For Utah mom of seven Jenn Drummond, a near-fatal car accident in 2018 was the motivation she needed to begin her quest to become the first woman to climb the Seven Second Summits—and set a world record in the process. On June 1, she achieved her extraordinary goal.
“Instantly, everything became more clear, ” Drummond says of the accident. “I thought to myself, ‘I’m not putting my life on hold for my kids anymore. I can do both.'”
What are the Seven Second Summits?
The Seven Second Summits are the second-highest mountains on each of the seven continents—K2 (Asia), Mt. Logan (North America), Ojos del Salado (South America), Mt. Tyree (Antarctica), Dych-Tau (Europe), Mt. Kenya (Africa), and Mt. Townsend (Australia). Considered by many mountaineers to be more technically challenging than the original Seven Summits, Drummond had to meticulously plan her climbing schedule. Each of these peaks have a specific time of year that they are available to climb. Even then, the schedule isn’t set in stone due to changing weather patterns and climbing conditions.
Drummond says that her goal of climbing the Seven Second Summits has brought her family closer together, with all seven of her children loving and supporting her. She included her children in every step of her journey. And while part of her motivation was to set an example for her children, it ultimately encompassed much more than that.
“It’s about showing society that when we have a pursuit that calls us and we step into it, the ripple effects are beyond our comprehension,” says Drummond.
Climbing Mt. Everest—for Practice
Drummond climbed her first summit, Ojos del Salado, in December 2020 and Mt. Kenya in February 2021. Then, on May 31, 2021, Drummond deviated from the Seven Second Summits to conquer another mountain—Mt. Everest.
One of the original Seven Summits and the world’s highest peak, Mt. Everest is considered to be a less technical climb than K2, the second-highest summit in the world. She used Mt. Everest as a training ground to prepare for K2—a summit where one in five people die in their attempt to reach the top. But climbing Mt. Everest turned out to be much more than a training exercise.
“This climb was about teaching my kids that limitations are a belief system,” she says. “We are the ones who usually get in our own way. Doing Everest was about showing them what going after big goals looks like—not just talking about it.”
And according to Drummond, the question “What is your Everest?” has become a family mantra they use to talk about the challenges they are each experiencing.
Enduring Trials and Tragedies
Drummond’s accomplishments have been hard won, to say the least. Throughout her journey, she’s endured harrowing conditions, deep disappointments, and tragic deaths of fellow climbers. While climbing Mt. Everest, one of Drummond’s sherpas died after falling into a crevasse between Camp 1 and Camp 2. On Instagram, she said of the tragedy, “Still trying to process it all. Today is heavy with emotion. Events like today are devastating.”
Two months later, Drummond lost a teammate to an avalanche on K2, and another one had to be heli rescued due to injuries sustained in that same avalanche. Her team ended up turning back without reaching the top.
She wrote of the experience, “I can decide to surrender. I could go up, but at what cost? The people close to me know I am going to make decisions that include them is more important than waiving a summit flag.”
Still Drummond persevered, acknowledging that her entire journey was laced with occasional doubts and discouragement.
“After I failed K2, I went to Dyck-Tau, which is in Russia, in September 2021,” she recalls. “I spent a long time curating all the gear to do Russia because it’s a pretty technical climb. I had flight problems, and when I got there, they lost all my stuff. I was like, ‘What am I even doing? How did I get here?’ But then I snapped out of it because when you have a vision strong enough, the obstacles become small. So I thought, ‘Wait, this is better. This is building the story. If it was easy, it would’ve already been done.'”
Drummond’s Dyck-Tau climb was successful. Then, on January 1, 2022, she enjoyed another victory by becoming the first U.S. woman to summit Mt. Tyree in Antarctica.
Eight months later, in August of 2022, Drummond returned to K2 and finally reach the summit. And in November, she would check Mt. Townsend off her list.
Making History
Drummond says her last summit, Mt. Logan, was also her most life-threatening. She was caught in a 14-hour storm during the climb.
“When you’re in these storms, you normally either have a lot of snow or a lot of wind—not both combined,” she explains. “We built a wind wall to protect the tent because this little teeny tiny fabric that a tent is, is what’s keeping us alive from the elements every night. . . . The wind kept blowing, and it was snowing just endless amounts of snow. It would blow the snow against that wall, which then would bury the tent.”
She continues, “We would have to unzip the tent from the inside, punch our way out, climb up, move all that snow so we could have oxygen come into the tent, then get back inside. We wore all of our gear because if that fabric ripped, obviously nobody was coming to rescue us in that weather, and the chances of survival were very slim. I kept thinking to myself, ‘There’s no way the universe would let me get this far and then let me die here. This is not the story.'”
Drummond was able to endure the storm and press forward to complete her record-setting journey—an experience that was both profound and life-changing.
“When I got to the top of the mountain, I took that last step and did a huge inhale just to take it all in,” she says. “And in that moment, you almost lose who you are. You lose the concept of time. You lose the concept of form. You lose the concept of distance. You become the mountain. You become the air. You become the sun.”
She continues, “When you’re on that last mountain, you’re not the person who set out on the journey. You’re an entirely different human with, in my case, three years of experiences that I would’ve never had otherwise. And it’s just this huge summation of gratitude that you got to have all the experiences that you did.”
Sharing Lessons Learned
Now that her incredible journey is complete, what’s next for Drummond?
“I’m going to savor this experience, take the opportunity to share the lessons that I’ve learned with others, and allow it to be enough,” she says.
One way Drummond is sharing the lessons she’s learned is by writing a book called Quit-Proof: Seven Strategies for Life in Business, due to be released in January.
“There are lessons that I learned from the mountain that can be applicable to anybody’s pursuits,” she explains. “I don’t want people to quit. I want them to have the tools to navigate when things get hard. And that’s what this book is designed to do.”
Drummond will also be hosting retreats and doing some public speaking.
“I’m excited to share my hero’s journey,” she says. “You go on this quest and you become a new person. Then you have to return to society and integrate back into it, which is always hard. But then you share the knowledge that you gained from the pursuit, and that’s where I’m at in the process.”
To learn more about Jenn Drummond’s Seven Second Summits journey or to book her for a speaking engagement, visit jenndrummond.com.
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