New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #14

Happy NYE to all of you. I really appreciate every one of you. Here's to lots of good climbing and good health in 2021

frank minunniwrote:

OLH

Like watching me puke after doing route? LOL

Hey...your nausea meds were awol, and, you got the climb first, eh?

The next day? I was the one who was so dehydrated I was sick, lol! 

Drilling Fields with the kids was fun! 

"Friends don't let friends climb slab." Lol!

Then there was a truly great bouldery catch, when the fearless leader basically skiied backwards, skidding on his shoe rubber and right into your arms, before the first bolt! Belayer was pretty amused, too!

I won't even mention the stories you regaled them with at dinner, but you sure can tell tales well! 

:-)

Dude Man wrote:

Rest easy phylp. I’m not checking out yet. And thank you for your concern. I’ve known too many people that have unfortunately checked out by their own hand (5) and yet I believe Kevorkian was on to something important.

Like choosing when to go. That choice should be legal.

You are another of the angels here, I’ve always appreciated your content.

Sad to see another good website go down the shitter.

Supertopo was great, so was MP. Not anymore.

You are a real gem. Thanks

I'm only here for this thread, I haven't posted in other threads for ages.... 

Happy New Year everyone, and may the joy of 2021 help us all to recover from  2020.  

I love New Year resolutions, but haven't been able to come up with something that resonates this year.  My best NY Resolution was "Drink more, smoke more and stay up later."  I actually picked up a pack of Marlboro and re-started smoking for that one year, and learned to drink Jack Whiskey shots and got thrown out of a few bars.     One of the few times I kept a resolution a full 365 days.

But after a string of heartbreaks and tragedies I realized that there is no way to expect unbroken happiness and to avoid shit happening... hard times are out there, waiting... there will be more heartache, illness and death... and we will rise to the occasion and deal with it when that time comes.

But for most of us it's not here TODAY.  And it may not be here this YEAR.  

So, for me I think of how wasteful it is to take good times for granted.  Or to waste a minute of the blessings we have before us.  What I wish for us all is to grab all the joy being offered--every moment of love, adventure and community given to us so freely.  "Just say yes" is my response to Nancy's "Just say no". Laugh more, clown more, explore more, yes to adventures, yes to climbing... don't stay in bed, don't give in. 

I love that Frank was out there climbing, making the best of some hard times... even without the nausea meds.  Many of us have fought through hard times with grace, dignity and head held high.  Frank is one such example...   

So... I think that's my New Year Resolution in a nutshell.  "Love more, climb more and party like it's 1999."   Party on!   

Happy New Year, everyone!

Got out today, cold but sunny in the morning.  Did a new V7 boulder problem at my local area.

Ward Smithwrote:

Got out today, cold but sunny in the morning.  Did a new V7 boulder problem at my local area.

V7! WOW! 

Mark E Dixonwrote:

@ Frank- sorry to hear your news. We met at Wake Up Wall several years ago and in the back of may mind I always thought we'd get a chance to climb  together on one of our trips to Red Rocks. I still hope that happens. Good luck with your treatment. 

@ Lori- I have experimented a lot with my contact lenses wrt improving distance vs near vision. I try to optimize distance vision, but realized, as Guy mentioned above, that being able to see your feet clearly is critical. I don't trad climb, so not an issue for me, but I find seeing gear placements hard too, if I optimize distance. Otoh, if you give up some distance vision you can get more near...

It's a trade off that's easier to tune with contacts, unless you can get loaner glasses?

BTW, I mentioned before I wear contact lenses. I should explain they're multifocal contact lenses. I'll still wear reading glasses at times but the contacts are perfectly fine for everyday activities and certainly for climbing... 

Ward Smithwrote:

Got out today, cold but sunny in the morning.  Did a new V7 boulder problem at my local area.

Aw geez... 

Kinda holy crap!, eh? Very nice seems a huge understatement! You got a 5.6 version of that??

