Ageing slows you down

If I am in the mood I cannot stop writing, and today is one of those days, so if you enjoyed reading the rubbish I write (Like my recent G/TW-001 activation report) you might enjoy reading this.

If you have been SOTA activating for some years and have saved the GPX information from climbing up to repeat summits, you may like to compare what has happened to your body in that time, compared to what has happened to mine.

In September 2018 after a dreadful day strugglng walking solo around the summits of GW/NW-018 Moelwyn Mawr and GW/NW-025 Allt-fawr I went to the doctors and was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation. On that walk I had to stop every few hundred yards to get my breath and for some strength to come back into my arms and legs so I could continue walking. This had never happened to me before. I had always been a strong climber. I was prescribed blood thinning medication which thins your blood and makes you feel the cold. Atrial fibrillation is when your heart rate fluctuates over and above a certain amount. It is best measured using ECG but a health care professional can detect it by listening to your heart with a stethoscope.

In autumn 2019 after a SOTA Expedition to Czech Republic I was struck down with heart failure. There was insufficient strength in my heart to move the fluid that was building up in my lungs. I had became a victim of heart failure with a blood flow rate through my heart measured with an echocardiagram of 32% - almost half of what it should have been for a man of 67 years. At this time my SOTA activation and outdoor activity career was over for a few months until I was diagnosed and went on the road to recovery during the period of the Covid Pandemic. I was prescribed 5 more types of heart medication in addition to the blood thinner and was fitted with a defibrillating Pacemaker in 2021 - the surgeon said I needed to have this due to my solitary walking as it would be a wise thing to do, in case I had a heart attack in the middle of nowhere. (Always let the doctor know about SOTA is my advice here!). The CRT-D pacemaker has only debrillated me four times, it comes as a shock (LOL) and this all happened on the same day whilst walking in the countryside with friends, but not when I was doing SOTA!

I started activating SOTA in 2005, and I made my first visit to G/TW-001 on 16th February 2006 as a fit and healthy man aged 53. Now I am 72.

I’ve taken the trouble to record a GPX track of my ascents from Clay Bank to G/TW-001 on five occasions over the years. I have approached the summit from other directions or not saved the data on seven occasions so I have discounted those GPX tracks. Assuming that I answered a short call of nature on each walk to the summit which I would have expected, and taken the occasional photgraph, these are my ascent times compared on each walk to the summit:

Distance from road to summit 1.82 miles - 650 feet ascent

Age 53 2006 41 minutes
Age 59 2010 42 minutes (Whilst walking Wainwrights Coast to Coast)
Age 69 2021 44 minutes
Age 70 2023 51 minutes
Age 72 2025 51 mnutes

So there you are, interesting don’t you think? I made a really significant recovery after the CRT-D Pacemaker was fitted in 2021, aged 69. My heart was measured then and showed a 50% blood flow through the relevant heart chamber then which was incredible and fantastic news to rme - the best one can expect twhen you have been diagnosed with heart failure, which is also known as Cardiomyopathy.

Since 2021 is seems that my cardio-vascular performance has fallen off somewhat, but I am still able to enjoy to some extent, the SOTA side of the amateur radio hobby aas well as the other parts of it as well. Operating outside the UK on holidays in the spring, summer and autumn I find is the most interesting and several tours are planned this year to activate in France, Germany, Serbia and possibly Switzerland.

I know many other operators are challenged with the their health or their loss of sensory functions or neurological functions, but many of us with some condition or other are still doing great things in SOTA and long may this continue!

73 Phil G4OBK

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I couldn’t agree with you more. At 84 these old bones refuse to act as they did at 60. I am envious of those that write articles of their SOTA activations that involve long hikes on narrow mountain trails. Those days have long since passed for me.

However, I have become a rabid SOTA chaser and even have plans to activate those summits in my area that allow me to drive up to the summit. I am still activating parks for WWFF and soon summits for SOTA.
De W6LEN / Jess

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My heart problem has settled down a bit and I can now hike ok and still ride my e bike 200km each week during off SOTA season. My last report from cardiologist was don’t need to have a check up until May 2025. My serious heart “experience” was on Devils Peak in the afternoon. On the hike in the morning to Richman Hill I had the old giddy spells and my heart was miss firing. My friend Peter carried my back pack for me and I still had trouble hiking to the top of both summits. Now I have a pace maker so problems have gone away or under control. I think the E bike has really helped me improve my aerobic fitness and I seem to ride most times at a steady slow heart rate and this helps my hiking also. Just waiting to get some rain and fire ban season to end to start lap 2025 which will be lap 13 and MGx2 for me.
Bugger to get old but we got to push on till the end.
Regards
Ian vk5cz …

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Phil,

Dylan Thomas has a poem that I consider my guide

Do not go gentle into that good night,
old age should burn and rave at close of day;
rage rage at the dying of the light.

