93-year-old man summits Yosemite's Half Dome with son, granddaughter
With the blessing of his wife, Everett began training for the climb by scaling the stairs of his 17-floor senior living community.
MARIPOSA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Cheers echoed from Half Dome in Yosemite National as 93-year-old Everett Kalin reached the summit earlier this month.
The retired professor from Oakland just added the challenging climb to his list of other fantastic feats, including jumping out of an airplane for his birthday two years ago.
"I went up to the airport in Novato, got in the plane, the guy got on my back and up we went, down we went and I Iiked that a lot," said Everett.
He says his next goal just "came to him" and since his son, Jon, is an avid backpacker, climbing Yosemite's Half Dome wasn't a half-bad idea.
"Kept going stretch by stretch, further and further, and just incredible to see him assembling those cables," recalled Jon.
With the blessing of his wife, Clara, Everett began training for the climb by scaling the stairs of his 17-floor senior living community.
"I guess I was pleasantly surprised that when I got up there, I did not feel like I was huffing and puffing so much. As we went up, it felt pretty good," explained Everett.
Everett, his son, and granddaughter Sidney broke up the 13-hour trek over a few days to reach the summit as a family on July 18.
"It was spectacular for the three generations of us to be together enjoying it all at once," said Jon.
"Yeah, that was great!" Everett added.
The world is now weighing in with much respect for Everett and his accomplishments.
