How tall is Mt. Rainier?
Rainier is 14,000 plus. It’s the best mountain to climb in the United States. It’s the most like foreign climbing. Are you still climbing as much? When I was 70, I went down to Chile. I wanted to see if I could still make it over 20,000 feet. Not many have done that. I made it. I’ll tell you one thing: you never “conquer” a mountain. You may reach the summit, but you never conquer it, because that same mountain, an hour later, could turn deadly on you. You learn to respect the mountain. The ascent is difficult for me because of asthma; the descent I love. A lot of people don’t. It’s four times as dangerous coming down. I only worry about getting up. The guides have to know me, because they think I’m going to run out of gas. I tell them, “don’t worry about me.” I can make it if I go at my own pace. Once I get to the top I get a surge of energy because I know I don’t have to worry about breathing anymore, now it’s all legs. If they know me, then they accept that. But I would never climb
