My time was 5:56, which put me ahead of about a dozen Cat 5s - hey, I'm 62, I'll take what I can get. Of course, there was a 60 year old who beat me by almost an hour.

My guess for the reason folks were walking is lack of familiarity with what climbing feels like. It's not the same feeling as pushing hard on level ground. In Louisiana, there's almost no chance to acquire that familiarity. I've had to search out climbing and drive to it.