I have transitioned from hiking up to 100% driving up summits. I don’t like it but my declining balance won’t let me use an ebike.

Getting old ain’t for sissies.

73
Ron
VK3AFW

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…ya not wrong there mate. I’m 79 this year!

Geoff vk3sq

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Having old age curtail my activity was hardly unexpected, but it remains galling. My SOTA activity is confined to chasing and the occasional drive-up activation, but at least I still have my mobility - unlike my poor wife who accompanied me on so many hikes and rock climbs but now needs crutches to move about. I guess it is the price that you pay for so much pleasure that the high places has given you.

PS beat ya Geoff, I’m 84 on the outside but about 30 on the inside!

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I think the key word here is ATTITUDE. Phil you have shown us that you have remained positive and you have not let your medical condition beat you. When you were first diagnosed with AF you could have retreated to the shack and given up activating, but you didn’t. The same applied when you got the heart failure diagnosis - oh, what a dreadful description! Despite this, you have been even more determined to get out up the hills and not just those in the UK where you may feel relatively safe, but those in many other countries. Respect!

Having experienced heart related issues myself, I know something of your position. I too have slowed down. Taking a beta blocker certainly doesn’t help with speed on ascents. I have just adjusted my timings to suit and sometimes I don’t even make the estimate. So what? No-one is making a judgement. Being slow does not make the experience any less enjoyable.

I know that particulating in SOTA helped me to both survive and recover from my heart event. My surgeon recognised the benefit I had derived from activating and offered me the best our national health service could provide. I now owe it to those concerned to keep fit and continue.

Phil, I wish you the very best for the future. Keep doing what you are doing while you are still able and still enjoy the experience.

73, Gerald

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Hi Phil,

guess there are still many around with no problems not able to beat the 51 minutes.
So keep up the activations! :slight_smile:

Talk to you soon from the next peak…
73
Ingo

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I am monitoring heart beat rate during exercise. There are many videos on this.

Age-related Decline In VO2max: When Activities of Daily Living Become Athletic Events

73,
Jaakko ac1bb/oh7bf

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Also my heart has many problems (AF, PM, Stent, 4 bypasses and mitralic valve malfunctioning) and I’m 81. But I enjoy to reach summits also if drive-up or drive close. Obviously my main SOTA activity is now as a chaser, but any activation, also if 1 pointer, is a goal .
Stay well and enjoy any summit
Claudio IX1IHR

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Tx Ron for a reminder of the Dylan Thomas quote as I can never remember where it comes from but can identify with the spirit at the moment. I want to keep going up those less challenging hills as long as possible BUT the subject of mental aging does not seem to have been mentioned yet. It is not much use being able to hike up a hill with your lighter sack if you can’t remember where you put your boots last time - or what version of clothing is likely to be suitable for the predicted conditions … and that you remember to put it on when you get to the summit. It won’t keep you warm if it is still sitting in your sack and you 'can’t be bothered ’ to get it out - or forget it is there. If getting really cold, hypothermia can easily creep in and affect mental processes as I discovered many years ago.

I was taking part (as a fast walker in orienteering shoes as usual ) in a very short but rough fell race on New Year’s Day which started at Pen y Pass Youth hostel (the highest car park to the top of Snowdon) and went up the Miner’s track and then clockwise round the first big lake, Lyn Llydaw and back down. This meant that a significant proportion was off the well walked tracks and was amongst the rocks and bogs at each end of the lake. There is a causeway about two thirds of the way round but competitors were, of course, disqualified if they used it. It was a very blustery day with some little pockets of lying snow but no ice risk. Wearing some thin running kit and a small anorak I was in the rocks on the long loop round the rocks when I was caught by a down draught as I was on one leg crossing a small stream. I was blown down onto grass and my knee and forehead hit some rock slightly firmly. I got up, refused help from a clubmate who appeared some minutes later (the usual reaction) and went slowly on my way. I refused help again from a marshall when resuming the track and said I was retiring at the causeway… Yes, you’ve guessed it, by then I was very cold, thought I was OK and started round the smaller loop of the lake which is rougher but with bogs and not rocks. Very soon I came to my senses and realised I’d make a mistake but it was a bit late to do anything except keep going. Adrenaline is marvellous but can be dangerous. I got round the lake, and back down to the finish where all hell broke loose. Apparently I had a large bump on my face (of which I was unaware) and obvously rather cold. I insisted on delaying the visit to Bangor hospital until Rod finished the race also (he had started long after me…) and was Xrayed (OK but the facial bruising took 7 weeks to fade) and diagnosed with, by then, mild hypothermia… Why was I so repeatedly stupid when out on the hill?? Shock and hypothermia - and it can happen to YOU… I almost always carry a bothy bag (for 2) in my sack and just hope that I would have the sense to use it (or would be reminded by a companion) if it became necessary. It has been used on a few occasions for protection when activating but that is not its primary purpose.
Stay safe and warm.
Viki

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