Jamaica-born is a news presenter with an adventurous streak that won't be tamed. Here, this mountain recalls some of his most treasured - and scary - adventures.
Darren Jordon first gained national attention in the early 1980s when he became one of three men to parachute on to the Blue. This feat, performed in 1984, was done only once and has not been repeated, as it is considered very dangerous.
The former Jamaica Defence Force captain served from 1979 to 1986, and took part in Operation Urgent Fury - the invasion of Grenada in 1983.
Upon his retirement, Jordon moved to South Africa where he worked as a broadcaster. For much of the '90s, he was a sports presenter with SuperSport - South Africa's premier sports channel. He went on to the BBC in 1998 as a sports presenter before switching to news, full-time, in 2000, as one of the station's main news presenters for eight years.
More recently, Jordon worked in Doha, Qatar, with al Jazeera as a senior news presenter. His on-air credits include interviews with former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Iran's controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He also covered the Arab Spring in the Middle East, the global financial crisis, and the raid on the bin Laden compound in Pakistan. He also hosted al Jazeera's in-depth analytical interview programme 'Inside Story', a magazine show that adds depth and context to the news of the day.
But this newsman has not given up his adventurous side. His mountain- have come into full bloom, beginning with an Alpine mountaineering course in New Zealand in February, 2011.
up to the skies
Having signed up with Alpine Guides for the Mountain Experience Course - which instructs persons on how to operate safely in an Alpine environment, improve snow and rope skills, and live comfortably in freezing conditions - the very tough course was executed in the Sealy Mountain range under the shadow of Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain. It teaches everything from walking in crampons on the snow to ice and rock climbing - as rock climbing is considered a great way to gain experience to climb higher mountains in Europe and Nepal.
The training on the freezing Annette Plateau saw him learning how to move across glaciers. He spent many freezing nights under the stars in sleeping bags, in freezing rain and sleet. "That's when you know all the expensive gear - like your sleeping bag - actually works!" Jordon said.
In a 2011 Gleaner interview from Doha, Qatar, he declared: "Probably the most important thing we learnt is self-arrest. If you trip and fall on a steep, icy slope, you pick up speed very quickly and can tumble to your death. Self-arrest teaches you how to drive your ice axe into the snow to stop you from sliding - and it does save your life!
"We also operated on the Ball Glacier at the foot of Mount Cook, learning how to rope down ice faces, and move on crampons strapped to our boots," he said.
one summit at a time
Armed with this knowledge and a thirst for adventure, Jordan took off with the Jamaican flag, conquering one summit at a time. To date, he has climbed Africa's highest peak - Mount Kilimanjaro (September 2010); and in 2011, he attempted one of the French Alps' iconic peaks, Mont Blanc (Western Europe's highest mountain). Unfortunately, hurricane-force winds denied him and his team another triumph.
Despite this, Jordon and his multinational team of climbers notched up a remarkable week of climbing.
"To stand on the summit of Gran Paradiso was indescribably awesome," he said. "The actual summit area is tiny, and if you make a mistake and fall off, there is a 1,000-foot plunge straight down the mountain to certain death. I was hanging on so tight to the praying Madonna statue at the top that I couldn't even take out my Jamaican flag. I was just concentrating so hard on getting down safely," he said.
"Crossing the frozen Gran Paradiso glacier was very tough and then we had to labour our way up the summit ridge in sub-zero temperatures - all the time being blasted by icy winds - but getting (there) was worth every ounce of pain," he said.
Jordon believes he is the first Jamaican to reach the summit of Italy's highest mountain. After leaving the Aguille du Midi cable car, the team had to descend an impossibly narrow wind-swept ridge down to the Vallee Blanche.
"This was the scariest thing I have ever done," he said. The top of the ridge is no more than about a foot wide in some places and if you trip over and fall, you are in a world of trouble because you will tumble hundreds of feet down a sheer snow-and-rock wall."
Thankfully, the team made it down safely and headed across the Glacier du Geant to climb Pointe Lachenal. After scrambling up a near-vertical wall of snow and ice, Jordon raised the Jamaican flag to cheers from the rest of his team.
"The climb was the end of a very tough week, but I never gave up. I was proud to take Jamaica with me to the top of these magnificent mountains!"