I wear "bifocal" one day contacts, only when I'm climbing. Otherwise, I'm just in bifocal glasses. When I don't bother with the contacts, I end up climbing with the glasses, which makes feet kinda interesting....or just blind, lol! The gym doesn't matter much. Outside, it matters even for the hike in/out. Watching my feet all the time, straight down, is really, really slow. In the gym, the mask blocks the view straight down, so it gets even more odd.

Lori, you mentioned glare. That hasn't been an issue where I climb, but certain light gets real interesting. At certain angles mid day, it becomes super hard to tell innies from outties for feet. It comes down to just going for it, lol!

I pulled down the old calendar, where I record my activity very simply. It started in pencil, graduated to colored stickers, just like a little kid abd a star chart. Flipping through? I was doing okay last winter...until March. It took until May to even feel up to trying. And, even then, it was gardening that saved me. 

Went to the Buttermilks today didn't last long, but did a couple of fun high V3s. I'm good for the year!

After an afternoon of play out on the rocks (learning how to lower without transferring to a rappel) this poem touched me deeply. I learn by going where I have to go.

The Waking
BY THEODORE ROETHKE
I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.  I feel my fate in what I cannot fear.  I learn by going where I have to go.

We think by feeling. What is there to know?  I hear my being dance from ear to ear.  I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Of those so close beside me, which are you?  God bless the Ground!   I shall walk softly there,  And learn by going where I have to go.

Light takes the Tree; but who can tell us how?  The lowly worm climbs up a winding stair;  I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.

Great Nature has another thing to do  To you and me; so take the lively air,  And, lovely, learn by going where to go.

This shaking keeps me steady. I should know.  What falls away is always. And is near.  I wake to sleep, and take my waking slow.  I learn by going where I have to go.

Missing Mount Arapalis already. Went for a 140Km motorbike ride today. Still getting over new years eve, where I drank 15 beers and lost my headlamp while riding the mechanical bull   

New years resolution is drink more water and less beer. 

 Ward, whats with the shoes ;)  Ed used to give me his reports from winter rock climbing with you guys.  I would be coming back from a sunny Cold day at the lake wearing gloves and mountain boots. Ed was like, well it could have been a little less windy, maybe a bit warmer but it was good... always sounded like he was convinceing himself ;)   We climbed this thing yesterday. it was a bit steeper and harder than normal as things are still in very early season shape after the Xmas washout. 

Took this shot looking down at the belay from a small stance just before the real buisness on P2 started. 

Isa following up high..

we left a little Lindt morsel for the next person who tops out ;) 

 

Love the chocolate gift Nick!! Jim and I topped out on an obscure route last year that had a little whiskey stash with a register - it was a fun little surprise. Pre-Covid of course...

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

 Ward, whats with the shoes ;)  Ed used to give me his reports from winter rock climbing with you guys.  I would be coming back from a sunny Cold day at the lake wearing gloves and mountain boots. Ed was like, well it could have been a little less windy, maybe a bit warmer but it was good... always sounded like he was convinceing himself ;)   We climbed this thing yesterday. it was a bit steeper and harder than normal as things are still in very early season shape after the Xmas washout. 

Took this shot looking down at the belay from a small stance just before the real buisness on P2 started. 

Isa following up high.. 

we left a little Lindt morsel for the next person who tops out ;) 

 

What incredible pictures!  It must be very hard climbing.  Love these...

No super hard but mentaly challenging. Ice climbing is easy. Every hold is an ergonomic bucket, you have 50cm extra reach  and  forged steel fingers and toes. You just have to know a lot of shit to stay alive. The gap between leading and following is generally Much wider on ice than rock.  You also simply can not fall. Its not like rock where you can get  pumpped and jump off on to a bolt to rest and get a confidence building fall. Try that on ice and you have a 50% chance of getting an open fracture in your lower leg..... 

