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Posted by Bill S on April 10, 2007 at 7:34:40 pm EDT
In reply to Re: Heavy packs, climbing and long-term injuries posted by Uhuru Henry on April 10, 2007 at 4:37:33 pm EDT

Well, Henry, at 40, you're still just a kid. At that age, I was still beating 20-somethings regularly in bike races (I mean USCF sanctioned races, not casual, informal ones). In my late 60's, as noted before, I still carry 60+ pound packs on expeditions at altitude (meaning up to over 20k feet) and often outhike the 40-yo crowd. As noted before, I have slowed down, and my joints creak, and I never was a jock (bike racing, like climbing, is more a head game than a physical one). Never had any serious injuries until the snowboarder dislocated my elbow (how many serious injuries have you had).

To get a bit serious (as folks here know, don't take my comments too seriously, even though the Old GreyBearded One grovels up hills sometimes faster than self-proclaimed young hotshots, but way slower than kids like Brian in SLC), a lot depends on genetics and avoiding injury. All too often, people who train as hard as you say you do burn out mentally and emotionally long before they start significantly declining physically, or suffer overtraining and stress injuries. You can keep going to 80 if you listen to your body, but you can force your way through pain to the point that you suffer real and permanent injury. Some take chemicals (sometimes claimed to be "natural" or "herbal") that mask the injuries or have long term side effects that shorten the high activity lifespan.

Sometimes it seems surprising that the old folks on the trails doing thruhikes and the ones doing the climbing look almost scrawny and not muscular at all. A lot of the hardmen among climbers, and especially alpinists, look like they could get blown away in a stiff wind (I recently finished Eiger Obsession by John Harlan III, which is largely about his father John Harlan II, who was very muscular, but climbed a lot with Gary Hemming, who looked more like a beanpole, and with a number of European climbers who also looked rather willowy). It's really hard to predict who will climb into their 80s and who will burn out or suffer exercise injuries and quit in their 50s or earlier. The number of situps done at age 40 doesn't seem to be a good predictor. Mental attitude seems to be the main thing that makes the difference.

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• Re: Heavy packs, climbing and long-term injuries - Uhuru Henry 07:44:08 04/11/2007

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