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New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #16
Todd Berlier wrote: Well...surprising at it may seem, this old lady was out early to meet up and boulder, too! Ours is closer, so meeting to carpool was 6, but still... Also went out to the same spot when I brought snow boots (to quickly slip bare feet into) and my belay parka for in between my turns to climb! Beat the heat....or wait for the sun. That's year round climbing, here. I'm not sure, but I think I'm the only one on this thread who climbs in the gym, roped outside, boulders, and ice, when I have a chance! It's pretty petty, but hey, gotta get that neener, neener in where you can, eh? Your boulders look beautiful! One of the hard bodies here ran out of tough stuff in the immediate vicinity, so he's been scouting out boulders up in the forested stuff. Yours remind me of some of his settings! Generally? (Thread drift here) I think one of the prettier small scale settings I've been to is when we went to do OLH near Pagosa Springs. It surprised me, being next to a little stream, in a tiny canyon. But, big scale, Hyalite in ice season is hard to beat without being an alpine climber, at least places I've been to. Ice is sooooo photogenic! Even without a swimsuited model and morning coffee (if thats what's in the mug, lol!) My personal tastes, though, run to the in your face places. Not picture postcard, exactly, although we have plenty of that here too. Harsh and hard. I think that's the native rural westerner in me. Lori feels a similar pull, I think. Nick, your photography is wonderful! Is your pull to the green places, perhaps also harsh, in their own way (the ice climbing)? Going to lunch, then to laps in the gym today. H. |
Old lady H wrote: Are you sure about that statement? |
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Helen. some kind of hippy tea. that swim was right after these ski runs.   we swam in the same spot a bunch of times this spring. we had a super warm weekend in April when the ice was starting to break up... I believe it was the same week Isa got her citizenship. Thats me swimming this time. i am not as good looking as Isa so the submerged shot works best. ;)  |
Nick Goldsmith wrote: And you tele. That was my other main sport before the various injuries. |
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I don't make very many telle turns. Its much easier on the knees to just stand up and ski. Isa Rips the telle turns... |
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You folks that jump into ice water are f'ing nuts... |
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Well, my time here is almost up. I’ll be driving back home on Thursday, and i can’t say how much I miss home. I used to love to travel but not right now. My heart is so in Josh… even with the heat and dirt and difficulty getting things done. I’m looking forward to getting to know the folks who are into water conservation and desert planting and soil. And of course, getting back out into the park to hike and reconnect with the quail, the ravens, snakes, critters. So, a year ago I gave myself ‘one year of climbing’ with no holds, no restrictions… just to see how it would feel to go all in. But with some downtime this summer, the stoke is pretty strong to embark on a second year of climbing’… As weird as this sounds, I feel like I’m now ready to BEGIN. A lot of the restlessness is out of my system, and I’m ready to learn. There are some unfinished projects… But also I’m feeling receptive to begin to know what I don’t know. I was out with Chris and his new friend at Truckee yesterday. This rock has pockets just big enough to hook a middle finger or two and pull… they can cut pretty deep. It’s really different rock. All in all… it’s been a good time.   Meanwhile Tony will be in Chicago another week, eating. I guess this is how they bond. I see no vegetables in any picture. He considers mushrooms to be ‘vegetables’ so in that case, he has had one. But they’ve done a lot of partying, reminiscing and I guess it’s rained non-stop. I will say, (and this may be too serious for this post), he’s desperate to have this upcoming surgery. He was a happy guy when we met, told me he has been content to live out his days sedentary and hanging out with his family. But I’ve made him miserable… he is recalling a past when he was strong, able, full of life… and he wants it back. So, party on, Tony… this surgery will be a big one. Might as well get this out of your system. |
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You're looking pretty flexible there. Nice high step. Not always the ideal technique for slabs, but a great tool on featured rock. |
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It's pissing down with rain here so it's gym clambering for I. Got a little crew of 4 together and we had great fun. I decided early we should do every route twice but that got thrown out the window after the second route. Did mainly high teens, tried an overhanging 21 (failed), a crimpy 21 face (got further than last time) as my partner did some cool beta which I copied - a cool low R crimpy undercling with a high R foot to reach a wide L crimpy undercling. Had fun! Hating the constant rain and cold weather (14 degrees). |
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If anyone is into investing, Black Diamond is doing very well. Parent company CLAR. You know, “invest in what you know”…  |
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I make100% of my income from investing. CLAR is not a good investment from my standpoint. Price to Earnings - $78.30 Earnings per Share - 0.35 Dividend - .036 I like companies that are a little more like P to E - $9.50 -12.50 EPS - 4.50 - 9.00 Dividend - 4.50 - 7.50 |
Lori Milas wrote: Clarus Corp has a number of outdoor/recreation subsidiaries, including two that make bullets and are/have been contractors for the Department of Defense. I prefer to support small, independent manufacturers like Metolius and DMM. Small companies, in small towns, providing good jobs for locals and producing excellent products. No, you can't buy their stock, but you can buy their products. |
