Walking a marathon is obviously easier than hiking Mt. Whitney, but that wasn't the question. I trained ten times as hard for my first marathon (4:16) as I did for my first Whitney summit (a 13-hour day hike). We're comparing very different things here, but the marathon is physically harder, assuming you actually run it. On the other hand, a marathon doesn't require any of the knowledge or skills we debate at great length on this board and elsewhere.
