You're Never Too Old to Start Climbing!

Just as we have talked about how you’re never too young to start climbing, you’re really never too old either. Dick and Carole Laingor have proved this fact time and time again, as they are 65 and 69, respectively, and as a couple have joined the elite club of people who have climbed all of Colorado’s 14ers. 14ers are mountains that are over 14,000 vertical feet, and there are 54 of them in the state—thus, this was no easy task for the aging couple.

There are only 1,147 people in the world who have accomplished what the Laingors accomplished, and the couple didn’t even start their mission to the tops until Carole was 56 and Dick was 52. Regardless, they have told stories of passing groups of young people at resting stops who were contemplating heading back down and hearing them say things like “If they can do it, we can do it.” Inadvertent inspiration maybe, but the couple doesn’t mind. They reached their goal in 2001 by reaching the summit of El Diente Peak, seven years after their conquest began, and they haven’t stopped since then. They’ve revisited many of the 14ers, totaling 92 summit climbs in all.

The couple swears by climbing as a means of relationship building. They have been married for 15 years, and both will swear that they couldn’t have accomplished this without the help of the other. Carole describes herself as the risk-taker, while Dick is the cautious one. Together, they make a fantastic climbing team and a very happy couple.