Transcript from a story aired on KXTV News 10, February 13, 2015
“Yeah, I don’t ever pick the mountains, they pick me,” says Jim Geiger from his home in Natomas before he embarked on this incredible journey. He was scheduled to arrive in Katmandu, Nepal today.
The mountain that picked him just happened to be the tallest mountain in the world. At the age of 68, Sacramento’s Jim Geiger will attempt to do what no other American his age has ever done; climbed to the top of Mount Everest.
Picture a life from on top of the world and you can begin to grasp Jim Geiger’s picture-perfect life.
“It took me nine years to climb Mt. Shasta; Denali in Alaska; Aconcagua in Argentina and then just at the end of January, I did Vincent in Antarctica. I don’t pick the mountains, they pick me.”
And the mountain that’s now calling out to Jim Geiger just happens to sit 29,000 feet above sea level.
“Everest started showing up, maybe I can do Everest.”
For the past year, Geiger has spent every day getting his body ready for the world’s tallest peak; a peak that punishes climbers with terrain and weather but mostly the thin air of high altitude.
“Trying to breathe is not easy. Things get a lot slower because there’s less oxygen and we move very slowly. it’s called the Mountaineer’s slog.”
That is where the danger lies on Mount Everest. From camp four to the summit known as the Death Zone. Of the more than 250 climbers who have died. most have perished within the final three thousand feet to the summit, Jim Geiger says the risk is part of the sport and he came face to face with that reality when he climbed Denali, better known as Mount McKinley, back in 2008.
“As I walked past the grave of the guy that died the day before just off the summit. I was coming down off the summit and within a couple hundred yards, there’s a team coming up and a young kid, 20-something, was being pulled up by his guide. His eyes just looked glazed over and he was in trouble and then, sure enough, four hours later he was dead.”
To help keep himself alive, Jim Geiger bought the best gear he could find. At the age of 68, Geiger can’t wait to test his body.
“What I want to instill in other people is you can age well. You don’t have to be suffering through old age, you can age well.” He hopes to set an example and at the same time, set a new climbing record.
“When Everest started showing up, I didn’t give it a thought that I’d be the oldest American and I did some investigating. Wow, I might be able to be the oldest American!”
Proving age is just a number and the only hill Jim Geiger is over just happens to sit 29,000 feet above sea level.
Geiger was expected to land in Katmandu before hiking for 11 days to the Mount Everest base camp at 18,000 feet and he will then spend another 30 days getting acclimated to the high altitude with the hopes of making the actual climb sometime in early May.