This is a general response to no one person in particular, which has been building during the months I have daily followed Jessica Watson's recently completed circumnavigation, and which now seems to be moving into the 13-year-old Everest discussion.

Not all 13-year-olds (or 16-year-olds, in the case of Jessica) are the same (true of any age, for that matter).
You can say "what if things hadn't gone right" about any age group and doing any endeavor.
The bottom line is the amount of risk willing to be taken and the ability to handle that risk. With a minor, obviously that risk involves parents more than a non-minor. But give the parents some credit for knowing the make-up of their kids better than we do.
As one example of many, what about the Olympics? Most of the participants there are in their teens. In some Olympic sports, 16, for example, is considered "old". There is risk in any of those sports, yet we cheer them on precisely because we laud their courage and will power (backed by a whole lot of advance preparation -- as is also true with Everest and solo circumnavigations) to compete and maybe win (or at least complete the event and do well). Why should mountain climbing (even Everest) be any different? Different goal; different set of risks.

I think we make too much out of age. There are people of all ages who would have no business doing mountain climbing in their current state. Rather than make judgment calls based on age, why not make them on ability (including mental and physical, etc.), or better yet, why make them at all? Why not just enjoy and appreciate the accomplishment of someone who has set out to achieve a goal? Maturity is not determined so much by age as it is by experience and how responsibility is handled. For some, that experience and learning how to responsibly handle challenges, comes at a younger age than "normal".

If Jessica Watson's recent circumnavigation proved anything, it proved that. Her statement at the conclusion of her welcome home ceremony was on point:

Quote:
People don't ... expectations ... they don't think you're capable of these things. They don't realize what young people, what 16-year-olds, and what girls are capable of. And it is amazing that, when you take away those expectations, what you can do and what you can achieve.

Here is about a one-minute video highlight of her homecoming a little over a week ago, including the above excerpt -- worth watching.

CaT

If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.
- Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)