New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #14

New post in fightingcanceragain.com

frank minunniwrote:

New post in fightingcanceragain.com

I watched some of your videos. They're very touching. You look great with no hair. 

frank minunniwrote:

New post in fightingcanceragain.com

Frank, thank you so much for sharing this.  Our hearts are with you as you battle on.  There’s a time and a place for taking extra measures to stay happy and well.  This is the time and this is the place.  So glad you are doing what helps you feel better with the bonus that it also brings you laughter.  

I lived through yesterday.  High temperature of 6f. Mostly it's just a struggle to keep feeling in your fingers.  That and the ice is like  exceptionally brittle  porcelain...  was feeling the work out  this morning  from a climb that normally I hike in more forgiving temperatures.. 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

I lived through yesterday.  High temperature of 6f. Mostly it's just a struggle to keep feeling in your fingers.  That and the ice is like  exceptionally brittle  porcelain...  was feeling the work out  this morning  from a climb that normally I hike in more forgiving temperatures.. 

Here's a bit of a contrast. In the 40s, windy, but sunny. I'm very cautious sans rope, can't just jump off. So? It has to be controlled, as much as possible. Messed with this for awhile, got to three moves up (from harder and more fun start)....and reversed.

https://youtu.be/URaDVwoXzBg

Best, H.

H. I Never jump off unropped. heck I hardly ever jump off roped. And I am a few years younger than you..  Modern bouldering is stupid.  Too many injuries.. we always down climbed BINTD. I still do.... 

A few shots from yesterday...  Stupid cold. 1f when we left the cars 6f when we returned. windy with a freezing fog.  Not many photos. To busy keeping fingers and toes warm enough to still be able to move them. Isa was too smart to climb so had to find someone as dumb as myself ;)  Tim obliged.. 

Russ Walling wrote:

And in a nutshell, that is why you’ve never done anything hard... NTTIAWWT.  Calling it stupid is pretty ignorant though.  Everyone has different objectives and goals.  Just because you chose low end mediocrity does not mean it was a smart choice, or a choice that others would make that aspire to a higher standard. 

LMAO!!

How very gallant, sir! Me???!? "Aspire to a higher standard"?

Simple fact. Swan Falls is significantly warmer in the winter. Sun is akin to crack, that other kind, in January. 

For the record?

I'm the nutcake on here that does all of it. Roped, gym, boulders, and....ice. 

No big walls in Idaho. And, no DWS. Yet. ;-)

And I'm quite happy with being mediocre. Don't give a shit at all, actually. So long as I get to keep doing...any of it. Any of it at all.

H.

Russ Walling wrote:

And in a nutshell, that is why you’ve never done anything hard... NTTIAWWT.  Calling it stupid is pretty ignorant though.  Everyone has different objectives and goals.  Just because you chose low end mediocrity does not mean it was a smart choice, or a choice that others would make that aspire to a higher standard. 

Oh goodness. Modern bouldering (I assume you mean indoors?) can be fun. With outdoor bouldering (and even indoor) I have to pick the problem. I'll only do high ball bouldering outdoors if it's about V2 or less, not worth the risk otherwise. Bouldering indoors I generally downclimb problems I can do, it's extra training and saves the knees. Of course to be fair, if one ALWAYS downclimbs then one is not really pushing one's self to the point of failure/falling..

Each to their own though... 

Old lady Hwrote:

Here's a bit of a contrast. In the 40s, windy, but sunny. I'm very cautious sans rope, can't just jump off. So? It has to be controlled, as much as possible. Messed with this for awhile, got to three moves up (from harder and more fun start)....and reversed.

https://youtu.be/URaDVwoXzBg

Best, H.

Was this possibly a shoe-cam???  YAY!  Now could you run the camera longer than 5 seconds?   Those two steps were lovely but I was getting ready for more.

Nick, gorgeous pictures of ice and snow. Props for getting out there in it.

Russ Walling wrote:

And in a nutshell, that is why you’ve never done anything hard... NTTIAWWT.  Calling it stupid is pretty ignorant though.  Everyone has different objectives and goals.  Just because you chose low end mediocrity does not mean it was a smart choice, or a choice that others would make that aspire to a higher standard. 

