New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #15

I’m still fascinated by this route and after all this time I wonder... perhaps it isn’t Billabong after all.  Perhaps it’s Shovling-Cole? It would be nice to know.  Either way, I’m eager to climb it.  

That's Shoveling Cole (10b), a little easier than Billabong. From where the climber is it traverses over a bit left to and liebacks that flake.  First ascent was in 1982 by Charles Cole, the guy that invented Stealth and C4 rubber and founded the Five Ten company.

The slack rope goes over to a 2-bolt anchor. So I'm guessing when the climber gets up to the TR anchor on Shoveling Cole (gear anchor) they'll clean it, then be on belay on the right-side rope to traverse right across the crack/ledge over to the rap anchor.

Bob Gaineswrote:

That's Shoveling Cole (10b), a little easier than Billabong. From where the climber is it traverses over a bit left to and liebacks that flake.  First ascent was in 1982 by Charles Cole, the guy that invented Stealth and C4 rubber and founded the Five Ten company.

The slack rope goes over to a 2-bolt anchor. So I'm guessing when the climber gets up to the TR anchor on Shoveling Cole (gear anchor) they'll clean it, then be on belay on the right-side rope to traverse right across the crack/ledge over to the rap anchor.

I'm glad you figured out WTF was going on with the ropes in this shot. Lori has posted it several times and every time I scratched my head. What you're saying makes sense, though. 

Andrew Ricewrote:

I'm glad you figured out WTF was going on with the ropes in this shot. Lori has posted it several times and every time I scratched my head. What you're saying makes sense, though. 

Thank you Bob and Senor! And on that glorious day when I climb that beautiful route I want to have a BIG party, a big (non-pasta) celebration of the blessed event.  (Tony seems to believe that two of the four food groups are pasta and tiramisu.    I’m getting desperate.... )

I started using one of these, since wheat in general and pasta, an ultra condensed form, isn't very good for me. It has a variety of blades, and one makes perfect spaghetti from zucchini. I kid you not. It's great. I cook it up in some veggie broth or chicken/beef organic broth. it's not like pasta, where you use a pot full of water. Just some liquid in the pan and keep tossing it. It cooks down a lot, so be prepared for the cashier to give you a funny look when you buy 8 or ten zucchini's at once    If you want, you can drain it in a colander and mix in garlic, olive oil, any of the things you'd do with regular pasta. Last night I made carbonara. Mmm.

Tip: As you run zucchini, or your choice, through into noodles, they will be very long. It's good to cut them into normal lengths as the come out of the slicer. 

vegetable slicer/spiraler

Kris, that reminded me of a simple meal you cooked for me about 30+ years ago when you lived at Jans. It was simply excellent!

Going back to the grading discussion, a fellow I climb with has been climbing for 43 years. He was mentored by a fellow (Col Reece) who apparantly was convinced he could only climb up to grade 21 (I'm too lazy to convert that for you) so graded everything 21 and lower. Many of Col's routes have been re-graded to be two grades harder. 

Also, I'm constantly struck by how rgold's comments are always so, well, right. The comment about 'a route with many moves at x grade can't be the same difficulty as a route with just one move at that grade' (I'm paraphrasing) makes such obvious sense. 

Also also, only a few more days until my Arapalis/Grampians trip. I'm light (63.9 kilos - lost 3 kilos) and feeling pretty strong.... Doing 21s at the gym (TR) no probs... 

Andrew Ricewrote:

There's also the small detail that the original Tahquitz  system (YDS) ends at 5.9. Open Book is both much more intimidating than the "average" 5.9 as well as well below the level of so much of what is climbed these days. It's pretty much an "average" 3 pitch dihedral climb with a run out boulder problem start, a giant "elephant ear," 60'-70 feet of offwidth and then some nice hand jams and stemming. All 5.9s should be just like that!

The original 5.1, Fingertip traverse, has a section with you delicately balancing along a 300 foot exposure that is absolutely butt-puckering for a lot of folks. It's also currently rated a 5.4 because it requires a pretty heady slab exit.

Those details don't change my point at all.  Wilts and Robbins created a system based on standard reference climbs, and that approach was abandoned by almost all subsequent guidebook authors, (as far as I know; perhaps there is the odd exception). Subsequent guidebooks kept the grades, but made their determination ever more mysterious.

The Wilcox Peter Lewis ice guide uses the standards for  climbs.  listing NH classics as examples for the grade. It makes no difference in consistency however as the different geographic areas in the same book still vary drastically in their approach to grading.  At the end of the day grading is a human judgement call. I never liked sports that relied on judges to make a call on who the winner is. Invariably it ends up being a popularity contest rather than a true test of the best athlete, Good thing I climb for the line not the grade,   If Castelon tower was a 5.2 or a 5.10 it would make no difference. It's such an asthetic line that It would be on my bucket list regardless.  Heck this thing is only  5.6 yet we do it every time we are in the area.

