I know that some people have summited 8000m peaks later in life, but I'm guessing that most of them had also started doing so when they were younger. I'm wondering how many people have climbed their first 8000m peak later in life...lets start with over 40?

To paraphrase Messner (I may not have this totally right). Rock climb in your teens and 20s, alpine climb in your 30s, climb in the himalayas in your late 30s and 40s, do polar expeditions in your 50s. I would bet that most guided ascents of 8000 meter peaks are undder taken by clients in their late 30s and 40s. I was faster, stronger, and had more endurance at 41 than 21, not to mention much more experience and better judgment. With advances in nutrition and exercise, 40 is the new 30.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Soria_Font%C3%A1n

This guy climbed all 8000m peaks after the age of 60. But are you asking SPers what they have climbed at an older age?




I'm 50 and have nothing to brag about.

Marmaduke wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Soria_Font%C3%A1n

This guy climbed all 8000m peaks after the age of 60. But are you asking SPers what they have climbed at an older age?




I'm 50 and have nothing to brag about.

I'd love to hear from anyone with first hand experience, but I'll take any information. I'm 40 yo, and I've always dreamed of climbing an 8000 m peak. I have climbed a couple 6000m peaks, although it has been almost 10 years since I did that. I also live in a place that isn't exactly conducive to maintaining mountain fitness. I guess I was hoping for some inspirational stories to help me keep the dream alive!

I met a guy in the Tetons back in 1997 who was a retired US Postal employee. He was like 65 or something and shortly after meeting him I read in a climbing magazine that he had recently climbed Cho Oyo. He was also climbing all the technical climbs in the tetons that I was doing in my 20s.

At the time that Dick Bass (the first guy to do the Seven Summits) climbed Everest, his first 8000m, he was in his 60s.

I think Alan Arnette climbed Cho Oyu in his early 40's. Sorry Alan if I am wrong.

http://alanarnette.com/

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Back in 2007 there was a 71 Year old Japanese man who climbed Mt. Everest. He was a retired schoolteacher who had climbed some notable sub-8000m peaks ( including Denali), but Everest was his first 8000m peak. There was another 70 yo Japanese businessman who climbed Everest in 2002(?), but he'd done Cho Oyu a few years earlier.

And there also was a 76 yo Nepali man who did it in 2008. Not sure if that was his first 8000m peak, but he's considered the oldeset to do Everest. I believe his name was Min Badchur Sherchun.

I've done Aconcagua and Denali, plus a number of peaks in other South American countries, but I've lost the drive to do that stuff anymore. Unless I'm on vacation and ahve the chance to do a walk-up (like Ben Nevis in Scotland, or Fuji in Japan) I'll stick with stuff in the continental USA from now until I die.

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the great British polar adventurer, took up climbing at age 60 with an ascent of the North Face of the Eiger about age 63 and made the summit of Everest on his third try at about age 68.

morgan freeman aka carter in the bucket list film is getting on in years when he goes to mt everest-- but then that's hollywood. better yet is the you tube video of bruno detassis:

Bruno Detassis scala lo Spigolo della Madonnina alla Brenta alta. Quel giorno Bruno aveva da poco compiuto 82 anni.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6m0nFcacws[/youtube]

Firstly, you're accepting 8000m summits as a pinnacle of climbing achievement. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

One of America's greatest alpinists, Charlie Fowler, didn't climb an 8000er until his mid-late 40s, but few climbers can match his list of significant ascents: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Fowler

Secondly, as for those 70+ year old guys on Everest, you might want to talk to the guides and Sherpas who were with them. I know one of them was carried up the last section and another one, or more, needed a lot of physical help to get down. To me, that's not climbing. I'm more impressed by independent old people doing more mundane and useful things under their own power, in every city, every day, than paying to be manhandled to a false podium.

And third, guided ascents of Everest with Sherpas and oxygen are one thing. But consider someone like Sergei Samoilov, who climbed the north ridge of K2 with just one partner, and a new route on Broad Peak, and a new route on Manaslu - all from 48 years old to his death on Lhotse at 52: http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/ ... p?id=16569