A six-year-old boy who has climbed 12 of the UK’s highest mountains and hopes to one day be the youngest person to summit Mount Everest, said he wants to help “poor kids go on vacation”.
Six-year-old Oscar Burrow from Lancaster said he saw Sir Edmund Hillary on television one day at school climbing Mount Everest and decided: “I want to be the youngest person to ever climb Mount Everest.”
His father, 38-year-old Matt Burrow, a project manager for the NHS, said that when his son told him about the idea, he was “trying to explain what it really means to climb Mount Everest”.
“It was his dream and his ambition, and as parents you don’t want to see that ambition die, so we wanted to use it,” she told the PA news agency.
“We said to Oscar, why don’t we start this journey by choosing 12 mountains in England, so if you add them all from where you started to where you finish, the height of each mountain would be similar to that of Everest.”
Interested in rock climbing, mountaineering and Bear Grylls, Oscar has climbed six mountain peaks so far. These included Inglebrough in the Yorkshire Dales, the first mountain Oscar had summited on 9 October 2022, and Snowdon in Llanberis, Caernarfon, the next. On cards from February 16-18.
The challenge will end on May 29, when Oscar will summit Ben Nevis in Scotland – and this day is of great importance as it marks the 70th anniversary of the first successful ascent of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
“We thought why not finish the competition on a landmark day, and that will encourage us to be ambitious,” added Mr. Burrow.
Young is raising money for Derian House Child Care Center in Chorley, which provides temporary and palliative care to children, youth and their families.
Oscar told PA: “I want the poor kids at Derian House Nursery to go on vacation.”
Burrow added: “For some of these families, this is the only respite they have, and for some families, they will live their last memories in lodges with their loved ones.
“Derian House has private lodgings—two by the sea and two in the Lake District—and the hospice has sent us stories of the families that have been there, and it’s good to know that my little boy can bring happiness to other kids who are facing some really tough points in their lives.”
Mark, Oscar’s 67-year-old grandfather, 67, who is retired and a long-time hiking fan, said his grandson was quickly getting started on the climbs, even though he had “never done any serious hill walking” prior to the competition.
“We tried it on a local hill in September to see if it would like it because we had no idea,” he told PA.
“And he really took it and climbed the local hill very quickly.
“While the weather was pretty harsh when we got to the top, that didn’t deter him at all, it actually increased his sense of challenge.”
During his hiking adventure, the weather tried to stand in the way of Oscar, but he didn’t let it stop him from achieving his goal.
Oscar said his “most terrifying” moment was in Helvellyn in the Lake District when “I almost flew out and my grandparents had to hold on to me”.
“My favorite mountain was Blencathra in the Lake District, which I did with my friend of six, Oliver Perkins, and I had to grab my father’s leg and put my head behind him (due to a hailstorm on the hill)”, he added.
“He’s a very athletic young man, so it’s nice that he found a friend to do some of the mountains together instead of just me and his mom and grandparents and other adults,” Mr. Burrow added.
Oscar’s mother, Kim Burrow, 37, who works in pathology labs as part of the NHS, and her younger sister Ada, three, joined him on some of his walks.
Mr Burrow said the support for the fight was “incredible”, with a lot of “touching” comments raised over £3,200 and either left on the fundraising page or sent to the family.
“Many left comments saying Oscar was very inspiring, but there are many more touching than that, from people whose families have had similar experiences, to those Oscar fundraisers.”
“We get people thanking their family members for using or may need to use the hospice.”
Oscar’s grandfather added that support for the fight has expanded to include the United Kingdom alone, with a $250 donation from someone from the United States.
Being the youngest person to summit Mount Everest is something Oscar hopes to achieve in the future.
“A short Google search at the start of the competition found that a 13-year-old had reached the top of Mount Everest and Oscar told me, ‘I have seven years.
“I told him it was a positive outlook – you have seven years of practice to potentially be the youngest person to ever climb Everest, but more importantly he enjoys doing those climbs and we enjoy it.”
“I know that one day he will make it to the top of Mount Everest and I hope to be there with him. We are all extremely proud of him.”
Oscar hopes the ‘I will’ motto will spread to budding adventurers, regardless of age.
JustGiving president and general manager Pascale Harvie said: “Oscar is a real inspiration.
“At the age of six, let alone his age, he is tackling a challenge most of us can’t even imagine doing.
“I would like to thank Oscar and his family for their tremendous efforts and wish them success in the next six mountains.”
The fundraising link is available here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/oscar-burrow1?fbclid=IwAR2XJQg2J2-8zvOyc5XN5hKkenlpZ-G7tbiswedRgxZv3-OKuCFdCGFv4pA
More information on the progress of the challenge can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088803157394