New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #14

The sun is a biggie for me. I wear really good sunglasses all the time now. 

Some lutein supplements are made from calendula flower petals (very orange.) They grow well in the Mojave desert during the cooler months. I try to grow them every year and add them to my food. They look beautiful in salad and go well in stew. I dry the extras for later in the year when it is hot.

Pansies also grow well here. They are tasty and colorful in salads and tacos and have rutin in them which is good for blood vessels ( including the tiny ones in your eyes.) Supplements are handy and convenient, but sometimes fresh is better when you can manage it. 

cassondra lwrote:

Some lutein supplements are made from calendula flower petals (very orange.) They grow well in the Mojave desert during the cooler months. I try to grow them every year and add them to my food. They look beautiful in salad and go well in stew. I dry the extras for later in the year when it is hot.

Pansies also grow well here. They are tasty and colorful in salads and tacos and have rutin in them which is good for blood vessels ( including the tiny ones in your eyes.) Supplements are handy and convenient, but sometimes fresh is better when you can manage it. 

This is great info, cassondra!  I have been putting marigolds in my salads now and then, saffron in soups. I had not thought of calendula.
I am really focused on nutrition as it applies to aging, strength, recovery  and prevention. Since I started climbing it definitely hasn’t been business as usual—sometimes I feel like I’m scrambling to plug all the dietary holes.  

Just turned 60, and I am all for the best diet you can possibly get.  But there is no way you can eat the amount of food that would be  required to obtain many nutrients at optimal amounts, especially if you are trying to keep your weight down. Hence, my lazy Susan:

Yesterday, my husband and I took advantage of the amazing weather to go climbing for the first time in Texas Canyon.  We met my regular partner there, it was her first time there in a long time, and there are a lot of new routes for her to enjoy.  I wasn't sure how I would like the rock, but I quite enjoyed the very textured conglomerate.  I found it much more intuitive climbing than the conglomerate of Maple Canyon.  It was surprisingly solid.   I did take one little flight when a tiny foot pebble blew at one point, but the newer routes are very well bolted.  Here's a few photos:

My partner leading Poke Salad Annie.

Me on Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I think this was near the second thin crux.

My sweetie grimacing on TCM - thin, technical slabs are not his favorite thing!

All in all a great day!  I can't wait to go back!

dragonswrote:

Carl, how do you carry a koala off the road? Just pick it up in your arms? Aren't they germy? They seem really benign and gentle, but those claws...

I just lifted him under his arm pits. When I lifted him he put his arms out and spread his claws. Huge claws on him. He was either drunk or unwell, I think. I was a bit worried he'd attack me... 

Ward Smithwrote:

Just turned 60, and I am all for the best diet you can possibly get.  But there is no way you can eat the amount of food that would be  required to obtain many nutrients at optimal amounts, especially if you are trying to keep your weight down. Hence, my lazy Susan:

Wow. Generally I take no supplements or medications. However lately I've been taking magnesium and zinc. 

No D3?  I take 5,000 mg a day, less in the summer.  I used to get sick every fall when the sun started getting weak  but no longer.  Pretty much never get sick now.

Ward Smithwrote:

No D3?  I take 5,000 mg a day, less in the summer.  I used to get sick every fall when the sun started getting weak  but no longer.  Pretty much never get sick now.

My nutritionist friend Jodi is a huge D proponent. She turned me onto the benefits of d supplementation, esp for fighting off virus infection. 

Ward Smithwrote:

No D3?  I take 5,000 mg a day, less in the summer.  I used to get sick every fall when the sun started getting weak  but no longer.  Pretty much never get sick now.

Vitamin D? Goodness no. I'm in the sun a LOT. If I'm not at work and it's sunny I'm sitting outside in the sun in my shorts, no sunscreen. Even my stomach is tanned at the moment. 

Russ Walling wrote:

The Josh Brolin method is the best way to take in massive amounts of vitamin D.  Some of you pill poppers should try it.

'Taint that the truth!

