Erik Prince interviews Dr. Jack Wheeler, the “real-life Indiana Jones.” After becoming the youngest-ever Eagle Scout at just 12 years old, Wheeler went on to become the youngest person ever to reach the summit of the Matterhorn at 14 – at which point he decided to dedicate his life to the pursuit of extraordinary adventure.
Jack relates some of his most incredible experiences, including being adopted into a tribe of Jivoroa head-shrinkers in Ecuador, hunting a tiger that had killed 20 South Vietnamese villagers, making “first contact” with three separate tribes all over the world, and conducting a record-setting parachute jump onto the North Pole.
And what does he do in his spare time?
The slopes of Everest are littered with the bodies of highly motivated people. So you guys just calm down.
That guy is truly amazing. That word is used too much these days for mundane things, but he is definitely that!
Lowell,
Yes, littered with garbage too. I think also oxygen tanks that they won’t take back down with them. And frozen items we don’t want to think about.
Several years ago, someone found the body of Goerge Mallory, who fell a couple of thousand feet off the side of Everest about a hundred years ago. His body was bleached white from the sun. They identified him from his name inside the collar of his jacket. Really a bizarre find.
Lots of these adventurers are out for glory. But I’m OK with it; it would be 1000 times worse to have governments outlaw things like climbing Mt. Everest. There is already way too much of that in our lives.
One thing I’d like to see is adventurers post a bond, so when a rescue unit has to spend hours getting them out of trouble, the taxpayers aren’t on the hook to pay for it.
Tim Buktu, quite so. And if they ever Andrew Irvine they may have a chance of solving the summit quandary.
Mallory said he’d leave a photo of his wife at the summit if he made it. The picture was not found with his corpse, but it has never been found at the summit either.
So it’s a continuing mystery about whether Mallory with Irvine or each individually made it to the top.
^^^^
Mallory fell less than 1000 feet, not the couple thousand I mentioned above. No big deal, he’s deader than a doornail.
Irvine had the camera, supposedly, and that film could be processed, supposedly.
The problem with the photograph left at the summit… well… anything could happen.
What we DO know is Mallory was found, Irving not.
I think Irving is the key. And then again maybe not.
I’m not being a shit, I’m one of those who hopes Mallory and Irving did the job, and quite sadly never made it back.
I’m not anti Hillary, either.
They ALL were men. Brass Balls.
I’m not going on about who was first. It doesn’t really matter. Again, I just hope Mallory and Irvine did the job.
The most interesting man… in the world.