could’ve got that record, like I can suffer and my kids would think I’m the coolest mom in the whole world because they learned how to read or do math and I get world records; I’m not growing the biggest pumpkins I’m not eating 1,000 hotdogs but like if there’s a cool record, it’d be amazing, and it was kind of a joke in passing type talk, but then a couple months later he’s like: “Jenn, I have the perfect world record for you!” I say my god, OK I totally forgot about this, but I ask what it is. He says: “I think you should be the first female to climb the Seven Second Summits. You’ve got seven kids, you love to travel. And climbing the second hightest mountains on all seven continents it hasn’t been done by female before. It’s harder than the first seven, it’s respected amongst people in the industry, so what do you think?” And I said: “Let’s do it, let’s see what happens. I think I’m open to trying it.” And that’s how it all came together.
What has been your hardest climb to date, and why?
This one I just finished, Mount Logan, is by far the hardest one on the list. You can climb Everest and K2 without ever pitching a tent or boiling water or needing to worry about navigation; all of that is done for you, your job on those mountains is to put one foot in front of the other and everything else is covered. When you do Mount Logan, you have to get dropped off on the glacier with all of your gear. You carry a sled to pull some of your gear up the mountain, there’s no Sherpa or support with you whatsoever. And the interesting thing about Mount Logan is it’s kind of an Etch-a-Sketch every single day because of the wind and the snow; there’s no path to follow. There’s crevasses and all that you need to worry about, so even though you’re looking at your Garmin and it’s saying you how you need to go from here to there, well that doesn’t mean it’s a straight shot. You might need to go left or right or down this way or out that way because that’s the way the mountain looks this year. Then you have to set up the tents and to set up the tents, you also have to cut out ice blocks from the snow to build a wall to protect the tent from the wind so it doesn’t rip. And you melt water to drink and to hydrate food and you know all the things like that, there’s just so much more involved. It’s an extreme environment, and there’s almost nobody on the mountain, so if you forgot something or something breaks or something doesn’t work, there’s not a whole bunch of other people that you can borrow from and team up with. So Logan is just mentally hard, physically hard, technically really not that hard, but everything else makes up for it.
When have you had to abort a summit push and what did you learn from the experiences?
So, I had to do two mountains twice: K2 I had to do twice, and Mount Logan. I think you learn more from failure than you do from success. Prior to failing K2, I kind of felt like everybody in the industry was equal, and that’s not the case; your climbing team matters. The experience of those people on your team matters. Having extra resources and teams that can plan and anticipate problems matters, because maybe it’s not the problem that they're anticipating that happens, but a problem will happen, and now they have the bandwidth to absorb that and continue on with the expedition. You can do everything perfectly, and Mother Nature can have a different plan, and at the end of the day the mountains are always there. We as humans might not be, so you let them have the victory.
What do you consider your greatest success in mountaineering?
I would say going back to the mountains with new beta, a new understanding, a new set of confidence, allowing it to unfold and then taking people along on the journey with me. So, when I failed K2, the first time I learned a whole bunch when I came back a second time, and I had the opportunity to help sponsor somebody else get up K2. It’s very hard for people from Pakistan to be able to afford to climb there, to find a way in and to have the gear, but if they do, they have a job for life, and feeling that the first time opened my eyes to that, so when I went back a second time, I made it a point to sponsor somebody from Pakistan to climb, and they got to the top of the mountain. It’s fun for you to get to the top of the mountain, but the real joy is when you’re part of somebody else’s pursuit to get there, and knowing the magnitude of that impact on their life.
How do you balance motherhood with adventuring?
Yeah, it’s a juggling act for sure. So, my kids sometimes are embarrassed because they have the mom that’s watching the soccer game that has a 30-pound pack on her back doing step ups on a 12-inch step because I don’t want to miss the game, but I can’t miss training, so I’m overlapping things as much as possible to make it all come together.
Are your kids into nature and mountains and if so, how do you further foster that love and, if not so much, how do you reconcile differing interests?
Yes, I have seven kids, so we have all levels, we run the gamut. The ones that love it, I make sure that we get out there and do things together in the mountains because it’s easy for us to share that joy. With the ones that don’t love it, we connect in other ways and I allow that to be, I don’t want to force nature on anybody. I think it will come to them eventually; we’re spoiled by the fact that we live in Park City, so it’s around us all the time, it’s gorgeous. They don’t know what it’s like to be without nature.
What is your advice for someone who wants to get more into the outdoors and even into mountaineering?
Do it. Make time, make opportunities for you just to get out into nature. Start gradually, then add to the length of the experience, the difficulty of the experience, the different things, because then, when you do something,. you have some foundation to not make it so much new, which makes the experience that much more enjoyable
What are mistakes to avoid as people start trying newer and more challenging adventures?
I always tell people to know before you go, just as much as possible. So check the weather, make sure people know what you’re doing and what you’re up to and when you expect to be back, so that if you’re not back at your car or campsite, you’re not in this thing or that, make sure somebody knows that you ran into trouble and they can release resources to help you faster. Otherwise, it’s like: “Oh, I haven’t heard from Jenn in two days. I wonder what’s going on?” You have so much more safety like that; you always want to plan for the worst, and so think what’s the worst thing that could happen, and who could help. Everything is great when things are going well; when things aren’t going well, that’s when you wish you would’ve done things differently.
And what is advice/tips for people looking to get their families more involved in the outdoors?
Yeah, keep it fun, keep it simple, keep it short, and just get little doses of things until you build up everybody’s enjoyment of it — and everybody’s abilities in that environment — and then just keep adding.
What is a piece of gear you can't imagine living without?
OK, so I prefer Darn Tough socks. I feel feet are so important in these environments, and I don’t get blisters in them, they’re warm, and you know like your feet you’re using all day every day, so you want to make sure that you’re taking care of them. Then your fingers are one of the first things that your body will stop sending blood flow to as you face an extreme environment, so make sure to have top-of-the-line gloves, and to layer the gloves so you don’t get sweat problems and all that kind of stuff.
How have your climbs (and travels in general) changed your view of the world and our place in it?
It has just really solidified the fact that we have this huge world of all different kinds of environments and adventures that are meant to be had, and we’re here, we get to experience them, we need to go out and experience them and to try it see what’s out there, learn about it all out there, and to learn that as much as we are different, we are so the same in the pursuit of adventure and everything else in life.
Images By: Sandro Groomen-Hayes