Hiking your age: Ozment reaches #29by29, #30by30

Adam got to change the date on the sign at Le Conte Lodge

 One of the more notable accomplishments for a senior golfer is "shooting your age." That means your 18-hole score is equal to (or better than) your age. On the professional golf tour, Sam Snead famously did it twice at age 67 in 1979, when he shot rounds of 67 and 66 in the Quad Cities Open in Illinois. Five-time British Open champion Tom Watson has shot his age sixteen times in competition, including a 63 at age 65. 
 On Mount Le Conte, the equivalent is "hiking your age." This is when your lifetime total for summit hikes matches your age. 
 Adam Ozment, a physical therapy assistant in Knoxville, hiked his age on Oct. 3 when he made his 29th climb on the last day of his 29th year. Then he repeated the feat before dawn Oct. 4 to celebrate his 30th birthday with #30.
 This is the third time this year he has made the climb two or three times in a 24-hour span. He made the Oct. 4 loop (up Alum and down Bullhead) with his Tour de Le Conte co-hikers: 52-year-old Adam Gravett posted Climb #56 and 43-year-old Adam Williamson #39. The three Adams now have a total of 125 climbs at a combined age of 125.
 Ozment is among the youngest to hike his age on Le Conte. Ron Valentine was just 13 when he began climbing Le Conte in 1946, and we can presume he was still a teenager when he hiked his age. The early operators of LeConte Lodge would have been in their 20s when they did it: Paul Adams counted 81 hikes by age 24, and Jack Huff (who was 22 when he began running the Lodge in 1926) hit 1,000 by age 37. And of course, some of the Lodge staff are young enough to have hiked their age, just by going downtown on their weekends off.
 Many of Le Conte's most renowned climbers were in their 60s before they hiked their age, since they started relatively late in life—Gracie McNicol made the first of her 244 climbs at age 62, Ed Wright started at 57 on his way to #1,310, and Margaret Stevenson started at 48 on her way to #718. Paul Dinwiddie made his first climb at 15 but claimed only 40 trips before he turned 65. Then he got busy, hiked his age at 67, and set a lifetime record with #750 at age 78.

 Obviously, all of the hikers who have posted at least 100 climbs have "hiked their age" somewhere along the way. 
 A similar distinction could be made for those who hiked their age in a single calendar year. Wright made 111 hikes in 1998 when he turned 73, Dinwiddie 101 in 1991 when he turned 76, and Stevenson 88 in 1991 when she turned 79.
 There will be more. Kristen Mosley, who made hike #9 on Sept. 2, has stated a goal of #40by40.

 If you have hiked your age—or if you know someone who has—please let us know. Leave a comment below or email: LeConteLog@gmail.com.
 Here are a few others who have hiked their age on Mount Le Conte:

• ADAM WILLIAMSON, #43 at age 43, Jan. 25, 2020.
• CHRIS MAULDEN, #50 on his 50th birthday, Aug. 21, 2019.
• ADAM GRAVETT, #51 at age 51, on Aug. 11, 2019.
• TIMOTHY MASSEY, #51 at age 51 in 2019.
• ED WRIGHT, #62 at age 62, June 13, 1988. That summer, Wright was training to climb Colorado's Longs Peak, so he often made multiple climbs in a day. By the time Wright turned 63, his total was up to #78. Among his 1,310 lifetime hikes, there were three days when he made triple trips and 125 days when he hiked the mountain twice.
• RONNIE HOLBERT, #63 at age 55, on Sept. 1, 2019.
• MARGARET STEVENSON, #66 at age 66, climbing Rainbow Falls Trail in snow March 16, 1978. Her final summit hike was #718 in 1997. 
• PAUL DINWIDDIE, #67 at age 67 on Sept. 25, 1982. He had reached #66 on his 67th birthday. He retired in 1993 with #750—all but 40 of them after he turned 65. 
• RIC CHANDLER, #67 at age 67, Aug. 19, 2019.
• BILL YEADON, #69 at age 69 in 2018. He's now up to #78 at age 71 and has a goal of #100 by age 75. 
• GRACIE McNICOL, probably in 1963. She made her 65th hike on her 71st birthday in 1962. 
• REV. RUFUS MORGAN, #96 at age 85 in 1969. I don't have precise records of when his total matched his age, but he was probably in his 80s. Rev. Morgan kept going to age 93 and retired with #174.