John Sherman's first Hieco Tanks guidebook, where he introduced the V system, had standard boulder problems for each grade.  I think it makes sense

it makes sense but  dosent seem to make a much of a difference....   despite the book listing standard Rt as grade 3. Pinnacle as 3+ and Dracula as 4  Smuggs still has  grade 3's that are solid 4s and a few 3+ that are really5 and at least one 3+/4 that is 5+/6 ;) 

Someone in the climbing gym told me that newer guidebooks for the Gunks have changed a lot of grades - Is this true?  

I am also wondering if the Dick Williams guidebooks are still the best?

Dick Williams is the best! 

The thing I miss most in climbing is my summers in Tuolumne with Kamps & Williams. & winters in J-T with them!

So it’s been a bit breezy here.  I have never heard so much howling out our door.  A neighbor posted this quiz:

Kristian, I too don’t do well with wheat. I have Celiac on top of being a Type 1 diabetic. It took years to figure this out (the Celiac). I’m grateful for all the gluten-free options these days, including great tasting pasta.  Tony just cooks that up along with whatever can take butter and cream.   Thanks for the idea of zucchini pasta.  

Meanwhile... I’ve had a sudden harsh awakening that I’ve lost strength and gained pounds slowly without realizing it over this last year.  I guess I honestly thought that with a wide-open desert to endlessly romp in and climbing a couple times a week I’d be thin and very strong with no need for a gym or diet.  I was just wrong.  

I don’t know if the extreme workouts at the climbing gym that I was doing qualified as resistance training but I sure built an impressive set of arm and back muscles. Now those days are over, and it’s time to get back to a strength/lifting routine.  How did I not see this before?  Bummed... 

Was crashing in wall mart parking lot in Cody WY 5 years ago.   It had been blowing pretty good for several days.  I spotted an older fellow tacking across the parking lot as shopping carts blew past him on their way to Thermopolis.  The move is you tilt your cowboy hat at  just the right angle and it stays on your head while propelling you along at a good clip.  Anyways I asked him if it was always like this. He answered. Nope, sometimes it's windy. 

Spring is usually windy in southern CA. It's been bonkers here at the beach in the afternoons. I can hardly count the flying children and dogs that have landed in my yard. 

The wind is one of the main reasons I left s.e. AZ. That and the fact it is not Colorado and you can't ski on rocks. Although this year has been a bit thin.

I've been listening to a new podcast by Alex Honnold--an interview with Peter Croft.  I've never met Peter, but I've been drawn to his great personality and skill.  Part of the story has really surprised me: when Peter first arrived at Yosemite, he felt so intimidated by the existing 'greats' (like Bachar) that he kept to himself and developed his own skills free soloing.  (I think I have this right).  In fact, I thought Alex said something similar about his own early years--that he was so shy and nerdy he climbed alone rather than to risk reaching out to other climbers.  

I can relate.    (Being so new and intimidated that it's hard to allow other climbers in.) 

From the stories being told here on this thread, it sounds like there was the same kind of pecking order here ... a handful of crazy good climbers who formed an inner circle, and others stayed on the periphery and eventually moved on.  Man...I am glad I wasn't here at that time.  It sounds brutal.  NOT fun. 

https://open.spotify.com/show/612nrvYLVeexAH4LzlxcpU

The stories of this place need to be told and written, imo... but frankly I am so happy that I am climbing now, when the heat is absolutely off.  No chance of ridicule or rejection. No demands to 'go big or go home'.  (although I can always pretend.)  

But also, in a weird sense, maybe we older climbers are making another kind of history.  When I picture all of you out climbing in various parts of the world--some at very high grades, I am so heartened.  This is pretty innovative stuff.... at whatever grade, at whatever intensity.  

Lori Milaswrote:

But also, in a weird sense, maybe we older climbers are making another kind of history.  When I picture all of you out climbing in various parts of the world--some at very high grades, I am so heartened.  This is pretty innovative stuff.... at whatever grade, at whatever intensity.  

It may very well be inspiring for younger climbers to see older climbers still getting out there but, LOL, I don't think we are making history or that it's innovative.  Many athletic people continue to be athletic in their later years, and always have.

Here's an article that may interest you that talks about some climbers who have continued to climb as they get older.  

https://www.rei.com/blog/climb/still-cranking-years

Jim Donini is profiled - he is still tough as nails and a superb climber.  The article mentions Sybille Hechtel, but I remember meeting both her father Richard Hechtel and Jules Eichorn when I first moved to CA in 1980.  Jules would have been around 68 then, the same age I am now.  Sybille mentions that her Dad climbed into his 80s and in fact I ran into him climbing in the ORG when he was about that age.  Of course there are people like Fritz Wiessner, who also climbed into his 80s.  It's true in many other sports as well, especially those that aren't as hard on the joints.  One of my husband's cycling friends, Roque,  is 83 - in his youth he was on the Columbian National Team for cycling and he still keeps up with the group when he goes out.