New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #7

Dallas, I am so sorry. Hugs.

My sincere condolences for your loss from this terrible accident.

Dallas R wrote: Just found out a dear friend from California fell to her death yesterday evening at Yosemite.  Her climbing partner, another dear friend form a foreign county is decimated.  Working on getting him the support and resources he needs.  I have no details, that will all come out in time. First I have to quit freaking out and get my head together.

Truley sad news as she was a dear friend as well as a great partner Dallas.  Got to show her my home crag just a month or so ago.  Truely a wonderful person that will be missed by all that knew her.  If you climbed with her then you would have gotten a hug.  Sad sad day.

Terrible news; sorry Dallas.

Thanks all.  I am doing denial today. Didn't really happen, but then saw her Facebook page today and her other friends are grieving also, follks I haven't met, but her home crowd.

Apologies again for no details. I think most notifications have been made, but don't know for sure. Perhaps by tomorrow it will be "public" knowledge.  

I will miss the hugs...

Dallas, hugs from afar. In person, eventually. Love, Helen

Dallas,

My condolences.

Mark O

Ok, notifications made etc.  I got a PM from her brother.  Rappelling error is the cause of the accident.  Exactly what went wrong?  It will probably never be known.  

The climber was Trish (Patricia) Stoops.  A member of the SCMA (southern California mountain assoc) I thing i got it right. I have only known her for a couple of years, us climbing in Squamish

She and Barb hit it off, Trish did a good job of mentoring Barb.


And the last time we saw her, she did an excellent job of helping Barb get past her fall

This is in Red Rock recently.


MP accident on Frenzy...

I thank the MP forum folks for being respectful of this tragic event.  

Is everyone ok here?  Such hard news...  Dallas, are you hanging in there?    It's been quite a shock.  

Rain shut me down early at Rushmore today. Tomorrow’s forecast looks much better. Scouting between raindrops turned up three really interesting looking hard slabs that should suit me. Temps should be in 60s— perfect. Please stay dry tomorrow!

Just feeling meloncholy and verbose. Bit sad...

I decided today as I walked back to my car from buying flowers that I HAVE to get over my injury and get back to climbing (rather than simply giving up) as it'd take a long time to remove all my climbing stickers from my car, and I'd have to cut the climbing cord bracelets from my wrist, even the first one, and then what, then who and what am I?
Just an old guy sitting around thinking about how getting old sucks, and why can't we be gods?

So I'm making a Plan.

I shall not ever ever do what is IN the Plan; it has the same destiny as the books I gather up to take camping with me - to suffer arrogant dismissal, to be cast aside as mere props.

Yet the product of the Plan shall be valuable and sound; being the nourishing of that smouldering, burning, niggling, nagging, needling need to NOT lie down but to rise up.

To rise up, like a man dying from tuberculosis in a ghetto, lifting up his paper-thin torso, paper skin taught on bony frame, wide, thin, flat mouth coughing - propping on skinny bent arm, yes, weak, but propping!

Because he wants to prop paper skin torso to show he can.
There's defiance there.
Defiance.

Carl Schneider wrote: Just feeling meloncholy and verbose. Bit sad...

I decided today as I walked back to my car from buying flowers that I HAVE to get over my injury and get back to climbing (rather than simply giving up) as it'd take a long time to remove all my climbing stickers from my car, and I'd have to cut the climbing cord bracelets from my wrist, even the first one, and then what, then who and what am I?
Just an old guy sitting around thinking about how getting old sucks, and why can't we be gods?

So I'm making a Plan.

I shall not ever ever do what is IN the Plan; it has the same destiny as the books I gather up to take camping with me - to suffer arrogant dismissal, to be cast aside as mere props.

Yet the product of the Plan shall be valuable and sound; being the nourishing of that smouldering, burning, niggling, nagging, needling need to NOT lie down but to rise up.

To rise up, like a man dying from tuberculosis in a ghetto, lifting up his paper-thin torso, paper skin taught on bony frame, wide, thin, flat mouth coughing - propping on skinny bent arm, yes, weak, but propping!

Because he wants to prop paper skin torso to show he can.
There's defiance there.
Defiance.

We are so Blood !

As It came into your Life ~ It will never Leave You

 It will kill You

It may Kill You quick

It may Bleed You slow

There Is No reason for it
There Is no point to it
There is no reason to it
There is no point beyond

Y>G.D , ,(anyway, so Might as well Might As Well ~ Climb)

Without Clambering? Without roped Climbing?
What Are we but dust?

 Everything Just for to be able to just do it
Just to be able to climb...
To be able to go updown updown

Just about all breath & waking moments too
to be able to follow and flow upwards
with gravity in tow

To be as good A Yo-Yo for as long as we can stand on one  foot
While favoring whats left of the other or cutting that damn'd stump away
To keep climbing
If only for another year, Fortnight, month,week or day
 (Thinking 'bout MAL D.'s solution? is that an option anymore at this age?)

