Started when I was 70, reached 133 summits, 319 points at 71. Still going slowly up to the summits! My goal for 2018 is to get my totals up to 200 summits and 500 points activating and to attain Shack Sloth while chasing. Glad to have the youngsters (40’s, 50’s and 60’s) leading the way!
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Hi John,
I started SOTA in 2006 when I was 54. Achieved MG in 2010 at 58, now 66 and looking forward to quite a number of years to come, God willing. It is all down to personal goals, so the pressure only comes from within, subject to good health and fitness.
SOTA helped me to overcome the doldrums in terms of my radio experience which had become run of the mill and nondescript. With a preference for VHF over HF, it was either splash the cash on EME or on travelling to the summits to gain a new experience. I certainly made the right choice!
73, Gerald G4OIG
522 Unique summits, 70,000 miles travelled, 57,500 miles personally driven
Current target - to attain Double MG
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Hello John,
Short answer: NO!
Started SOTA at age 75, and about to join the group of octogenarian OM / YL activator teams in 2 months. Just go at your own pace, but go. I regard SOTA activating as the best thing ever as far as maintaining health, especially bushwhacking, which requires more balance.
Best, Ken and Kay Ke7BGM.
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I sure hope not. Just started chasing and activating last spring at age 66. Had I not gone back to work last summer, I’m sure that I’d have lots more activations under my belt. Now just a weekend chaser and activator.
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Hi John
Achieved Mountain Goat when I was 63 (took me a ‘tad’ over 3 years). I’m glad I ‘found’ SOTA…it has kept me fit, I’ve made loads of new friends… both Chasers and Activators and now that Val (XYL) joins me on the hills/mountains we can enjoy mini breaks together in various parts of the country.
My goals for the future are hopefully to reach double MG in the next few years, visit new summits and Associations (uniques), tick off Ben Nevis for SOTA in June with Barry M0IML and complete the summits in my own Country (Wales). You set your own targets in SOTA but most of all …enjoy.
My blog tells the story http://gw4vpx.blogspot.co.uk/
73 de Allan GW4VPX
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Never too old if you can hike up a summit your good to go! I’m 69 this year. MG and 250 uniques are my goals. 297 to go for MG. 161 for uniques. The latter may take a while and cost a fair bit in travel and fuel costs.
Have to fit in with the XYL demands which limits activations. Contemplated divorce but that’s too expensive.
Neil de G0WPO
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John,
As others have said, it’s not about age - it’s about fitness. I agree with Ken K6HPX that SOTA can be a key tool for maintaining health. It’s a regenerative thing - fitness tends to improve the more you go out. Frequent challenges do more good than infrequent extreme trials.
When I was younger, I never imagined I’d be climbing peaks off-trail, through deadfall and bushes on snowshoes at 69, but that’s the reality. What’s incredible is that most of these trips are a lot of fun! Climbing several thousand vertical feet to activate peaks above 4000 M requires more fitness than most people ever experience, but many activators over 60 are doing this.
We are the exceptions to the general decline in health that most people experience as they get older. To some extent, this is a choice we have made. Take care - be warned - what some of us do for SOTA may be inappropriate for many others, regardless of age. Climbing high peaks and going into the back country can be very dangerous.
The older we get, the more experience we accumulate. We get more careful about weather and other threats because of what we’ve learned. Most of the old SOTA activators are doing what they do because of what happened to them when they were younger, and what they took away from that!
73
George
KX0R
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I was 73 whenever I started doing my SOTA activations a couple of years ago. The Summits in PA, MD, WV, & VA do not have the same elevation challenges as those in the Rockies present. But, there is still a bit of uphill to contend with, some cross country walking, and there is usually a lot of bushwacking involved with lots of fallen timber to deal with. Good exercise. But I do not attempt to do 3-4 Summits in a day.
