On Top of the World ja c o o t t i n k
By Diya, Grade 9 First published in the Marymount Messenger on 15th March 2020
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uccess won’t come easy. An assembly in the auditorium featuring Jaco Ottink taught us that. Mr. Ottink, an avid explorer and mountaineer, has achieved what most people can only dream about—the Explorers’ Grand Slam. He has successfully climbed the highest summits of all seven continents and travelled to the North Pole and the South Pole. However, like most of us, he began his journey with a dream. “Dreams must challenge us, enrich us, and give us energy,” believes Mr. Ottink. Ever since he was a young boy, he would go hiking in the Alps with his family. But something inside him always wished that they would hike further up, until they reached the summit. While chatting with his father, he realised that he wanted to venture beyond the average, and this became the first step towards accomplishing his dream. With any dream, Mr. Ottink recommends creating a “list with potential challenges” and “working on how to overcome them”. Mr. Ottink’s dream of climbing Mount Everest took him years of preparation. In those years, he gained experience by climbing other summits around the world. For him, the most difficult struggle of climbing Mount Everest was the mental challenge. “Of course, being 11 weeks away from the family is very challenging, but the unknown aspect of being close to 9000 metres and not knowing how your body (with almost no oxygen available) will react was very challenging too”. Furthermore, Mr. Ottink had to keep in mind that the success rate of Mount Everest climbers is quite low.
“Dreams must challenge us, enrich us, and give us energy.” – Jaco Ottink
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