6-year-old boy youngest person to ever climb Mt. Whitney

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — It’s a feat not many adults will accomplish in a lifetime, but two weeks ago, a 6-year-old boy became the youngest person to ever climb Mt. Whitney.

According to the San Diego Union Tribune, Anthony Slosar — from Rancho Santa Fe — made a deal with his mom: If he made the 21-hour climb, he would be able to go see the PG-13 movie, "Captain America: Civil War."

Mount Whitney is located in the California Sierra Nevada mountain range and stands, officially, at 14,505 feet, according to SummitPost.org. Mt. Whitney is also known for it’s vertical climb of 6,000 feet over 11 miles.

Slosar made the climb with his parents Jeff, 50, and Heather, 45, and siblings Natalie, 15, Kelly, 12, Avery, 10, and Jackson, 9. According to the UT, some of the group had to turn back due to altitude sickness at about 12,000 feet, but the determined Captain America fan forged on.

The UT reports that the Slosar family wanted to make the climb in one day, so they began at 2:20 a.m. 

"Wearing headlamps, they started from the portal at an elevation of 8,500 feet and walked up forest trails that eventually gave way to boulders. From 12,000 to 13,500 feet, they climbed through 97 switchbacks and finally reached the crest trail to the summit, which they reached at 2:30 p.m. It took another nine hours to get back down to the portal and 90 minutes more to reach their hotel," wrote Pam Kragen for the UT.

According to The Huffington Post, the youngest documented climber was 7-year-old Tyler Armstrong, who made the ascent in 2011. Armstrong and his father did the climb in 17 hours.  

The Durango Herald reports that last October, 6-year-old Orin Gartner from Colorado made the climb, but the UT reports that he began the climb 6 miles above the portal.

For Slosar, there is no official documentation claiming he is the youngest, but it’s a very real possibility that he is.

Jeff Slosar said in an interview that there wasn’t any time during the hike that Anthony wanted to quit.

“They don’t know it yet, but life can be tough,” Jeff said to the UT. “If they have these very tangible recollections of achieving difficult things, of not giving up on tough challenges, that they kept going when they were tired, then they’ll be be better prepared for many of the tough challenges ahead of them.”