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I remember 30 years ago when I had a little bit of money to invest and I was already banking with Merrill I told them I only wanted to invest in green stocks and socially responsible funds, and I got the blank stare. They had absolutely no idea what that was and I realized I was going to have to study fast to learn about stocks, bonds, annuities and everything else. I also had a couple of friends who had quit their jobs to become day traders and they were doing really well. The little bit that I could afford to invest back then really grew and only recently did I jump in again. So I am enjoying the journey and I’ve been extraordinarily lucky. I try to shop small and patronize small businesses but obviously when it comes to investments only the larger businesses have stock. I’ve sure outperformed the recommendations of my advisor. I keep tabs on what my broker currently recommends and my gut hunches are usually spot on… mostly “no”. Meanwhile… climbing on new and slippery rock with moss, pockets and lots of spiders-I don’t usually get squeamish but I had a hard time sticking my fingers and hands into webbing …still it’s been fun, and now I’m heading home.  |
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It's funny to me that there's conversations here about investing. To me it sounds all very boring and stuff old people do. Yes, I'm old (59) but I don't even THINK about those sorts of things. I hardly think about my superannuation (it's worth only 250k), know I SHOULD think about re-financing my house (even though i could easily pay it off when I retire) and don't even think about saving money. I bury my head in the sand and act like an irresponsible teenager 99% of the time. |
Carl Schneider wrote: Ha. I had this flash this week that the fantasy of living the dirtbag life is an inappropriate fantasy for an adult… as much as I have wanted to escape from too much responsibility and stress, the solution is not to go backwards and become an adolescent again. It’s to craft a more gracious and fulfilling adult life. I’m always a bit blown away by the variety of topics discussed here (including investment), but I think it broadly falls under the category of “climbers over 50”. Our lives are more complex, and richer—certainly not one-dimensional. Glad we can talk about it here. |
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Well. I'm the outlier on MP, generally. When youngish people are angsting about college, degrees, careers.... I'm the troublemaker that reminds them it's possible to live modestly, merely have jobs you enjoy, invest your time in the things and people you care about. There's a whole lot of middle ground, of course, and you don't always have to do things the way it's always been done. Just my two cents, but the massive college debt path so you can afford the American Way of Life, is not a very fun or sustainable model. And, the pandemic gave a heckuva lotta people time to ponder both schooling for their kids, and just how committed they really are to that job they stayed home from. Or lost. It's an interesting time! Best, H. And re Asana? I bought my first Asana boulder pad through my tiny little local gear shop, after visiting the shop and checking what size went in the back of my Honda CR-V. When I purchased, that involved the gear store dude driving his pickup the fourish miles to pick up pads for the store, including mine. And having some beers with the Asana dudes. Win, win, win! I've since bought a couple more, now that my gear store stocks them. |
Old lady H wrote: Sometimes work you would enjoy (and care about) demands a degree and even an advanced degree. It's not necessarily about affording the American Way of Life. But I don't know how kids who aren't rich manage to do that today, at least without being buried in debt. |
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To continue our non-climbing related topics on a climbing forum (LOL and BTW I'm with Lori, I LOVE how you all bring up discussions on all sorts of shit) I reckon everyone should get free education and everyone should be paid the same amount of money for work, regardless of the work they do. That way, we'd all be doing the work we enjoy and are good at rather than chasing the dollar. It'd mean, for instance, that politicians became politicians because they wanted to help their community, not for the salary while doing the work and not for the lucrative options post job. It'd mean we would value toilet cleaners as much as brain surgeons and CEOs. We'd pay everyone what they NEEDED rather than what the shareholders accepted or supported just because x number of widgets and digits were sold. We'd also scrap the ridiculous idea of a 'working week' and the idea one needs to work for x number of hours a day, as that idea means we manufacture work just to 'keep busy'. Of course I understand communism breeds an attitude of 'why work harder, I don't get any more for working harder' but maybe we could then concentrate on the personal fulfilment of doing a god job rather than what sort of a bonus we'd get so we can buy more shit we don't need and thrown out the shit we bought last year that we didn't need. Clearly, my work would be writing shit poetry, with a side job of writing ridiculous statements that are poorly thought through while volunteering part time as the town drunk. |
wendy weiss wrote: Yes, of course degrees are still needed. But, that massive debt is there, even when it is just a run of the mill degree just....to have a degree. Like I said, I'm an outlier. No degrees in our household. Not me, nor my husband, nor our son. My son was actually allowed to unschool, from about fifth grade on, and doing great, at 27. No college degree, but a professional career nonetheless, on an EMT ticket. Bought a house, that's the only real debt. Paid cash for two cars, now. Etc. Best, Helen |
Carl Schneider wrote: My "if I made the rules" idea was that the drinking age should be whenever that happened, essentially any age. But....absolutely not allowed to drive or operate heavy equipment until about 25 or 30. That'd solve lots of young and stupid stupidity, and, build in an automatic demand for really good alternate transportation systems. Carl I'll vote for you for poet in chief any day. |
