Anyone hear this on the news yesterday?
in 2003 a Japanese man climbed Everest for the first time, at the age of 70, at the time he was the oldest person to do so.
He was beaten by a nepalese man, can’t remember either of their names, who is one year older.
The japanese bloke got the record back in 2008 aged 75, only to have it taken away again by the same man.
He reached the summit again yesterday, aged 80.
The nepalese chap is already at basecamp andd wants the record back!
.
No reason for posting that other than that I am seriously impressed.

use it or lose it.

Age is a state of mind. My state of mind is also. …. seriously impressed

Money and technology has made it all a bit ………..meh!

Use it or lose it…

True.

But there does become a time when no matter how strong the mind, the body is a liability.

These two were bloody lucky in my opinion, as were their guides & sherpas helping them.

Was climbing with ‘young’ Chris last night. He’s 68 and still goes hard at it. Just travels to the crags now on a bus pass instead of his van.

Just keep going. It’s only when you stop you feel old.

Old men in the hills?

I never see any…

Saw a guy in his 80’s climbing in the peak, another in his 90’s. Quite normal really, just avoid death and other inconvenient injuries and your fine.

I may have told this story before… I spent six weeks in the Cairngorms taking photos of a proposed windfarm site for a contractor. On one of the more remote summits, an old guy steamed past me, just as I was wondering if I’d be able to get out of the mountains alive.

We had a swift chat through our drawn down hoods, as the hail and snow bounced off us. He’d climbed every munro ten years previously, and was now repeating some of his favourites. This was 12 miles from the nearest road, over extremely rough, steep going, including several river crossings.

Hardy bastard!

He reached the summit again yesterday, aged 80.
The nepalese chap is already at basecamp andd wants the record back!

Tsk… grow up…

He’s also the same guy that skied down Everest from the South Col in the 70’s. IIRC there was an award winning film made of his exploits.

Personally I’ve met numerous ‘old men’ in the hills – Tom Weir was still a regular @ Glencoe well into his eighties.

It’s probably regular trips to the hills that keeps people fit and healthy in body and mind.