Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board 50 years old

Are there many 50 year olds hiking Whitney in one day ??

I did it when I was 42 and I'm planning on trying again this year.

Yes, there are. One example is Jack Northam (actually, he is not a 50 year old, he is in his late 50s). Jack hikes it twice in a day at least once every summer.

If you did it when you were 42 and are 50 now... well, do it again!

Just keep in mind that if it's in winter, it's a serious undertaking. Glen Maiden died on his 50th birthday a few years ago.

Last August, I day-hiked Whitney with several of my friends on the day of my 50th birthday. Part of the celebration on the summit was the bottle of Dom Perignon champagne that I carried the entire 11 miles to the top. It was quite the perfect way to celebrate my 50th, and who knows, I may do the same to celebrate my 55th.

Michael T.

Thanks for the replies.
It sounds like it's not so unusual for me, at age 50, to hike Mt. Whitney in 1 day, it seems more like it's expected of me !!

I will then, late Aug. early Sept. is the time to go.

Sorry to hear about Glen Maiden.

I don't know about the Champagne though, I may trade that for a beer when I get back to the portal store !!

This isn’t about Whitney, but last summer we were coming back down from High Lake and we ran into a 70 year old dude soloing. We chatted a bit and he said that there’s a guy following him who is 82 and soloing too. The 70 year old gentleman told us, “I can’t imagine doing this at 82.” I was thinking I just hope to be alive at 70. So we said our goodbyes and did run into the 82 year old dude. He was carrying a huge pack and he had a fast pace for 82. My buddy and I didn’t feel like we were even worthy to talk to him. We just nodded our hellos. We watched him hike away with our jaws dropped. When mosquitoes started landing in our mouths we started hiking again. We said to each other, “I’m gonna be doing that when I’m 82.” He was a stud. He was our hero. He reminded me of an ancient woolly mammoth. Ancient, wise and still can kick our behinds.

Secret, I'm your age and have done the day hike thing several times over the years. You get slower no doubt but these days 50 should not be a problem for anyone who is taking reasonable care of themselves. Lately I've been going up the MR to ease things, personally it helps me quite a bit get up and down in a day.

Another change that has helped is that I take a bit more care now to spend a couple days at 8,000 beforehand; and I find that enduring wine deprivation for 2-3 days before the climb, disagreeable though it is, really helps. I know, getting old sucks.

Now that 82 year old is another story....we can only hope to be that gifted

Turned 50 last year and did three day hikes and one over nighter. Age is relative. Your condition and conditioning would be a much more important factor to consider.

Hi Secret,
I had the pleasure,at age 50, of a one-day round trip with my wife(45), my 22yo son and my 17yo and 15yo daughters two years ago. We still talk about it and are planning another summit this year.

I've done 5 of my 31 annual Whitney dayhikes since I turned 50. I haven't done a Whitney dayhike with anyone over 69 yet but I hope to live to change that.

The year I completed college, my grandmother, at 80, had spent the last 12 months trying to convince me that I didn't need to get a job right away my first summer out of school. According to her,I should take the summer off and see how much of the Applachion Trail we can hike together. She had sent newspaper clippings of people her age completing the trail. But, young and foolish, I took the job in San Diego with General Dynamics. Two years later she wrote me to tell me i'd waited too long: she couldn't leave my grandfather alone to do the grocery shopping and take care of the yard and garden by himself for the summer anymore.

It was a lesson in missed opportunities.

Dale B. Dalrymple
http://dbdimages.com

The last time I dayhiked Whitney (2003) I was 54. I plan on doing it again for my 60th. If you spend much time in Icehouse Canyon, you will run into a couple of 80 year olds who still hoof it up that 15% grade.

So my Uncle is 63 years old and I am 23 years old. Last September, it was my second time climbing the summit and it was his first time trying Mt Whitney. Just to show you that age doesn't matter, we had to turn around at base camp because I was coming down with altitude sickness. My Uncle was doing fine.

Hi I say all the time that anyone that walks into the Store can reach the summit They just need to WANT to .Age is another one of those social mind games as gender. Thanks Doug (Hulda Crooks summited at 91 also did some other things late in life, Mt Fuji long list of Southern Sierra peaks and many long trails well into her senior years.) Was signing books at the Portal at 100 still very alert and agile.

i'm hiking the high sierra trail again in august, and am bringing a friend who is 54.

I'll be 57 in May. I've completed 2 one day summit hikes during the past 2 summers (15 hours and 13 hours RT). Age is a minor factor when compared with overall health, general physical conditioning, and approriate training and specific conditioning for a 22 mile hike covering ~6200' of vertical climb. If you're prepared (completed several training hikes, spend a few days at altitude before Whitney summit attempt, hydrate and fuel yourself properly, I imagine being able to complete several more single day summits well into my 60s and possibly beyond 70.

I did a day hike last Sept. at age 61. My wife, who is 53, did it also. She is usually a little faster on the accent and we are about the same on the descent, but last year, was not that way.

She was recovering from a cold and started feeling exhausted at the summit. We went up in 11 hours and down in 11, although I think we could have come down in 5 or 6 if she had been feeling well.

She descended in 6 hours in 2002.

I made my first trip to the summit when I was 55 years old. Did it on a one day permit. I have completed the one day thing a total of four times. I have a bad knee that keeps me from carrying a lot of weight, ie backpack, so I travel light, and long, but not over night. I am hoping for one more permit in July or August this year.I turn 60 this April. Could be my last one for a while as I am in line for an artificial knee within the next year or so. I like starting at 1:30am when it is cool. I carry two bottles of water and a filter to keep the weight down. Nothing like watching the other hikers coming up in the dark when their headlamps look like lightning bugs! And the sunrise from Trail Camp is pretty cool. Good luck.

About 11 years ago, my father last ran/hiked the Whitney round-trip in 8 hours at age 63. He lived and trained at sea level as I do. Now 46, I try to run the round-trip every year on or around my August 17 birthday without acclimatization. Every year, my goal is to start at around 6:00am and take my wife to lunch afterward. The lunch gets a little later every year. My father told me that there is a BIG difference between 47 and 50. Might be taking my wife to dinner after I hit 50?--Adam

I dayclimbed Boundary Peak for my 50th last year. I've been dayclimbing Whitney 2-3 times a year (via the MR). I'll be climbing as long as I'm able!

For me, the age slows the pace each year, but the amount of peaks bagged increases. :-)

There was a famous guide on the Matterhorn, Ulrich Inderbinen, who led climbers to the summit until he turned 95 a few years ago. Below is an excerpt from an interview with him on his 100th birthday.

Inderbinen became a mountain guide when he was 25 years old, and led people through the Alps for 70 years, until he turned 95. He told TV-SRI that he never got bored with guiding tourists, unless they could not keep up.

Another Zermatt mountain guide, Hermann Biner, remembers Inderbinen as a great leader and a very special man:

"Not many years ago, Ulrich was about to lead a guest to the Matterhorn. He came in the overnight hut. He sat down opposite the guest. Ulrich spooned his soup. The guest spooned his soup. They looked at each other; all was quiet, no words were exchanged. The next morning, Ulrich and the guest set off. They were among the first to reach the summit. By the time they made it back to the hut, the guest was completely exhausted. He told Ulrich that he had led him with a rather brisk pace. Ulrich replied to him, "If you want to go slower next time, I suggest you hire an older guide."