Attempting Everest ascent after 60 can be fatal

A new study by US researchers has revealed that mountaineers over 60 cannot keep pace with their 40 year old counterparts on Mount Everest and risk a higher chance of dying if they do reach the summit.

Washington, Aug 15 : A new study by US researchers has revealed that mountaineers over 60 cannot keep pace with their 40 year old counterparts on Mount Everest and risk a higher chance of dying if they do reach the summit.

The study showed that the nearly 31 percent success rate of summitting the peak dropped down to 13 percent for climbers in their 60s. Also, the overall chances of dying on the mountain (1.5 percent) more than tripled to 5 percent for climbers above 60.

Raymond Huey, a University of Washington biology professor, said the findings ran contrary to a report published in a medical journal in 2000 that said that people in their 60s could safely climb peaks of about 26300 feet. Mount Everest, the world's highest peak is about 29,030 feet.

"Before we did this analysis, we didn't know whether age would be important. Younger climbers have a physical advantage but probably have less experience than older climbers. We used to refer to this advantage of age as the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar effect. As he got older, his physical skills declined but he was so smart and experienced that he was able to compensate and still play professional basketball at the highest levels," said Prof. Huey.

"Unfortunately for older climbers, that effect does not apply on the world's highest mountain. On Everest, youth and vigour trump age and experience," he said.

Prof. Huey said there could be two possible reasons why fewer climbers older than 40 reached the summit and successfully made it down again - declining physical capacities and a higher degree of caution that caused them to stop short of their goal of reaching the summit.

"By the time you are 50 or 60, you've probably been banged up once or twice. You know it hurts, and you've seen consequences of losing fingers or toes to frostbite. So older climbers are probably more cautious, but I can't determine whether it's greater caution, reduced fitness or a combination of the two that explains the lower success rate for older climbers," said Prof. Huey.

The research, funded by the National Science Foundation, consisted of a statistical analysis of 2,211 climbers during the spring seasons from 1990 through 2005, looking at the influence of age and gender on success and death rates.

Much of the data came from chronicles of climbing expeditions in the Himalayas and four decades of conducted interviews that provided a large historical archive of mountaineering information.

The analysis found virtually no difference in success rates between men and women. Though there are many fewer women climbers, but their rates of reaching the summit and of dying are very similar to those for men, the study showed.

The research appears online in the August 15 issue of the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

Study co-authors include Richard Salisbury, a database analyst and mountaineering historian in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and statisticians Jane-Ling Wang and Meng Mao at the University of California, Davis.

ANI