Oldsters one-upping each other at the top of the world
On Everest, there’s always someone older coming up behind you Back in 2008, Japan’s (then) 75-year-old Yuichiro Miura was about to set the record for being the oldest person to climb Mount Everest—until Nepal’s 76-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan beat him out, getting there one day ahead of him. There was no trash talking...
Denali wins again
Let’s focus on the success here: climbing solo, AARP-eligible adventurer Lonnie Dupre reached 17,200 feet on Denali, in January. Not to belabor this, but he carried all his food and fuel, alone, to 17,200 feet, in January. He was planning to reach the 20,320-foot summit today but, as his website reports, “extremely...
Lonnie Dupre is back on Denali
Lonnie Dupre, the AARP-eligible adventurer who has focused on solo-climbing Denali in January, is currently taking his third run at the mountain.Two years ago, he made it to 17,200 feet–“just hours from the summit”–before bad weather intervened. Last year, even nastier weather pinned him down at a lower altitude. This time, he’s making the ascent...
A Curious Obsession
In early March of 1979, Ranger Steve and I were traveling Highway 2 from East Glacier, Montana to Kalispell. Having just reviewed an epic production of Barefoot in the Park by the East Glacier Players, we were headed west to do a little alpine sliding. The entire area was besieged with slides and major avalanches...
Olds and altitude sickness. And Viagra.
Ski season is here and with it the risk of altitude sickness. You know the drill: you start in Chicago (elevation 579 feet) or New York (which averages around 30 feet of elevation when it isn’t swamped by a hurricane). You fly a few hours west, rent a car, drive to Summit County and a...
Tamae Watanabe is sitting on top of the world. Again. And Everest claims four others.
UPDATED: On Saturday, May 18, Tamae Watanabe became—at age 73—the oldest woman to summit Everest. This is an amazing accomplishment because (1) it is Everest, (2) she attacked the mountain from the difficult north face and (3) she broke her own record, set in 2002, when she was a spry 63-year-old. So congratulations to her....
Vargas of the trail map gets his due
We are occasionally confined to the great indoor wasteland of the desk, corner office, or garret. There we stare at a computer screen all day, with no opportunity to roam the precious spaces on earth. (Of course there is Google Earth, but the emptiness of that world wearies after a time. And, let’s face it,...
Sunday Quote: October 16, 2011
“The good of going into the mountains is that life is reconsidered. “ ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (We snatched this quote from the blog of Tom Ryan, a middle-aged Massachusetts journalist who hiked all 48 of the 4,000-foot peaks in the White Mountains....
It’s not that unusual: over 60 and radically fit
There’s a condescending “good for you” tone to many profiles of very fit seniors. The implication is that tough old birds are also rare birds. We much prefer articles like this recent overview of senior athletes—runners and bikers and mountain hikers—living in the Los Gatos, California, area. The...
