{"id":14986,"date":"2018-03-14T09:24:47","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T15:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=14986"},"modified":"2023-06-23T10:57:04","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T16:57:04","slug":"87-year-old-devils-tower-climber-is-no-freak-but-a-window-into-healthy-aging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/87-year-old-devils-tower-climber-is-no-freak-but-a-window-into-healthy-aging\/","title":{"rendered":"87-year-old Devils Tower climber is no \u2018freak,\u2019 but a window into healthy aging"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Robert
Robert Kelman, 87, reaches the top of Devils Tower on September 11, 2017 after five hours of climbing the 900-foot-tall Wyoming monolith. (Courtesy Taylor Lais).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There are two ways Robert Kelman\u2019s fellow seniors might consider his September 2017 climb of Devils Tower in Wyoming. One would be to dismiss an 87-year-old man capable of spending five hours hauling himself up a nearly 900-foot monolith \u2013 the last bit in 90-plus-degree heat \u2013 as a total freak of nature.<\/p>\n

The other would be to see if there aren\u2019t some clues into healthy aging one might glean from him. His UCHealth doctors, and Kelman himself, say that this is the way to go.<\/p>\n

Kelman is indeed capable of the extraordinary. In his 425-square-foot home gym in Loveland, he does squats with 110 pounds of weight on his shoulders and chin-ups with 30 extra pounds dangling from a shoulder harness. The next day, he\u2019ll go for a two- to five-mile hike in Devil\u2019s Backbone, Horsetooth Mountain Park and elsewhere in the foothills with wife Mary (she lifts weights, too). Then he\u2019ll take a day off and repeat.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he\u2019s not climbing. When he\u2019s climbing, you might find him, fingers and palms taped, on The Bastille in Eldorado State Park, Elephant Buttress or Castle Rock in Boulder Canyon, or in Vedauwoo, Wyoming, the last about which Kelman wrote a book.<\/p>\n

Not all roses<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But he has had his share of physical and emotional setbacks, as most octogenarians have.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 80s is a decade when things tend to happen: joint replacement, illness, injury,\u201d said Mark Simmons, MD<\/a>, Kelman\u2019s primary care physician who practices at UCHealth Internal Medicine and Pediatric Care Clinic \u2013 Snow Mesa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kelman\u2019s left knee is bone-on-bone, the meniscus gone from a procedure done before the days of arthroscopic surgery. The same knee\u2019s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) snapped in a tumble while bouldering in the 1970s and remains so. A 2007 fall crushed four vertebrae and cost him two inches of height. He has lost four climbing partners to cancer and one of a heart attack. He\u2019s had his own cardiac problems, too, having been born with two heart defects.<\/p>\n

One hasn\u2019t been serious: a mild case of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome<\/a> (WPW), an electrical issue. A murmur and some conducting irregularities had shown up in an exam when he was working on his PhD in the 1950s. But the visualization techniques to pick out WPW didn\u2019t exist, Kelman said. That\u2019s because, he said, \u201cuntil 1965, there wasn\u2019t the mathematics there to do that. Only after the fast Fourier transform was developed was the ultrasound converted into a visual picture.\u201d Kelman would know: that PhD was in mathematics.<\/p>\n

\"A
Climbing this is not a prerequisite to healthy aging. (NPS\/Avery Locklear)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other cardiac problem was serious, a bicuspid aortic valve<\/a> with just two leaflets instead of three. He had it replaced in 1997. And then, in May 2015, it was replaced again, in an open procedure.<\/p>\n

The man who could hoist himself plus 30 pounds \u201ccouldn\u2019t lift a heavy pot\u201d when he got home, he said. His UCHealth cardiologist, Tristan Dow, MD<\/a>, suggested a formal cardiac rehabilitation program. Kelman said he\u2019d rather be outside walking, and that he\u2019d been lifting weights since he was in high school in the 1940s. They went with Kelman\u2019s approach. He aimed to do much more than walk, though.<\/p>\n

