93-year-old man summits Yosemite's Half Dome

When Everett Kalin was 91 years old, he decided to try skydiving. This year, Kalin, now 93, thought he'd climb Half Dome in Yosemite.

Kalin wouldn't call himself an extreme outdoorsman or thrill-seeker. "When you hit your 90s, you think, 'What would be some things I'd like to do?'" he said. "... I guess Half Dome was the thing that most popped into my mind."

This week, Kalin summited the landmark, becoming one of the oldest people — if not the oldest person — ever to do so. He completed the trek with the help of his 57-year-old son, Jon, and his 19-year-old granddaughter, Sidney, who secured the needed permit and planned the journey. They also carried all the supplies so that Kalin could hike with just a water bladder on his back.

Kalin, a retired theology professor, knew it would be no small feat. He trained for months leading up to the climb, walking up the stairs in his 17-story Oakland building in preparation, in addition to his near-daily walks around Lake Merritt. He also knew he had to work on his upper-body strength, since much of the work comes from using the cables to work your way up the dome.

"I didn't fully realize how tricky it would be, especially at my age," he said, noting that the toughest part may have been the first hump of the hike: the subdome, which is rather steep and slick and does not have cables for assistance. At one point, Sidney and Jon had to hold on to him to keep him going.

"He's stubborn as a mule. When he sets his mind to something, he's going to do it," Jon said. "... He kept proving me wrong every step of the way."

Eventually, when Kalin got to the cables, he found his groove. "I walked and pulled the best I could. It's a matter of balance and leaning forward to try and get the power," Kalin said. "If you stand up, you can't move your arms forward."

The trio almost didn't make it to the top — but not because of Kalin. Jon said there was a 20% chance of thunderstorms that day. If there's any rain, thunder or lightning at all, it's no longer safe to hike, rangers warned. It looked very ominous much of the way, but the weather held out.

When Kalin finally got to the top, there was an outburst of cheering from the many people they had met along the way. "There were tears in everyone's eyes," Jon said, his voice wavering. "It was like paparazzi, everyone taking videos and photos. It was unreal. I'm choking up just talking about it now. The power of seeing him was so much joy and inspiration."

Scott Gediman, a spokesperson at Yosemite National Park, said the park does not keep records of the ages of climbers, so there's no way to know if Kalin is indeed the oldest. But Jon said they spoke with several rangers along the way who said they had heard of a few people who completed it in their 80s but no one in their 90s.

Just a day after he returned home to Oakland, Kalin said he wasn't even sore from the hike. "I just feel so very grateful to the people that made it possible," he said. "I'm actually feeling great."

Many people do the climb in one day, but Jon said he knew the key to making the trip a success for his father was to take it slow and have a lot of patience. They chose to spend three days in the park, the first going from Curry Village to a campground and staying the night at Little Yosemite Valley. On the second day, they went up to the top of Half Dome and back down over a period of about 13 hours. On the last day, they went back down from Little Yosemite Valley to the valley floor.

Kalin said it was an experience he'll never forget, especially all the support he got along the way. "One of the crazy things both on the trail and the night before was we met tons of people who were looking at me and asking, 'How old are you?'" Kalin said. "I said 93, and they wanted to take my picture."

He said he's not sure what his next adventure is. For now, he's just reflecting on his last one. "That was fantastic. Just super," he said. "When you're 93, it's a little extra special."