Drinking?

Nick so at 1-6f your ice is porcelain brittle?
The last time I strapped on the tools it was 5f inside the car - the telltale thermometer showed that was the hi during the day- but I was pretty cold and panicked at the time. While hiking back to the car in Le Vineing I fell through the ice/snow covering the creek all the way to my midsection! When I got out I could tell that the cold was going to get me fast. Running the last mile in the snow my only thought was - don’t stop and I hope the car starts. Ice is always some big time fun. But back to brittle ice— I’ve been out in much colder temperatures and had fabulous conditions- out in warmer temps and had dropping dinner plates. But I live in Southern California so I have very limited experience and zero real knowledge about what causes the change in conditions.

But I just love the statement about plans being plans.

Lori- take care of Tony. 

Lori Milaswrote:

Was this possibly a shoe-cam???  YAY!  Now could you run the camera longer than 5 seconds?   Those two steps were lovely but I was getting ready for more.

Nick, gorgeous pictures of ice and snow. Props for getting out there in it.

I dunno.... Nick's pics are always gorgeous. But this time. Damn. Made me cold, just looking at them. Six. Geez. Been there, done that, the cold, but not on ice. I don't think I could manage it at all. Not ice that hard. I lucked out, and had plastic each time, so far.  :-)

Lori, just be glad I didn't turn on the cam when I tried to see if I could figure a way to pull a heel hook thing....on a boulder that topped out at maybe 40 inches on a low gravity day.

See, for me? Getting anything to do something, maybe just one "Holy Crap!!" move? Literally. One move?

Yeah. Makes me smile. 

Plus?

Six inches off the ground?

I can bang the thing till it's nailed. 

What happened after what little got recorded, actually impressed my friend. Me too. Little bits of fingertips, two tip pocket on one side, two, plus a thumb, on the other. Gaston those. Rock up on the foot, hand up to the triangle above on the right, left leg flag, left hand up...and then stay put. On one hand, one foot. Reverse, with two lie backish moves.

Satisfying.

And repeat. Slow, controlled. 

One really important part about today?

It was the first hands on rock since early October. Low commitment was perfect. Now? Getting out on the roped stuff won't be as much of a head game. 

Might even be tomorrow! Yay!

Best, Helen

East coast folk!  I hear you have a big winter storm moving in tomorrow. Hope you all stay safe and snug.
I grew up in New England but I came to CA at 27 and I knew right away I would never leave. It’s beautiful but I am not a cold tolerant being!

The start of a plan... 

Carl..... OK so your making plans at 4:20?

Do you employ the “mark it on the calendar in pencil” .... then days after everyone sobers up and checks it with Wife, Boss, and any others who matter, then put it down in ink (blood)?

sounds like fun- Araps - is that the place the authorities want shut down?

Finding partners who don’t bail on you is the hardest part of the whole climbing game. 

By modern bouldering I mean all the falling and jumping. Its great when you are younger but even then it causes a lot of injuries. Russ you do have a point.  I have not pushed to failure in years  but also have enough tendon issues and other injuries that I feel if I did I would set myself back.    Russ I totally get that  boudering is an important part of training for hard climbs but on the otherhand  so many folks get hurt  falling. Every fall is a ground fall.  I showed a young friend of mine a boulder problem that had taken me several weeks of climbing into the crux and downclimbing before i felt ready to top out. This kid was super strong but he went for it on his first try and his ankle ballooned up to grapefruit size in about 30seconds. Had to crabwalk back to the car and nurse a bottle of whiskey for the next 3 months.. yes that is stupid INMOP. 

Guy.  falling through the ice  and getting wet feet is no joke! that's what happened to Hugh Herr and he lost both feet to frostbite.  Used to climb in negative temps all the time when I was younger. the only way I will do it now is free solo on grade 2+ and 3  . that whole freezeing to death at a hanging belay part just dosen't appeal to me...   As far as plans my best was a drunken  dialing with my  friend Alex who lived in his truck in the Vicinity of Durango usually finding a GF with indoor accommodations for the winters. ..  plans were made in late spring when he still  had a phone  to climb the Tower  the first week of September.  I left a few phone messages on the ex GFs phone the last week of august with no response. Piled into the honda civic and hammered out to wyoming. Hung out in the campground at the base of the tower for a day and a half . about 11pm on the second night there  Alex comes rolling in with a truck full of  cold beers. You fcker. I knew you'd be hear.

