I was well impressed with a 65 year old making it up Everest, but then a friend let me know that his father-in-law is getting ready to summit at the age of 80.

Mr. Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay is a the former Nepalese representative to the UN, and was foreign minister in the late ’80s. He was asked to help plan a Everest climb for a 76 year old to benefit a Nepalese senior citizens organisation. The 76 year old pulled out, so Upadhyay decided to take on the climb himself. Of course planning to climb, and actually reaching the summit are two different things, but watch this space.

Photo: from the S.K. Everest Expeditions Support Group photo gallery.

One of the fun features of this new blog platform (if you are reading this in the feed you’ll see what I’m talking to by going to the site) is the background. Each week I’ll toss up a new picture from various adventures and miss-adventures.

The current background comes from a backpacking trip I took with my friend Brian in the Adirondacks. The weather was hit and miss to say the least. Several days we found ourselves trudging through torrential rain and sinking up to our ankles in mud. The next day would be perfectly sunny and warm, offering great views from the mountaintops.

This particular day started off looking great, but as we started up Mt. Marcy, the tallest mountain in the Adirondacks, the weather started going south fast. We slogged up the mountain through this chilly fog, and when we reached the top were met with winds whipping over the ridge. It was miserable weather, but at the same time, there was something very beautiful about it, which I think comes through in the picture.