Russ Walling wrote:

The Josh Brolin method is the best way to take in massive amounts of vitamin D.  Some of you pill poppers should try it.

I do, just not very effective in November and December in the Northeast. That is why I used to get sick every single November.

Ward Smithwrote:

Just turned 60, and I am all for the best diet you can possibly get.  But there is no way you can eat the amount of food that would be  required to obtain many nutrients at optimal amounts, especially if you are trying to keep your weight down. Hence, my lazy Susan:

Hey Ward... I see you have pregnenalone on your shelf.  So we are of like mind.    

I know there are plenty of people who just have naturally good thriving health, no matter what they eat or do.  I'm not one of them.  It was a big commitment to take up something like rock climbing (and indoor climbing) just as my own health issues were causing concern.   As things get more complex, engineering diet and supplements becomes a real challenge.  There's surprisingly little science on Type 1 Diabetes  diet, even though continuously elevated blood  sugars wreak daily havoc on the body.  There is emerging science on dietary needs for people over 60, and there is also pretty good research on the increased needs of athletes.  But you have to find it and read it and do your own due diligence.

Tony has a heart condition, and he gets a phone call from the Kaiser nurse monthly.  I have sat in on most of those phone calls, and those with his Cardiologist.  I have never heard them once ask him what he is eating, or how much he is exercising.  They do want to know if he is willing to increase his pills.  Likewise, my own Primary Care (who I love) has never asked me about my diet, or my exercise... although we do fill out a little form asking how many hours a week we are active, I doubt it is ever read.  It's as though they just expect steep decline in health as normal with age.  I think of it more like putting diesel fuel in a Premium gas car... it's just the wrong fuel, car won't go. 

Not to belabor the point, re. Vitamin D, I set out to raise my Vitamin D levels 'naturally' by daily sun over a period of a year.  After getting the deepest tan, swimming and hanging out all summer, my Vitamin D level barely reached 30.  Older skin doesn't convert sun to D very well.  So you can look like Josh Brolin and have D levels in the tank.  So now it's 'both/and' for me... sun and a little pill. 

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I went back to my favorite spot on the Sentinel yesterday and took another good look at this formation.  For the first time I noticed a crack on the right formation, and wondered if it is a route. Maybe I'm not reading the guide book(s) correctly... I couldn't tell whether this is a thing or not.  Furthermore, I'm just wondering if there is ANYTHING on that right formation that I can one day climb?  I've been so focused on Tumbling Rainbow and Run For Your Life.    

Phylp...

I love your pictures!  That looks like very steep rock!  And so different... where is Texas Canyon?  These are great pictures!  

Scooby Doo wrote:

Lori-

Rainy Day Dream Away is the route I think.

Both Russ and Bob have routes in the vicinity. 

Well, that settles that.  I guess I'm going to be a left-formation kind of girl.  Aside from great Hendrix/Cream names, I probably can't touch the right formation.  

Maybe it's a 2022 type thing.    

"Maybe it's a 2022 type thing." 

I always knew you were ahead of your time.

Jean and I got out today for 2 different climbs. We lucked out since it was 27 degrees this morning and by noon is got to 42. We walked through the snow to set up the 2 climbs. 

On the way we meet up with a friend that was hiking and he had his harness and shoes with him. So all three of us climbed together. Jean took a video of me on an overhanging climb. It is short and sweet.

John

Oldtradguywrote:

Jean and I got out today for 2 different climbs. We lucked out since it was 27 degrees this morning and by noon is got to 42. We walked through the snow to set up the 2 climbs. 

On the way we meet up with a friend that was hiking and he had his harness and shoes with him. So all three of us climbed together. Jean took a video of me on an overhanging climb. It is short and sweet.

John

Nice climbing John, nice flow... 

To all you "experienced" climbers, best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy and joyous New Year. 

Bob

Granite mtn in Prescott AZ. Notice the no shirt in December. We need rain or snow here badly

Granite dells in Prescott AZ. Dam crack, haywire, and damn seam.