 May We all Climb Forever
And Never get TOOK

All be in awe of & never forget her magic
the very Sainted
Trish Stoops

Once & Forever
The Gnome Ofthe Diabase

Nivel Egres wrote:

Is that Grand Illusion?  

Lol not even. Just a local corner. 

Lovely! I'll repost mine from a couple years ago. I'm so sorry I'll not get to meet Trish. She sounds wonderful!

The Six Zero Waltz (a love song from an old lady to her new love, climbing and climbers)

If I were the Queen of time,
I'd roll back the hands on all clocks.
I'd drop jets from the sky,
Contrails would die,
Tall ships would return to the docks.

I'd be a young girl back then,
Skinny, and TALL! Unafraid!
I'd DANCE and I'd BOX and
Smoke big fat cigars, to celebrate
the conquests I made.

HEH, heh, heh!

If I were the Queen of time, the
First thing that I'd like to do:
I'd conquer the terror of
dancing back then and dance, that
First dance with you.

But Time is the queen of us all.
Now and forever it seems.
That very young girl
lived long long ago, and she's only
A far distant dream.

They say:
Dreams are not life they are night.
They can only lead to a fall.

But.

If dreams cannot follow us.

Into the light.

Why?
Why?
Why should we wake up at all?

Best to all of you, for healing in all ways. Love you truly, Helen

Sorry I put a damper on things.

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Ok, enough laying about, it's ok to feel sad, but it's time to get up and go do something.  

Carl Schneider wrote: Just feeling meloncholy and verbose. Bit sad...

I decided today as I walked back to my car from buying flowers that I HAVE to get over my injury and get back to climbing (rather than simply giving up) as it'd take a long time to remove all my climbing stickers from my car, and I'd have to cut the climbing cord bracelets from my wrist, even the first one, and then what, then who and what am I?
Just an old guy sitting around thinking about how getting old sucks, and why can't we be gods?

So I'm making a Plan.

I shall not ever ever do what is IN the Plan; it has the same destiny as the books I gather up to take camping with me - to suffer arrogant dismissal, to be cast aside as mere props.

Yet the product of the Plan shall be valuable and sound; being the nourishing of that smouldering, burning, niggling, nagging, needling need to NOT lie down but to rise up.

To rise up, like a man dying from tuberculosis in a ghetto, lifting up his paper-thin torso, paper skin taught on bony frame, wide, thin, flat mouth coughing - propping on skinny bent arm, yes, weak, but propping!

Because he wants to prop paper skin torso to show he can.
There's defiance there.
Defiance.

Carl... a plan is good.  Glad you have one.  A plan keeps us going.  As far as rehab...  look up Esther Smith's videos.  They are SO GOOD for shoulders and fingers.  Helped me a lot.  

Back here at home, back to climbing (it's a hard return   )...Watching videos has been enormously helpful in understanding my own climbing, since what I am 'feeling' while climbing looks nothing like what I see on playback.  For awhile at least, videos are helping a lot. 

I see that I just climb too slowly, and ponder too much... looking for holds, sequences, trying to decide if i can handle a move in front of me... and so my strength runs out.  On some recent indoor climbs I am now watching for places I could move quickly through a sequence so I have the reserves to muscle up the remainder of the climb.  I climbed my first 11a clean this week, simply because I decided to keep on moving, and not stop to ponder.

And on Sunday, up at Donner... on a 5.9 face... there were moves that required decisive action and confidence or take a fall.  I made the determination to move through it quickly... It's like "roll over onto that foot and STAND UP NOW".  So, I stood up and kept moving.

So much of these lessons roll right into life.  The need to call some shots, to take action, to move before the opportunity is gone.  Yet to decipher between recklessness and strength.  Growing up here...       (aren't we all?)

PS. Oh! I built my own anchors and rappelled from my climbs ... first time with backup belay... surprised that it was really so easy.  Feeling much better about it all.  Thank you to all.  

It's Sunny & Dry  with light breezes 75 degrees, here in small rock hell
I've scared off another child climber 
again, oh well.
Time to mow the lawn and then  limp toward Laps on my private crack

258-263The Easy wall
 I have a life time's worth of stone that I've pioneered here in Ct

#251 - where is this place?  some fresh climbs still to be had

Shoulder of Ravens Crest It can be a bit of a beat out to get to

Looking down "trail", Hungry Bear Rock, upper left corner , 

Nivel Egres wrote:

Is that Grand Illusion?

https://images.app.goo.gl/LGCfmb9fLKUdofJJ6

The link above is an image from Google images that shows why you might have thought that, Nigel.  Very similar composition in both photos.  It's so hard to get a sense from photos taken from below and straight on what the steepness of climbs is.   I have a photo somewhere that I took in the 80s of a friend of a friend climbing Grand Illusion.  The area where the climb starts is not the best vantage point to take a photo of someone climbing the route, at least in my photo you get no sense of how steep it is.  Now, with drones, I'm sure people can get much better shots.

It was a lot more fun when you got to tie some timid cameraman up high to the crag for an hour or two while you warmed up and ran the lap.

This sport aint all that it once was.