New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #16

Lori, I have friends I can speak to with varying degrees of candor, sarcasm, or humor. (Bruce alone gets to hear my darkest, most politically incorrect, and unwoke thoughts and vice versa.) I've slipped up too sometimes. And people have wrecked their entire careers by accidently hitting "send all." In this case, no harm done. Maybe just a lesson that not everyone on this thread is someone you can share your unfiltered thoughts with.

Oh god....the dreaded "reply all". 

And realizing a fraction of a second too late what you just did, lol!

The other thing is there's zero inflection with text, no face to look at, no tone of voice, none of that. Makes it harder. But this forum sure tries hard, and I think that's what sets it so apart from elsewhere.

So.

Jay says I can't do sumthin....guess what she's slapping on the "give it a shot!" list for September, lol! I'll wait until then for that one. I mean, crux down low, top rope, why the heck not? Maybe I'll have some of you to heckle me trying a 10 something bit, eh?

The other suggestions are much appreciated, thanks, all! I'm over at City in August, that's a short trip, and really looking forward to seeing you people in September. 

AND CLIMBING WITH YA!!! WAHOO!

I'm on Nyquil today. Either the smoke finally nailed me, or I got a cold somehow. Put off going to the gym today, hoping for tomorrow. I got a Trango Vergo for my Cinch packing partner to try out, so we will be taking turns "leading" and lead belaying, with the leader also on the autobelay. Trying out various ropes in the devices, too. I'll belay with my grigri, getting that more towards dialed. That means placing draws, for real, though, so the belayer might be in a helmet, lol! The leads will be real, but with that backup belay while we mess with new devices.

I'm also going to rig up an extended rappel and backup soon, here at home. There's a small flap going on elsewhere on MP in a rappelling thread, and I'm thinking some pics might help. Rgold has patiently delineated all the pros and cons to all of it, in several threads, over the years. My personal choice is to use a prussic backup, and extend the rappel, but even for me, without the decades of experience, that's still situational. It's a bit all or nothing, though. I simply don't have space for a backup under the ATC without extending it. The rigging, belay device, belay loop, carabiner, etc, is the same size for everyone. But the bodies we rig that on vary. I'm an extreme outlier, unless someone lets third graders rappel, lol! Jay told me he thinks I'm the shortest (adult) climber he's ever run into! :-D

And, I have yet to try clipping that rigged ATC guide hole and swapping to ascending. On that endless to do list.....

I've got retired anchors installed in my hallway, so no reason not to do this stuff, except Netflix and cheesecake. Sigh.

Best, Helen

Where do I sign up for the OLH heckle squad?

Helen, if I can make the Sept trip, we'll get on Too Much Fun. We can compare short person strategies through the crux. 

I recall feeling that I was about maxed out in flexibility getting through it.

As a recovered alcoholic I have  no sympathy for folks who have problems that they arn't dealing with. I am the first one to call BS on people who go poor me I have disease it's not my fault. As someone who  has been down the road I have earned the right to speak candidly on the subject. Sounds like Tony is in the same boat. The pc police really don't have the creds  to butt in on those conservations. 

Helen wrote: "There's a small flap going on elsewhere on MP in a rappelling thread, and I'm thinking some pics might help. Rgold has patiently delineated all the pros and cons to all of it, in several threads, over the years. My personal choice is to use a prussic backup, and extend the rappel, but even for me, without the decades of experience, that's still situational. It's a bit all or nothing, though. I simply don't have space for a backup under the ATC without extending it."

Hi Helen,

I recently coauthored a book called Rock Climbing: The Art of Safe Ascent  that's up to date on all the various methods of rappel backups and extensions, and includes good information on transitions (eg. Toproping to rappelling, leading to rappelling, etc.). Only $18 on amazon!

You may be using the term "prusik backup" generically, but the friction hitch I'd recommend (especially if you weight under 135 lbs.) is the autoblock.

Lori. I get where you're coming from. When my grandson was diagnosed with bone cancer 9 years ago I decided to wear my heart on my sleeve and say what I felt and thought. Obviously, you know I do that. I think that's pretty apparant. 

Obesity is a real problem. It's unhealthy. It limits people. It's not that it should be mocked or judged, but it should, if possible, be managed. We all do things that are bad for our health, I drink too much. Certainly my comments about losing weight were not meant as poking fun, but just that once one lets it go for too long and gets very much overweight (obese) it's so hard to come back from there. None of us are perfect, we all say the wrong thing at times. That doesn't mean we're bad, it means we're human, we aren't robots... 

Be kind to yourself, I judge you as being a caring, loving, nice person. 

I have a favorite story about weight alone being a not so great measure of fitness...

When my kid was little, a place I took him for summer camp while I was at work had a pool. One of the staffers was a college student, very popular with these little kids. She was, as my dad would have put it, built like a brick outhouse. To the kid's delight, they could step up into her cupped hands, and get launched high into the air, for a fabulous splashdown in the pool. She probably could've done this all day, tossing kids like those poles at a highlanders competition, lol!

I'm quite confident her height/weight were totally askew on the typical BMI chart for a college aged woman. And her body fat, too.

This powerhouse was the shotputter on the ladies college track and field team!

