Youth the key to Everest success

Experience is apparently not a benefit when climbing Everest

More and more older people are trying to climb Mount Everest, but they are three times as likely to die doing so as younger counterparts, a study says.

Experience may be the key to success for some, but on this mountain youth and vigour have the advantage.

Some 85 climbers over the age of 60 have attempted the ascent. Four died trying and only 12 reached the summit.

This death rate of 4.7% was markedly higher than that of younger climbers, the study in Biology Letters said.

Researchers at the University of Washington looked at 2,211 climbers between 1953, the year of the first ascent, and 2006.

They said their findings were particularly important given the increasing number of people aged over 60 trying to climb the mountain.

For many years, only about 20% of the climbers were over 40, and those older than 60 were very rare.

But the scientists found that in recent years, nearly half of climbers are at least 40, and one in every 30 is at least 60-years-old.

In May, a 71-year-old retired teacher from Japan reportedly became the oldest man to reach the summit.

Descent dangerous

Professor Raymond Huey, the lead researcher, said: "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."

It's interesting that experience didn't have a role - if you have climbed and descended before you would expect to be more able to avoid accidents Professor Greg Whyte

He said this was called the "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar effect", after the legendary basketball player.

"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.

"Unfortunately for older climbers, that effect does not apply on the world's highest mountain."

In fact, in climbers of all ages, previous experience on a Nepalese peak had no effect on their death rates.

Professor Huey said previous suggestions that older climbers could climb to high altitudes safely had been "overstating the safety factor."

The danger seemed to be particularly pronounced on the descent, when older climbers had a 25% risk of dying, compared to 2.2% for younger ones.

However, the researchers said this result was likely to be overstated given the very small sample: only 12 older climbers had reached the summit in the first place.

Climbing dangers

Greg Whyte, professor of applied sport and exercise science at Liverpool John Moores University, said it was important to understand the risks of taking part in sports such as climbing.

He said there were a number of ways people could die when climbing at such extreme altitudes - traumatic deaths due to falls or accidents, or deaths due to acute mountain sickness.

Age is unlikely to be a factor in acute mountain sickness, but as older people are less physically fit they could be more likely to have a fall than younger climbers.

They would also be more likely to fatigue, particularly during the descent, which could explain their higher death rates during that phase.

Professor White said: "It is incredibly dangerous to climb at extreme altitudes irrespective of your age or gender, but it does appear that the older you are the more likely you are to die, particularly during the descent phase.

"We often talk about ascent and achieving the summit, and people tend to think you just wander down the mountain, but actually that is the most important part of the process.

"It's interesting that experience didn't have a role - if you have climbed and descended before you would expect to be more able to avoid accidents.

"But they [experienced climbers] were not less likely to suffer death, perhaps because you tend to take more risks if you have experience."