In between sets of squats, dead-lifts, and bench presses up in “The Shed” this morning, I was browsing Explorers web, a website dedicated to adventure, exploration, and expeditions.
I find it a very motivating and inspirational website to visit and it never ceases to amaze me the number of people who are out and about at this very moment, quietly achieving some incredible things.
There are polar expeditions, people on the high seas, mountaineering always figures very heavily, cycling is always represented exceptionally well, and even space exploration with a number of astronauts on the International Space Station…
But one that especially caught my attention was Carlos Soria, a Spaniard who has summitted eleven of the world’s fourteen 8,000 metre peaks and isn’t about to stop. His aim is to be the oldest person to have climbed all fourteen.
What makes it noteworthy is Carlos’s age, he is 73 years (young).
Carlos is headed to climb Dhaulagiri which is situated in Nepal and is the world’s seventh highest mountain peak standing at 8,167 metres (26,795 feet)
Very inspiring, and goes to the point of a quote I remind myself of frequently.
“If you didn’t know how old you are, how old would you be?”
It looks like age is no barrier to Carlos and it serves as a reminder to live life the way you want to, pursue your dreams and never let age get in the way, besides age is merely a ‘statistic’ that seemingly we all need to have…
And it doesn’t mean we should all be climbing 8,000 metre peaks when we are 70 years of age, just don’t let age be your barrier, your insurmountable peak, your glass ceiling…
Good luck Carlos…
XPLORE - Out & About 
Thanks for the like – I always feel humbled when hardcore exercisers like my ramblings. So, re the above, I was writing something the other day about things that happen to your body in ‘middle age’ – I was all distanced from it, then I twigged that actually I was there, in theory I was writing about my own body. However, I’m hoping that every time I hit the gym I’m pretty much sticking my fingers in my ears and shouting ‘la la la la’ to the ‘normal’ reality of aging and therefore ‘middle age’ will never actually creep up on me. Age is definitely a state of mind as much as a state of body.
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Crikey, you know how to strong a bloke’s ego…hardcore, I’m flattered. And your ramblings are good, don’t stop!!!
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Growing old is for Sissies. Climb on, brother.
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For sure!
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Great story! It’s people like Carlos who serve as such amazing examples for the rest of us, even if, as you point out, it’s not about scaling mountains.
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So true, I’ll be happy with one, maybe two! But yes, we all have our ‘mountains’ to climb!
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