:-)

Hey, thanks, Bob! Both for the stuff, and the reminder I wanna grab your book!

Dare I inject some levity into a weighty discussion?  (The message might resonate with some of us who are still in the middle of those BMI charts.) 

rgoldwrote:

Dare I inject some levity into a weighty discussion?  (The message might resonate with some of us who are still in the middle of those BMI charts.) 

 

That's great. I love the little dance he's doing. Of course it COULD be said it is sort of objectifying all the ladies in the video but we won't say that. And they appear to be willing participants and over 18.. 

Day two of Lockdown for me and I'm struggling a little. Fucking bored out of my fucking mind already. 4 degrees outside during the day, so glad I'm not out and about really but so VERY bored! 

5 days to go. Hope it's not more did some kettlebell stuff today, not much. Rock Ring workout tomorrow me thinks.... 

Lori Milaswrote:

I make the assumption that by now I'm among personal friends who have shared so much over the last few years and know the whole backstory, and that is a wrong assumption.  From the outset I made the choice to use my real name and to include updates about my family, and suddenly I am feeling VERY vulnerable.

Lori (and everyone), please keep in mind that this is a public Internet forum. This thread is not private to the small group of people who participate in it. There are a ton of lurkers who are registered at MP who see stuff as it passes through the "recent posts" list. They may not comment, but they read. There are also a ton of non-registered people who can see what you post from anywhere in the country or around the world. These posts can and do show up in the results list of search engines like Google. There's no privacy here, although it may seem like that when posting with a small group of people. Remember that when making a comment or posting a photo.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

As a recovered alcoholic I have  no sympathy for folks who have problems that they arn't dealing with. I am the first one to call BS on people who go poor me I have disease it's not my fault. As someone who  has been down the road I have earned the right to speak candidly on the subject. Sounds like Tony is in the same boat. The pc police really don't have the creds  to butt in on those conservations. 

Lori said nothing wrong. Its funny how the PC police work isn't it? I'm not supposed to shame addicts/other people over their actions even though its quite offensive to me. If they see something offensive they have no problems shaming instead of just letting it go. Mostly we all want the same thing right? Too bad God didnt write self help books... Certainly the bible discusses temptations though, maybe we all need more religion.

Bob Gaineswrote:

Helen wrote: "There's a small flap going on elsewhere on MP in a rappelling thread, and I'm thinking some pics might help. Rgold has patiently delineated all the pros and cons to all of it, in several threads, over the years. My personal choice is to use a prussic backup, and extend the rappel, but even for me, without the decades of experience, that's still situational. It's a bit all or nothing, though. I simply don't have space for a backup under the ATC without extending it."

Hi Helen,

I recently coauthored a book called Rock Climbing: The Art of Safe Ascent  that's up to date on all the various methods of rappel backups and extensions, and includes good information on transitions (eg. Toproping to rappelling, leading to rappelling, etc.). Only $18 on amazon!

You may be using the term "prusik backup" generically, but the friction hitch I'd recommend (especially if you weight under 135 lbs.) is the autoblock.

Thanks 

I just ordered a copy from Amazon :)

Nothing really great lasts that long.
The best thing about this thread was the glimmer of honesty and candor that shone through all the usual Internet BS.

Guy Keeseewrote:

Nothing really great lasts that long.
The best thing about this thread was the glimmer of honesty and candor that shone through all the usual Internet BS.

Referring to this tread in the past tense is a bit presumptuous. This latest bit of conflict is rooted in honest communication on all sides. There hasn't been any trolling, just folks talking. I can certainly appreciate people wanting to step back a bit, and many of us have. But, there is real value to having a place where the issues of aging, particularly related to climbing can be discussed, commiserated, lampooned, etc in a grown-up manner.

The rendezvous in COR in June was amazing, and the September one is ON. I found climbing with a bunch of peers to be a total pleasure. And meeting a bunch of new people was the best. It wouldn't have happened if not for this thread.

Hey Victor,

If I can make the Sept gathering, I'd be happy to belay you on your projects. Sudden Pleasure is an excellent route and a noteworthy accomplishment upon getting the on-sight or redpoint.

Todd Berlier wrote:

agree. even for this somewhat outsider (not aware of Lori's complete back story), this thread has represented a refuge from the standard threads. 

it would be a shame, but accepted, if it went away in its current form or all together. 

i disagree with the blanket blame "PC culture." i think life is the search for perfection knowing i cannot achieve it, which means being open to change/improvement/evolution coming at me from any venue including this one.

peace my old climbing friends!

These threads are real people, having real conversations. That's back and forth, a LOT of back and forth, not just a meme and gone.

Speak for yourself, I'm here for whatever it is, for the long haul. That's proven, since we're now years in! 

I disagree with " the search for perfection" and personally embrace extreme gratitude to just be able to thud around each day, one day more, locomoting with anything approximating good enough and nothin falling off.

:-)

Jay Goodwinwrote:

Hey Victor,

If I can make the Sept gathering, I'd be happy to belay you on your projects. Sudden Pleasure is an excellent route and a noteworthy accomplishment upon getting the on-sight or redpoint.

I hope you can make it, because that sounds like fun!