'7 children ... 7 peaks': Car crash inspires Utah mom to set global climbing record

When Jenn Drummond got into a car accident five years ago, she would have never imagined that it would inspire her to set a world record.

Drummond, a financial analyst in Utah, survived a car crash in December 2018 when a semitrailer slammed into her Porsche Cayenne on a busy highway in Utah, flipping it three times before it crashed into a median, she told USA TODAY.

"That car accident should have taken my life, but it didn't," said Drummond, who escaped with minor injuries. "What was more unsettling was that a few weeks after my accident, one of my girlfriends was out running when her foot caught a small rock, causing her to fall and die. At that point, I began to question the meaning of life and why I survived that accident."

Her recovery reached a record-breaking milestone last month when she became the first known woman to conquer the world's seven "second summits" − the second-highest points on each continent.

'Seven children, seven continents, seven peaks'

In 2020, two years after her crash, Drummond turned 40 and wanted to do something unique to celebrate, so she planned to summit Ama Dablam, part of the eastern Himalayas in Nepal. The decision was natural for a fitness enthusiast and avid hiker like her who had been climbing mountains in and around her home city of Parkland, Utah.

The mother of seven, who home-schooled her children when COVID-19 hit, was inspired to set her goals higher after a conversation with her son, who was frustrated over math homework. That talk about overcoming difficulties, she says, is what propelled her to train for some of the largest mountains in the world.

She enlisted a coach to help prepare for her expeditions, who gave her a book that had the picture of a woman who had set a skiing record on the cover. Drummond said she chuckled when got she the book and commented that she too would set a new record, not knowing what and how she would achieve it. Soon enough, it was decided that she would attempt the seven "second summits" − the second-highest points on each continent.

"Seven children, seven continents, seven peaks. We're going to Vegas," Drummond said with a laugh.

Drummond started training for her feat in her hometown, squeezing her training sessions in between school and soccer practice, where she would do step-ups while watching the kids.

Training for the mountains also involves ensuring that your lungs are acclimatized to low oxygen levels, so to prepare for that, Drummond started sleeping in a tent that sucks out the oxygen and mimics climate conditions on the peaks.

Seven second-summits

The first of the second-summits that Drummond scaled was Ojos del Salado (22,615 feet) in Chile, the second-highest peak in South America, in December 2020. From there, she went to Kenya, where she climbed Mount Kenya (17,057 feet) in February 2021. She then flew to Nepal to climb Mount Everest as a practice exercise for K2 (28,251 feet), the most dangerous of them all. After Nepal, Drummond went to Pakistan to summit K2. But poor weather conditions and the death of a teammate, who was caught in an avalanche, forced Drummond to abandon the trek.

But she continued her mission, flying to Russia and scaling Mount Dykh-Tau (17,077 feet) in September 2021. She welcomed 2022 on Mount Tyree (15,919 feet) and then headed back to K2 in July 2022, becoming the third American woman to conquer the mountain. After K2, Drummond went to Canada to summit Mount Logan (19,551 feet), the second-highest point in North America, but was unsuccessful. Not losing steam, she flew across the world to Australia and summitted Mount Townsend (7,247 feet) in November 2022.

In June 2023, Drummond went back to Canada, scaling Mount Logan and becoming the first woman to conquer the seven second summits.

On which expedition was her favorite, Drummond, joked: "It's like asking which ones of my children are my favorite. But, to answer your question, all were special in their own way. I think K2 was a very big achievement, especially the second time around. It has a reputation of being scary."

"Mount Townsend was perhaps the easiest, but Mount Logan was the toughest. It was very demanding physically especially because we did not have a lot of support. I set up my own tent there, carried my own water. So it was a lot more physically challenging than the rest."

"Mountaineering is a universal desire. It is not limited to cultures, or socioeconomic backgrounds, so it is definitely a fun way to meet people you would never meet otherwise," Drummond said.

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Motherhood and mountaineering

Managing a family of seven kids doesn't go hand-in-hand with scaling mountains, but Drummond says it's a "balancing act" she has been navigating for years now.

"I've been incredibly blessed with a supportive family," she said. "My mother and nanny took care of the children while I was away."

Drummond said she returned home to Utah after every expedition and planned them in a way in which she would not miss out on her children's activities. For instance, when she was in Pakistan for five weeks to climb K2, her family watched the kids for one week before they went summer camp, and she arrived back in Utah just a day or two before they returned from camp. Her children are proud of their "cool mom," and the family is planning a trip to Mount Kenya in Africa.

Drummond plans book release

There is a lot to be learned from Drummond's life and experiences, and the mountaineer plans to share them in a book expected to arrive in January.

"I hope my journey will inspire people to climb mountains. Whether the real ones or their own."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jenn Drummond: Utah mom finishes seven 'second summits' climbing feat