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OREM — After making headlines for hiking Mount Timpanogos 72 times the year he turned 72, an Orem man accomplished a personal goal for hiking Y Mountain 400 times in less than three months.
Benjiman Woolsey, 73, has been an avid hiker for several decades and has become a regular on Mount Timpanogos. When Woolsey retired at 62, he set a goal of matching the number of hikes he did each year with his age. At 72, he accomplished his goal and completed his 72nd hike on Nov. 1, 2014, summiting Mount Timpanogos 689 times in total.
In March, Woolsey set his sights on Y Mountain and began doing the hike to get in shape for hiking Mount Timpanogos during the summer. The hike is only 1.13 miles each way, but it climbs more than 1,000 feet in a mile to reach a 6,221-feet elevation.
Woolsey told a reporter about his goal to hike Y Mountain 200 times in six months, but when it was misprinted as 400 hikes, he decided to accept the new challenge.
“I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just give it a try and see what I can do,’ ” Woolsey said.
After taking a part-time job for the month of June, Woolsey decided he wanted to complete the 400 hikes before then. He first summited the Y on March 5 and gradually began doing more hikes each week. But by May, Woolsey said he had only completed 208 hikes.
“As I got going, I got to doing a little better and getting in better shape,” he said. “I did at least 10 trips per day for 10 days… In my best week, in one week, I had 63 hikes.”
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72-year-old summits Mt. Timpanogos 72 times in 5 months
An Orem resident known as a regular on Mount Timpanogos summited the peak for the 72nd time in one year to celebrate his 72nd year of life.Woolsey said he doesn’t hike on Sundays, but he became a regular face on Y Mountain the other days of the week. During the days when he completed 10 consecutive hikes, he said he would be on Y Mountain all day and would often talk to other hikers.
“People knew what I was doing and they’d want to stop and talk and find out why,” he said. “One of my goals (when I hike) is always… to help somebody. So I talk to a lot of people on the way.”
Woolsey reached his goal and finished the 400 hikes in two months, three weeks and two days.
“I just felt really great that I set that goal and then was able to cut it in half,” he said. “Instead of six months, I cut it down to less than three months… It’s like hiking Timp. Once I do it, I know I can do it. Then when I do it, it’s just self satisfaction that I reached my goal because I know I’m going to do it.”
Woolsey said he loves hiking and plans to continue doing it because it keeps him moving.
“I read once somewhere, when you retire, you sit in a rocking chair and it keeps you moving, but it doesn’t get you anywhere,” he said. “People ask me, why do I do it?Well, I hike to live, that’s why. I figure, maybe if I quit hiking, I’m going to die so I just keep on hiking.”