Jody - K3JZD
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John,
Lot’s of great responses here! I don’t know your history of hiking and climbing mountains…but you were a Marine so you must be a tough guy! My advice is to start out with easier peaks and build from there based on your experience. The main thing is to have fun doing activations. If you don’t have fun…don’t do it!
I’m a young 61 year old guy – hoping to keep up with the older guys ;-). We have lots of 60 plus people activating peaks throughout the world.
73, Brad
WA6MM
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I’ve just turned 73 and have completed my second activation; I’ll see how I go.
Dermy - VK1FDHA
Was 83 and Merle was 81 when we made Goat on 1 Oct 2017. Just turned 84 and Merle will be 82 in April. We’ll be back at it in a few weeks. Maybe shoveling snow in NH is good for us!
Herm
KB1RJC
Merle
KB1RJD
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I’ll be honest, I had no idea there were so many elderly people active in SOTA! Perhaps as you get older yourself, you forget that older people are getting older at the same rate. Or maybe these active activators are keeping themselves fit and strong, and therefore don’t look anything like their chronological age.
I’m pretty inspired by the thought that I could still be doing portable AR from the mountains into my 80s! Put me down for another 40 years of SOTA.
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I’m 59 and hoping to get my MG before I turn 60 at the end of June. I think SOTA keeps one young, it’s certainly kept me active and learning new things.
Malcolm VE2DDZ
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Got my GOAT at age 62 activating 115 summits in less than one year.
Now I’m 66 and up to 328 activations.
A number of the GOATS have completed 1K points in their 70’s.
Pete
WA7JTM
John,
your question has got some interesting replies, but in fact when you have not told us your age, how can we tell you whether you are too old?
I’m 68 and have been activating just over 5 years. I can vouch for the exercise from SOTA being very good for you. You stop thinking about your next meal and start thinking about your next summit. That works!
Go for it, steadily… don’t expect to be running up hills unless you already are.
And… tell us more about yourself. We will treat you well…
73 Andrew VK1DA/VK2UH
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Definitely agree that it is fitness, attitude and general health which is more important than the date on the birth certificate (ie as an XYL I am exercising the right not to divulge my actual age when achieving 2m MG!!) However, I started SOTA in December 2010, achieved VHF MG in Sep 2013, UHF MG in April 2017 and VHF 2500 (is that double MG or 2.5MG - people seem to disagree?) in Feb 2018. Well, they do warn you that SOTA is an addiction!!
I very much enjoy hill-walking and have done since a teenager but I now go a lot slower, prefer to stay dry and an very wary on the descents as the knees and eyesight are starting to wear out. I am sure the secret is to keep on exercising as I have already discovered it is very difficult to get back fitness when you have lost it - but it is possible. It must be much easier to be a hill walker that takes up radio (if you keep it simple like me) than be a radio person who decides to take up SOTA and therefore has to get fit and learn to hillwalk safely. However give it a go, start gently, take advice and get suitable outdoor clothing and safety equipment. But if your goal is MG then watch the calendar carefully and get as many winter bonus points as possible as they are ‘freebies’ doled out by the generous MT irrespective of what the weather is actually doing. I have snow outside and it is very cold but ascending Mynydd Troed (GW/SW-009) today would gain me 2 points whilst I got 5 points last Thursday (15th March!) when it was a bit warmer and almost no snow. Get out there and enjoy yourself!
Viki M6BWA
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O21!
I am 57 now - triple MG 
VY 73, Jarek SP9MA
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I was 24 when I got involved with SOTA, I achieved MG at 37. Marriage and fatherhood slowed my progress along the way to 1000 activator points!
I think that each individual has different circumstances - if you can get yourself safely to a summit, operate and get back safely, who cares about age?
There’s so many facets to SOTA that you can make up your own targets and challenges. Ultimately, although we all seem to do it, comparing ourselves to others is pretty pointless.
73, Colin
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Last year I achieved Mountain Goat at the age of 66.
I like hiking and climbing, even the summit has no SOTA-reference.
vy 73 de Karl OE5JKL ( qrz.com )
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