He set his sights on Devils Tower. The aim wasn\u2019t just to set the age record: \u201cPractically anything I climb these days, I\u2019m the oldest person who\u2019s climbed it,\u201d he said. Though setting a new mark on a high-profile climb wouldn\u2019t be a bad thing, either. It was a goal to drive the training he had to do to work his way back. Having climbed Devils Tower in the 1990s, when he was merely in his sixties, he knew what he was getting himself into.<\/p>\n

He went back a year after the surgery, in spring 2016. His brain knew what to do, but his body demurred. For more than a year, he lifted weights, hiked, and climbed. In September, with guidance from South Dakota climber and Sylvan Rocks<\/a> guide Taylor Lais, he climbed Devils Tower\u2019s Durrance route with a Bailey Direct finish (for you climbers, Durrance is a 5.7).<\/p>\n

No freak<\/strong><\/h3>\n

What insights into healthy aging can we learn from this feat? Kelman says the stories in local media, Outside Magazine<\/em><\/a>, Climbing<\/em><\/a> and elsewhere have brought questions about what supplements he takes, as if perhaps some magical elixir were behind his exploits. The answer: just vitamin D. As far as diet, he says he goes Neolithic: which is to say, everything\u2019s on the table, but with minimal added sugar and salt.<\/p>\n

The big thing is the exercise. He has never stopped \u2013 not after his days as a 5\u20199\u201d, 157-pound linebacker for Wesleyan College in Connecticut, not ever. He took to climbing at age 41 in 1971 because his son got into it and it offered more of a competitive challenge than hiking and lifting weights. \u201cA lot of it is being lucky at a genetic roll of the dice that occurred some evening many years ago,\u201d Kelman said. If he doesn\u2019t exercise for a day or two, he said, he just doesn\u2019t feel good.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking out isn\u2019t a chore for me. I enjoy it. What can I say to people? Eat moderately, get some sleep and get some exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An
The National Park Service is unlikely to laud you for lifting weights, hiking, biking, jogging, swimming or other routine exercise, but the health benefits should be reward enough. (Facebook).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Exercise is fundamental to healthy aging, Simmons said. Kelman has found a good balance on his own, he added, between weight training and cardiovascular exercise. Weight training is great for strength and balance, but can boost hypertension risk without mixing in some cardiovascular work, which might include walking, running, swimming \u2013 or, better yet, combinations of them. He recommends a 50-50 cardio-strength split. Simmons stressed that it\u2019s never too late to start, either, even if you\u2019ve been inactive into your 70s.<\/p>\n

Dow, the cardiologist, said Kelman is probably able to do so much because he does so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that his physical activity, while a lot of people would consider it extreme, has really contributed to his longevity, his health status and his well-being,\u201d Dow said.<\/p>\n

Kelman\u2019s example is especially important for those who have undergone heart procedures, Dow added. Heart patients much younger than Kelman can have hang-ups about getting outside on skis or a bike, and that\u2019s a shame. \u201cA healthy lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle regardless of whether you\u2019ve had an event,\u201d he said. Getting back out there is often the point of the procedures, he added. \u201cI think in a lot of cases people inappropriately limit themselves in terms of their activities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelman may be exceptional in terms of healthy aging, but he\u2019s no freak of nature. He has worked extraordinarily hard for the extraordinary life he enjoys, and he has persevered despite daunting roadblocks. He should be an inspiration to others, Dow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t need to go climb Devils Tower,\u201d Dow said. \u201cJust get out there and enjoy life and being outside and take advantage of the stuff we have in Colorado. Because it really is good for the heart, it\u2019s good for the mind, it\u2019s good for the whole system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelman continues to do just that. He expects to spend two weeks climbing in Joshua Tree National Park in California this month and, he said, he\u2019s got Devils Tower in his sights again for this September.<\/p>\n

\u201cI climb a lot of things, but none has the panache that Devils Tower has,\u201d Kelman said. \u201cThere\u2019s no other way to get up there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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