I Taught My 70-Year-Old Father To Ice Climb - by Max Seigal

It’s hard to believe my dad turned 70 a month ago. Every day he continues to prove to me that “age is just a number.” He will forever be young at heart, and to be honest, I think he’s even more active than I am at 32 years old. 

His daily routine starts out with an hour of barre class, followed by a two to three hour hike in the Flatirons, and he usually wraps the evening up with an hour on his Peloton bike. I only hope to be as fit as he is when I reach that age.

I enjoy taking my dad for adventures, and two years ago we flew out to the Swiss Alps to hike up big mountains together and fly off the summits on my tandem paraglider. It was the adventure of a lifetime, and one that we surely will never forget. During this past year, however, Covid has made travel impossible so I’ve been scheming up local adventures and talking my dad into trying new things.

Last week, my dad told me his barre class was canceled on Saturday so I told him “Great, in that case I’m taking you ice climbing!” 

He has never even considered ice climbing, and was not amused. He tried to push it off, saying something along the lines of “Ohhh, take me another time,” followed by “I think I’ll probably be busy with work.” But with some gentle nudging, he was in the car, dressed warm, and ready for a mountain adventure.

We drove to a nearby ice formation and I gave him the rundown on how to use the crampons, axes, and technique while ice climbing – all new to him. On his first attempt, I could tell things were not clicking. He got a few feet up, then wanted to come down in frustration. When he was back on the ground, I noticed a shift in the way he watched other people climbing. Now that he had given it a try, he was much more attentive and studied other climbers every move.