And is there risk climbing Whitney to both adults and children -- risk above and beyond simply doing the activities of normal life? Of course there is, and we all know them well (e.g.,falls, HAPE, HACE, AMS, dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, hypothermia, sun burn, to name just a few of the more obvious).
Good point, Karin, but I'd toss in weather as well - even in sunny, warm summer. Maybe
especially summer, since people let their guard down. I believe it was August last year that quite a few dozen happy hikers on the main trail - and many were children - became convinced in a couple of hours' time that they were going to die in the flash flood that took place. That day's forecast called for a 30% chance of rain, and what followed was an epic deluge.
Our daughter has been hiking western National Parks since she was very young, but we brought her along gradually. At four, she was strolling a couple of miles in places like Mesa Verde, Bryce Canyon, rim trails at the Grand Canyon, etc. By six, she had graduated to tougher Grand Canyon trails (
not R2R) and more strenuous hikes in the Colorado Rockies. By age eight she was hitting harder stuff in the Cascades and the PNW volcanoes (never beyond a glacier, though). By ten, she was regularly doing 11K' trails in the Sierra and learning the fundamentals of a harness, a rope and a belay device, albeit on small 30-foot cliffs and the climbing gym. It wasn't till last year, at 11, that I felt comfortable taking her up Whitney for a multi-night backpack. She also climbed the Mountaineer's Route on Cathedral Peak in Yosemite last year, a C3 climb with a touch of C4. Now she insists she's ready for the Whitney MR (although that will have to wait for next year for her).
The point being, kids are different, parents are different, competencies are different, dynamics are different. In the end, though, it's up to the parent to exercise good judgment and reasonable care in placing their children in a potentially dangerous situation in the mountains. And I emphasize the point,
only if the child wants to. Some, like Julius, will embrace that responsibility. Others won't - like the damnfool couple last year who sent their young, AMS-stricken son back down to Trail Camp with complete strangers while they continued on to the summit. I'll always wonder what that poor kid was thinking during that ordeal, to be essentially abandoned by his summit-fevered parents when he needed them the most.
Bottom line, when parents bring their kids on remote, high elevation adventures, they often picture everything going right and what a neat-o, cool adventure they're going to have. Far too few look at it from a realistic standpoint (insert "experienced") and give enough consideration to the potential dangers that exist, and how they'll keep their child safe if one (or more) of those potentially bad things happens.
Julius, great job! Glad it all worked out well. My favorite line in your TR was the one about telling your daughter several times that it was OK to turn back. You can never reinforce that enough with a child who may be caught up in the parents enthusiasm for a hike or climb.
