Your age in mountains per day

If you walk to the end of this ridge, you'll have bagged two High Peaks. Photo by Phil Brown. — If you walk to the end of this ridge, you’ll have bagged two High Peaks. Photo by Phil Brown.

For all you strong hikers out there … I don’t know how old you are, but the ageless mountains can figure this out for me.

First, tell us how many High Peaks you can climb in a day. Any strong hiker can climb one, and we won’t believe you if you say you can climb ten. So your answer must be between 2 and 9. Now follow these steps:

Multiply this number by 2.
Add 5.
Multiply the result by 50.
If you’ve already had your birthday this year, add 1760. If you haven’t, add 1759.
Now subtract the four-digit year that you were born.

You should end up with a three-digit number. The first number (in the hundreds place) is the number you picked. The second two numbers are your age. (If you are less than 10, there will be a zero before your age.)

What is the source of the ancient wisdom of the mountains? I’ll reveal that in a future post or comment.