Bad news for people waiting until they retire to climb Mount Everest. A group of researchers looked at every Everest attempt over the last 15 years to see how age, experience, and gender factored into success.

After the age of 40, the chances of success drop off dramatically, said the researchers, and after 60, odds of death surge. The study also found that there is little variation between the chances of success and survival for the genders.

So the chances of making the summit go down as you get older? Shocking news, I hope they didn’t spend too much cash on this study. Researchers mining the obvious also found that people in guided groups have a better chance of making the summit. The only surprise was that experience doesn’t count for much when it comes to topping out—which really shouldn’t surprise us since weather is such a huge factor in summiting and most people who make the trip to Nepal are pretty good athletes.

via Gadling