Teenager on C2C

[TahoeKine]

I'm hoping some will have an opinion on this matter; how old is old enough for C2C?

My 15 year old daughter and I did C2C this Saturday and it was fantastic! It worked my daughter some, but she's rebounding quickly. She's a fit soccer athlete with a fair amount of trail experience (we did Whitney a couple of weeks ago in the snow; it was awesome), but nothing as rigorous as C2C. We started early from Ramon Road and summited in about 12 hours without incident (except for some trail finding issues on the Sid Davis "shortcut"). We had a great trip and neither of us are the worse for wear today (yesterday is a different story).

BUT...I got a bit of grief from my wife telling me that my daughter is just to young for something like that. I disagreed (of course), but after some retrospect, realized I'd never seen a TR, posts or photos of someone that young doing C2C. Maybe she's right (ouch).

Regardless, we had an awesome day; the only bummer was the unexpected concrete ramp to the tram. I have a 13 year old chomping at the bit to do it next year; any thoughts?

[drndr]

Obviously it depends on the individual. I took a 14 yr old boy up (skyline only) and it was a piece of cake for him. A strong basketball player. When I was that age I looked like I was 10. Probably would have have hated it. A lot of 15 yr old girls are done growing and physically would be no problem. I would think the mental attack of a hike like C2C would be the toughest part. For a lot of adults too.

I also took my 15 yr old on a Rim to River day hike at the Grand Canyon ( down S. Kaibab, up Bright Angel) and he was tired but loved it when he was done.

D

[zippetydude]

I don't think age has much to do with it if the person is in good shape.

The female record holder for the Mt. Baldy Run to the Top is STILL Carrie Garritson, who set the record at age 11 in 1988 at 1:15:32. It's a little over 7 miles and gains just over 4000'.

The female marathon (26.2 miles) world record holders for 8 and 10 year olds respectively, are listed below.

8y350d 3:13:24 Tabitha Francks (USA) 24 Nov 1974 13 Nov 1983 Asbury Park NJ USA

10y180d 2:58:01 Julie Mullin (USA) 30 Aug 1966 26 Feb 1977 Seaside OR USA

The 8 year old was faster than my fastest time ever, and the 10 year old broke 3 hours, which means she averaged faster than 6:52 per mile for the entire race! Granted, they are exceptional athletes, but any of these girls, who are much younger than your daughter, could quite easily fly up Skyline. In short, even very early on kids have tremendous physical ability. It's not a good idea to push certain physical limitations, like little league pitchers pushing their developing elbows too far, or beginning lifting heavy weights before your bones are developmentally prepared for it, but this is not that sort of case. In fact, if your daughter does it a few more times she'll probably think it's a piece of cake! Your wife is just being a good mom and making sure her girl is safe. Kudos to all 3 of you!

z

[Viper]

Congrats to you and your daughter! Like Zip said, I don't think age per se is the determining factor. Physical fitness, mental toughness, and (depending on the hike) outdoor experience are what matters, IMO. My 13-year-old son completed his first C2C with me earlier this year and he did great. Because he's had years of experience with long, steep hikes, including above 10K, and because we had done our research on C2C (thanks in no small part to this forum), I felt comfortable letting him do it. I think only you can decide whether your son is ready, but it should help immensely in your decision now that you know exactly what the hike entails.

[cynthia23]

I think age is not the most important factor, but rather fitness. A fit twelve year old could be fine; an unfit fifteen year old could get into the same problems an unfit 55 year old would.

I seem to remember a poster who took his eleven year old son up without problems. If I recall, they had already done a good deal of hiking together. In this case, the parent has to be the responsible person who makes sure that both he/she and the child are fit enough for the hike. If both are quite fit, it could be a great shared experience. So long as the parent carefully evaluates fitness, prepares adequately, and picks a safe time of year (i.e. not during late spring or summer!) I don't see it as irresponsible at all.

[TahoeKine]

Thanks everyone for your responses and perspectives. I agree completely that it's not necessarily the age, but the level of fitness & experience, and it is my responsibility as the parent to make an unbiased examination of their credentials to make a decision. The "unbiased" part is hard, but in the end she proved her worthiness.

Again, thank you all for your input.

Happy Holidays,

Chris