New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #18

My best to Tony & you. 

Here is some mood lightening content for people this AM.

We went last night to Descanso Gardens Enchanted Forest of Light and it was fabulous.

There were some gorgeous laser cut metal structures and the largest one had this cardboard sign admonishing “ no climbing”.

There were 10 different sections and they all had nice music. 

Hugs from afar, Lori! Send some on to Tony, too. I think his docs chose an all day surgery so they could order in pizza! 

"No, no, nurse! Margherita, not the pepperoni! That's the anesthetist's!!" 

Best, Helen

phylp phylpwrote:

Here is some mood lightening content for people this AM.

We went last night to Descanso Gardens Enchanted Forest of Light and it was fabulous.

There were some gorgeous laser cut metal structures and the largest one had this cardboard sign admonishing “ no climbing”.

There were 10 different sections and they all had nice music. 

Beautiful phylp!!! What beautiful colors! Have you ever been to the laserium in Griffith Park?

Strange you should post those pictures as right now Tony and I are killing more time at the Crystal cathedral while we wait for his appointment.  I’m having philosophical issues with this place, but it is beautiful.  Kristian asked about the organ here, I had to do a little search for it.  5 years of renovation and over $2,000,000 in costs to restore it… but I can’t see it today because it’s being “tuned”.

• This structure just wants to be climbed.   
  
  

Lori Milaswrote:

Beautiful phylp!!! What beautiful colors! Have you ever been to the laserium in Griffith Park?

Strange you should post those pictures as right now Tony and I are killing more time at the Crystal cathedral while we wait for his appointment.  I’m having philosophical issues with this place, but it is beautiful.  

Thanks! Haven’t been to either of those places yet but will put them on the fun list. 

Good luck to you both, Lori.  Sorry to hear about the hurry-up-and-wait.  But this is a big one, so best do it right.  Hope it all turns out well.

Todd:  Nice one!  I love a good trundle!  Especially when no-one is in danger, and I'm not on the sharp end.  :)

Anyone want to share stories of *unexpected* trundles on the sharp-end?  Near-trundles (where you managed to sneak around them) are good too.

Not a great story, but I'll kick it off.  Once on the FA of a desert tower I tried everything I could think of to get around a huge flake that felt hollow.  I finally decided it wasn't going anywhere, grabbed the top of it, and as delicately as I could, tried to mantle up over it onto a nearby ledge.  Well three feet of this two-inch flake broke off, sending me and it tumbling down on my poor belayer.  Fortunately my gear caught me just fine, and he managed to dodge all the big pieces.  So I headed back up, and now had a nice solid handhold at the top of where the flake broke off, making the mantle to the ledge easy.

GO

Gabe

Not quite the same as trundle while leading a pitch.

Our friends Nancy and Greg decided to do The West Slabs on Mt Olympus back in July 11, 2008 with Jean and I. All of us live in PA. We meet our our son's house in SLC to get an early start.

We decided to take half ropes with us. Nancy and Greg would climb with one rope and Jean and I with the other rope. Since it is a 10 pitch climb 5.5 rating, we should fall on the route. Save some weight on the approach and make the raps quicker.

We had no problem doing the hike up the trail on Mt Olympus until we hit the snow field. We had to crawl between a rack wall and piece of ice. We had to go one at a time. We had roughly 300-400 feet to go to get to the base of the climb. Nancy started to climb straight up for about 10 feet to a ledge and Jean was getting ready to go next when a large boulder came down that rolled under Nancy's foot and hit Jean's back pack. The boulder was about 2 feet from me when it fell down.

Jean was thrown to the right into the ice little water fall that we had just come through. The force was so great that one of Jean's hiking shoes came off. 

Nancy had also fallen back down and landed on top of Jean. Jean stated that she could not feel her legs. I had to lower Jean down the ice field with one of the ropes. Jean stated that she could now feel her legs. I then took her pack and she and Nancy both limped down back to the car.

Once down, we went to the hospital to have them both looked at. Nancy had just a sprain in her ankle, Jean's MRI should that she had micro-tears along her spine. The doctor said it was similar to someone having get hit in a car accident broadsided.

Here is the picture of the rock that hit Jean. This is Greg's foot which is a size 11.

Snow field that I had to lower Jean down.

All of us were lucky that it was not worst.

John

GabeOwrote:

Anyone want to share stories of *unexpected* trundles on the sharp-end?  Near-trundles (where you managed to sneak around them) are good too.

A friend of mine pulled off a larger than microwave size block while "bouldering" an undeveloped section of a developed crag at Summerville Lake in the mid '90's.  The block landed on his leg before he had a chance to roll away.  That resulted in a tib-fib compund fracture of his leg.  I was first one on him.  With all the adrenaline, I had no troubie pulling and flipping the block off him.  I was later informed by our friends that that block probably weighed in at 100 lb.  But I had no trouble manhandling it in the heat of the moment.

An epic rescue and water evac ensued. By boat because a kind hearted couple responded to our calls for help and brought their boat to the rocky shore. Five of us had to lift Peter down the rocks into the water and onto the boat. An ambulance met us at the boat landing and took Peter to the ER and then onward to some gnarly surgery in Charleston, WV.

A couple of years later I wass back at the same crag.  That fateful block was still there, just about where I remembered it being left at durng our rescue.  I have mental images of the whole affair seared into my brain.  I see them vividly to this day.

Choss accidents are always reoccurring bad nightmares.

We had a bizarro meeting with new Cardiologist yesterday who decided that Tony's heart is 'great', whatever damage was done in the past is done, and there is a 'moderate' risk of cardiac failure on the table. Therefore, it's a GO.  So, tomorrow morning at 5:15 we start!  

A bit of a rant here... