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19 March 2007, 21:10

Werner Berger works out in front of his hypobaric tent. He is sleeping

in it to prepare for the ultimate challenge of climbing the world`s highest mountain, Mount Everest. At 69, acclimatizing to the thin air at high altitude is one of the biggest challenges. (Greg Henkenhaf, Sun Media)
He`s proof that you are never too old to reach for the sky.

At the age of 69, Werner Berger has done it six times already, scaling the highest summits on six of seven continents. And now only Mount Everest stands in his way of becoming the oldest North American to have summitted them all.

At an age when most are looking to perfect their golf game, the wiry business consultant with the boundless energy is working out six days a week and sleeping in a high altitude tent to prepare for his ultimate adventure. "I believe my age has nothing to do with my abilities. I don`t even know what being 69 years old feels like."

Big dreams don`t come cheap: He`s mortgaged his Newmarket home to afford the more than $200,000 it will cost for himself and a high altitude cinematographer who will be chronicling his Everest climb for a future documentary on living a healthy life to its fullest.

He should know. Born in South Africa, Berger was a geologist by training who launched a successful landscaping company that let him retire at 43. Within four years, he was so bored he was back at work as a consultant and motivational speaker, with no plans to ever retire again.

But his zeal for his work is nothing compared to his love for climbing. It began innocently enough in 1992 when in his mid-50s he was backpacking in Nepal with his youngest son. In the shadow of Everest, he knew he had to go higher.

"I got hooked by the mountains and never looked back, only up," he explains. "There`s a sense of humility in this majestic environment."

He returned home, determined to gain the experience he needed to tackle the highest peaks. In 1995, he applied to climb Alaska`s Mt. McKinley but was turned down because he was a novice. Instead, the guiding company sent him on a training seminar to climb Mt. Rainier in Washington state.

"They figured that would be the end of my mountain climbing," he says with a laugh, "but little did they know."

MT. MCKINLEY

With that accomplished, Berger turned his sights back to the 6,194-metre Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America. In 1996, he would be within 67 metres of the summit before stubborn cloud, 60 km/h winds and -34C temperatures forced him to turn back. He`d have the same bad luck in 2000, impatiently stranded for nine days in high camp waiting for a raging blizzard that would not end.

In 2002, he successfully conquered South America`s 6,962-metre Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina. On his 65th birthday, he fulfilled the vision he`d had of watching the sun rise while sitting atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa`s highest summit at 5,963 metres. An added treat, he says, was bumping into a fellow Canadian climber, Olympic rower Marnie McBean.

With two under his belt, Berger decided that he might as well go for mountaineering`s holy grail -- all Seven Summits.

He is always the oldest on these expeditions, usually by a good two decades. "You can see the younger climbers thinking, `Are we going to have drag this old grandfather up the mountain?` But fortunately, up to now, I`ve been able to hold my own."

In 2003, he climbed Mt. Elbrus in Russia, Europe`s loftiest peak at 5,642 metres. The following year, he scaled the 4,897-metre Vinson Massif, Antarctica`s highest mountain and Australia`s 2,228-metre Mt. Kosciuszko in 2005.

Berger returned to Mt. McKinley last year and finally reached the top. Now only the fabled 8,850 metres of Mt. Everest remain. If he makes it, he will be the oldest in the world to climb Everest as his seventh summit.

ULTIMATE CHALLENGE

The mountain remains man`s ultimate challenge and many far younger have been defeated by it. Last year was among Everest`s most deadly, with 12 perishing in the effort. Berger, though, remains undaunted by what lies ahead.

The divorced father of four and grandfather of five admits his family is concerned. "But now that I`ve done the other six, there`s the comfort that at least I have the experience."

Climbers have described air so thin it`s like breathing through a paper straw. At 69, acclimatization will be particularly challenging.

And then there are the dangers of sudden storms, frostbite, crossing aluminium ladders strung across 10 metre-wide crevasses that plunge 10 stories deep ("a little tricky") and chunks of glaciers that can suddenly dislodge from the deadly Khumbu Icefall. "It`s a goodbye situation and you never know when it will happen."

He leaves for Kathmandu in 10 days. If all goes well, this fit senior hopes to reach the top of the world about May 20.

But why take the risk? Unlike British climber George Mallory`s famous answer, his is more than a pithy "Because it is there."

"It`s partly for the joy of it, it`s partly to prove to myself that I can," he explains. "Everybody has their own Everest to climb."

Elbrus summit