Helen, we think alike.     Maybe this even echoes rGold’s posts about gratitude.  I’m not downplaying our climbing potentials, but primarily this is a season of gratitude, of joy for being able to do whatever we can do.  It’s play.  It’s carefree-ness.  And we’ve earned it.  I will admit to feeling aggressive sometimes, with bold choices for my age and ability... but I don’t want to die doing it.  And I rely upon help, from Bob and/or others, to help me get there safely. 

We had this bouldering discussion about a hundred times in past posts.  I recall the day Ryan sat me down at the gym and had ‘the talk’ with me about bouldering.  Bouldering hard was his thing, and he knew I wanted to spend time in the bouldering area and work it out.  “Lori, how important is this to you, because when you fall, you can break a leg, ankle, hip.  And that’s THE END of your climbing career.”  I think the thing that convinced me was his explaining that the difference between me and him, in terms of bouldering safely, is that my reflexes will not be as fast as his, so when I fall from 15-20 feet, I could land on my head.  He can flip like a cat.  I might not be so fast.  So... it wasn’t whether I could sustain the land, but whether I could make a clean fall.  

I felt like that was sane and reasonable and a small sacrifice to make.  I don’t know how fast I would recover from a busted ankle or broken neck, but it would definitely take precious time away from climbing.  He did throw a monkey-wrench in the whole thing about six months later when he said “Well... maybe we can boulder just a little bit.”    

Joshua Tree is loaded with temptation. Every day I see another 20 foot boulder I want to I climb.  It is the height of frustration to pass great bouldering rocks by... and even low-lying traverses like my Black Tide.  (I think it’s really called something else.). It’s 100 beautiful feet of traverse, most of it 3-4 feet off the ground.  Every kind of footwork and crimping... but there are a few spans that are closer to 6-7 feet off the ground.  No spotter, no pads... it kills me to let it go.  But I don’t want to be visiting a hospital... or get laid up with a bum leg.  

So we are making tradeoff choices. 

———————

Guy, thanks for the good thoughts about Tony.  This surgery went so well, and is so much different from the last one, that I am wondering how that first one could have been so dangerous and miserable.  He’s off pain meds, he’s picking up strength, and he looks really good!  However he is refusing to wear the ‘compression garment’ (aka ‘girdle”) and I’ve threatened to report. him to the doctor if he doesn’t shape up.  We are stuck here in this hotel room for a few more days, until we can get the all-clear to go home.  

The meds may have adled his brain, though.  I walked into the bedroom 2 nights ago and he had on Lawrence Welk, full blast, singing along to the Lennon sisters... called to me “Hey Lori! Come watch this! Ed Sullivan is back on TV!”  So, not all there yet...    

djkyote wrote:

another point re bouldering (outside)

toprope, sport climbing and even trad well within your limits is MUCH safer than bouldering during Covid.  Do you really want to go to the ER with a broken ankle right now?

I'm a wild eyed daredevil, what can I say?

I don't want to go to the ER ever for a broken ankle.  

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Guy.   As far as plans my best was a drunken  dialing with my  friend Alex who lived in his truck in the Vicinity of Durango usually finding a GF with indoor accommodations for the winters. ..  plans were made in late spring when he still  had a phone  to climb the Tower  the first week of September.  I left a few phone messages on the ex GFs phone the last week of august with no response. Piled into the honda civic and hammered out to wyoming. Hung out in the campground at the base of the tower for a day and a half . about 11pm on the second night there  Alex comes rolling in with a truck full of  cold beers. You fcker. I knew you'd be hear.

Nick-  I think we know some of the same people!
It was a different time- before the cell phone- when a trusted partner gave their word on something and you could take it to the bank.