Oldest woman climber

1. Does anyone know the age of the oldest woman to summit the Grand Teton? I found information that the oldest man was 81. Seems to me that someone older than that could do the Owen Spalding route.  Thanks!!

CALLING OLH! 

Barb Eastman was out climbing this summer. Late 60's. Plenty of older women could pull it off but it's a rare sight to see women past their mid-60's. The oldest? Good question. 80-year-old Bob Riggs reached the summit in 2007 but I haven't heard of anyone older finishing the climb. They have tried. Who was the 81-year-old? Considering who gets up Everest, it's pretty clear that age isn't the barrier it once was. Desire may be.

PS: OLH is too young to qualify as oldest anything.

We didn't get to attempt it this summer. Next summer we hope to.
As the poet says:
"Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
  We are not now that strength which in old days
  Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we
  are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts;
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

I know Barb and Irene have climbed in the Tetons together...

http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP16/ascent-beardsley

Interesting to note that the second woman to summit the Grand was 58.  In 1924.

My wife did the Upper Exum in 1958 while in college. We want to try again next summer. 

“A Woman’s Place Is on Top” so I hope she makes it, Curtles.

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"And I would save my fiftieth anniversary climb of the Grand for my seventieth birthday in 2005."

Irene Beardsley

Anyone know if she made it?

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Who was the 81-year-old, Curtles?

And how old is your wife?

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Watson:

"I know a couple of ladies in east Idaho"

Can you get any photos of their climb and share 'em here?

Jaren Watson wrote:

Not my photo. Charlene Walters on the summit with two of her sons, John and Michael, in 2012, then 68. She has climbed it several times since then.I don’t have photos of the other ladies. I’ve only climbed Diamond Peak (Lemhi Range) and Table Mountain with them.

Charlene looks like she has two good guides. A little cold that day? - no sun, gloves. Clearly, she's ready for the Picnic.

The picture is another son?

Thanks for sharing the photo.

Curtles wrote: My wife did the Upper Exum in 1958 while in college. We want to try again next summer. 

Pretty sure she will be the oldest. 61 years ago as of summer of 2019. Add 18? years or so.....79 years-old? Hope to see you all up there. Please keep us up to date.

"How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use! "

OLH is actually a 24-year-old smokeshow from Boulder who sends 5.13b trad. The old lady schtick is just a preemptive ruse to ward off MP gymby tripods.

Irene Beardsley and I did the Exum on August 17, 2011. It was the day before her 76th birthday.