A 92-year-old man has become the oldest person to complete the Grand Canyon’s 24-mile rim-to-rim hike. Guinness World Records confirmed the feat on Tuesday, about two months after Alfredo Aliaga completed the hike, which began on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim and ended on the South Rim as observers cheered him on.
“We both started screaming and jumping up and down,” Aliaga’s daughter, Anabel Aliaga-Buchenau, told the media on Wednesday about the moment she and her daughter learned of his record’s confirmation. They then called Aliaga on Facetime, who had seen the Guinness World Record story earlier in the day but had no idea it was the official confirmation.
“It was very funny,” Aliaga-Buchenau said. Now that he knows it’s confirmed, “he feels happy and very proud,” she said.
Aliaga told USA Today, that completing the rim-to-rim hike back in October felt amazing, and it’s never too late to do something big, even in your 90s.
He explained, “After all, it’s only one step after the other.”
The Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike is one of the toughest hikes in the US
The Grand Canyon rim-to-rim hike, also known as R2R, is one of the top bucket-list experiences for avid hikers. It takes practice, endurance, and careful planning. A typical R2R that begins on the North Rim has 5,700 feet of elevation loss on the first leg and 4,400 feet of elevation gain on the final 9.6 miles.
According to the Rim to Rim Club, “less than 1% of the six million annual visitors embark on this hike, and most prepare for months, if not years.”
Many hikers have died in the canyon due to sweltering temperatures, while others have become entangled in snow or slipped on ice.
According to an unofficial tally by Michael P. Ghiglieri and Thomas M. Myers, authors of “Over the Edge: Death in the Grand Canyon,” about 12 people die at the Grand Canyon each year, and around 900 have died there since the 1800s.
Aliaga surpassed the previous record holder for the oldest person to hike the Grand Canyon from rim to rim, John Jepkema of Craig, Colorado, who completed his hike over five days in 2019 at the age of 91. He passed away in March of last year.
Aliaga prepared for the hike by walking three hours every day in Berlin, where he and his son live. He didn’t do any mountain training, but he figured the long walks would help prepare him for the long hours on his feet.
Aliaga attributed his health to three factors.
“I have a routine—three things that I do every day, and that is enough to be strong, happy and healthy when you are so old,” he said. “The first one: Eat healthy food, drink water with it… The second one is just 30 minutes each day of walking. If you can do more, that is very good, but 30 is enough. But every day!”
The third and most important recommendation, he said, is to sleep eight hours every night and to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.
Aliaga stated that he began his three-step method at the age of 74, proving that it is never too late.
Who is Alfredo Aliaga?
Aliaga was born on August 28, 1931, in Mozota, a tiny village in northern Spain. Aliaga is a longtime resident of Charlotte and a professor of German and comparative literature at the University of North Carolina.
