Thailand: Study: Everest Climbers 3 Times More Likely To Die If They're Over 60 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BANGKOK, THAILAND: Climbers over age 60 are three times more likely to die on Mount Everest than the average mountaineer, according to study results released Wednesday (August 15th), as increasing numbers of older people try scaling the world's highest peak. The age of the typical Everest climber is creeping higher, with records quickly being broken. In May, retired schoolteacher Katsusuke Yanagisawa became the oldest person to make the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit _ at 71 years, 2 months and 2 days old. He beat the previous record set last year by Japanese compatriot Takao Arayama, who was 70 years, 7 months and 13 days old. "Before we did this analysis, we didn't know whether age would be important. Younger climbers have a physical advantage, but probably have less experience than older climbers," said University of Washington Prof. Raymond Huey, one of the study's authors. "We used to refer to this advantage of age as the 'Kareem Abdul-Jabbar effect,' he said, referring to a U.S. basketball star. "As he got older, his physical skills declined but he was so smart and experienced that he was able to compensate and still play professional basketball at the highest levels." "Unfortunately for older climbers, that effect does not apply on the world's highest mountain," Huey said. In contrast, Huey said there was very little difference between men and women's chances of summiting Everest or dying on the mountain. The study met with some skepticism among the mountaineering community in Nepal's capital, Katmandu, where many climbers gather before attempting Everest. Some said the number of older climbers was too small to extrapolate any significant conclusions. "In general, older people have better adaptation to the environment in high altitude than younger climbers," said Ang Karma of the Nepal Mountaineering Federation. "They seem to perform better, and most of them come with experience." The study found that many more people in general are trying to climb Everest than 30 years ago, and that their average age is rising. Before 2000, the study found 18.7% of climbers were over 40 and only 0.3% over 60. From 2000 to 2005, 45.6% were over 40 and 3.6% over 60. Huey attributed the phenomenon to a proliferation of guided expeditions, and to older climbers having more money to pay for such trips. He also said older adults are more fit than they were in the past. The study, published in Britain's Royal Society online journal Biology Letters, examined data from 2,211 mountaineers during the 1990-2005 spring climbing seasons. It found that a climber's overall chances of reaching the summit were nearly 31 percent _ but dropped to 13% for climbers in their 60s. The chances of dying on the mountain were 1.5%, but they more than tripled to 5% for climbers 60 and older. The findings run counter to a 2000 study in the Journal of Gerontology that found people in their 60s could safely climb peaks of about 26,300 feet. Mount Everest is about 29,030 feet. Other authors of the study are Richard Salisbury, a database analyst and mountaineering historian in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and statisticians Jane-Ling Wang and Meng Mao at the University of California, Davis. Huey said older climbers grapple not only with declining physical capacities, but also with a higher degree of caution. "By the time you are 50 or 60, you've probably been banged up once or twice," he said. "You know it hurts, and you've seen consequences of losing fingers or toes to frostbite," he said. "So older climbers are probably more cautious, but I can't determine whether it's greater caution, reduced fitness or a combination of the two that explains the lower success rate for older climbers." Hundreds of climbers have scaled Everest since New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay conquered the peak on May 29, 1953. More than 2,000 climbers have scaled the mountain. Some 205 people have died on its unpredictable slopes. (By MICHAEL CASEY/ AP) **** �� In this photo provided by Japanese mountain guide Hiroyuki Kuraoka, 71-year-old Japanese mountain climber Katsusuke Yanagisawa, left, looks from atop the summit of Mount Everest after becoming the oldest person to scale it, in this May 22nd, 2007 file photo. Climbers over age 60 are three times more likely to die on Mount Everest than the average mountaineer, according to study results released Wednesday, August 15th, 2007, as increasing numbers of older people try scaling the world's highest peak. (Photo courtesy: AP Photo/Hiroyuki Kuraoka,File) (Large)