I'm receiving quite an education about our new digs here.  Dallas and Barb probably get this education every day as they motor around to new places and get to know the locals.  But for all the times I came here to climb for a week or two, I had no idea how different it would be to live here.

I am the oddity here... a climber, and there is a lot of curiosity going both ways.  My neighbors have lived their lives here in the high desert and maybe only visited 'the Monument' once or twice.  I've grown close to one neighbor and his son... they have been so isolated this year.  The neighbor presented me with a pocket knife for Christmas, and asked me to make sure to hang it from my harness--I may need it to defend myself.  It's a serious knife that may not even be legal. (maybe it is) And he daily asks me when I will go learn to shoot with him and some other neighbors... I can pick any one of his guns.  He has promised me that, until I learn, I can call him any time and he will come personally shoot any intruder.  That's a serious promise. I asked him if he has EVER had to shoot anyone here in Joshua Tree... after some thought he said "No. But it could happen." I think Tony feels like he's finding his West Coast tribe.

Another neighbor decided to break his 6-month sobriety with a night of hard drinking--and I've been asked (as the lone female) to intervene. (I won't).  It gets lonely here.  It's so quiet and the desert so vast. One form of entertainment is to go to the local casino...where it's reservation land, so no masks required, and the place is packed shoulder to shoulder.  But on normal days, even a sedentary person can pile into their truck and drive to someplace even more remote, and hang out at their favorite campsite--and maybe be gone for days.  

The top post this morning on NextDoor was "Vietnamese pig cruising around on our property. Whose is it?"   This brings up SO many questions!     We saw a beautiful little family of coyotes on Friday just across the road... 

So the story goes that Joshua Tree was once the 'armpit' of the high desert, until a bunch of 'hippy types' started moving in. (guilty!)  Now the place is changing--not everyone is happy about that.  But for the most, life is simple, and you don't have a lot of choices.  For instance, if you need a dentist:

And here we get a two-fer:

While national politics is overwhelming, and feels futile at times... local community politics may be easier.  I've been invited to join the Citizens Advisory Council for the Joshua Tree District Water Basin.  First question I have is: where's the water?     There is every kind of opportunity to really join in, leave politics at the door, and preserve and protect this community.  What I would like even more is to find a place within the Park community... volunteering as a ranger, greeter, or one of those people who puts up the little chicken wire fences around the newly sprouting Joshua Trees.  Or  maybe the nighttime photography group.  Take an astronomy class (we have some stars here).  

This might interest Senor... on that road out to Amboy, where I was asking about those broken down tiny shacks that were part of Homestead Act ... they are apparently selling like hotcakes now... for big money.  wtf?

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Will be climbing today.     It looks like the weather today is "sunny".  The weather tomorrow is 'sunny'.  With a few exceptions the weather going forward is "sunny".  

  

Lori Milaswrote:

I'm receiving quite an education about our new digs here... get this education every day as they motor around to new places and get to know the locals.  But for all the times I came here to climb for a week or two, I had no idea how different it would be to live here.

Well not everyday, but often enough.  The other thing that happens we are not settled into a place, and since exploration is our thing we often get to learn more about a places eco-tourist attractions than many locals who have lived there for years.  Simply because we have the time and desire to look in the nooks and crannies.  

I can understand the concern about firearms.  They can and have been misused. But I find sport shooting to be fun and entertaining.  And in places were it is a reasonable activity I believe it to be a reasonable activity.  

Getting involved.  www.volunteer.gov is a web site that advertises volunteer opportunities.  I just looked up JT, nothing available right now, but keep checking the web site periodically.  This is were they advertise opportunities to get involved.  I did find this interesting ad that I thought would be right up your alley Lori, with your newly acquired skills in maps and navigation this should make for great practice...  Volunteer Map Editor.  Don't say you can't, read the description then decide.  

Ski season is horrible right now in Park City Ut. Between the new reservation system vail has enacted and the lack of snow it's pretty miserable.  Momentum climbing gym is doing a fair job. They have specified lanes, one group per lane; reservation system for a 2 hour stint; and mandatory masking.  Barb's nailing the .10's, I can do the .8's, but have to rest to finish the .9's. Minor improvement over last year. What's really interesting this year is the number of older climbers that I see, we used to be the only gray hairs around at 10am, now we tend to pack up and go when the crowd starts to thicken.  It's heartening to see active seniors out and about. 

Dallas Rwrote:

...I can understand the concern about firearms.  They can and have been misused. But I find sport shooting to be fun and entertaining.  And in places were it is a reasonable activity I believe it to be a reasonable activity...  

I'm a qualified small arms coach and If I can blat away with an M60 fired from the hip or a 84mm Carl Gustaf anti tank weapon I'm in to shooting but otherwise I find it as boring as bat shit.  

Dallas Rwrote:

Well not everyday, but often enough.  The other thing that happens we are not settled into a place, and since exploration is our thing we often get to learn more about a places eco-tourist attractions than many locals who have lived there for years.  Simply because we have the time and desire to look in the nooks and crannies.  

I can understand the concern about firearms.  They can and have been misused. But I find sport shooting to be fun and entertaining.  And in places were it is a reasonable activity I believe it to be a reasonable activity.  

Getting involved.  www.volunteer.gov is a web site that advertises volunteer opportunities.  I just looked up JT, nothing available right now, but keep checking the web site periodically.  This is were they advertise opportunities to get involved.  I did find this interesting ad that I thought would be right up your alley Lori, with your newly acquired skills in maps and navigation this should make for great practice...  Volunteer Map Editor.  Don't say you can't, read the description then decide.  

Ski season is horrible right now in Park City Ut. Between the new reservation system vail has enacted and the lack of snow it's pretty miserable.  Momentum climbing gym is doing a fair job. They have specified lanes, one group per lane; reservation system for a 2 hour stint; and mandatory masking.  Barb's nailing the .10's, I can do the .8's, but have to rest to finish the .9's. Minor improvement over last year. What's really interesting this year is the number of older climbers that I see, we used to be the only gray hairs around at 10am, now we tend to pack up and go when the crowd starts to thicken.  It's heartening to see active seniors out and about. 

Dallas I’m so glad you just keep on keeping on. A year ago I thought we had lost you for good. But everything you do is an inspiration Dallas. I love your 5.8 and 5.9 climbing!  I love the incredible hard work you have put into making your and Barbs dreams come true. I recall your posts when you are stuck somewhere god-awful, RV broke down, but you fix it. I recall when Barb had pneumonia and you took her a long ways to a sacred place, if I recall, so she could lay on some warm rocks and start to recover. I’ve seen some of the maps you’ve posted zig zagging across the US... can only imagine the work that required.  All the work on learning ropes and anchors to keep you both safe. So it inspires me to develop my own dreams and do the practical work to make them happen. None of this comes easy! 

Having said that, I don’t like crack climbing.   And Bob has given me “the talk” about the years of hard work and effort required to become a decent crack climber.. and do I really want to spend these precious days and years doing this?

Yes I do. Now I’m just pissed. Put me on another crack! Some day I will climb it without pain and embarrassment.  

So tonight I will be soaking in Epsom salts after another day of crack climbing with Chris, and I think I learned something. For instance, when the crack leans right, keep left foot in crack and smear right.  Sink the little toe in and heel down to stick in the crack. By the 5th exhausted lap up I was starting to get the hang of it. 

These are really big lessons!  

I also learned “the Cobra” move to high step onto a face and slide up hands free.  By the 7th or 8th attempt I managed to step up and step again to reach a high hand hold 

But most of all every one of these gorgeous days is such a gift. The view was tremendous. The weather had me peeling off layers down to a t-shirt.  Chatting it up with Chris is always a blessing.  

My first “redacted” route.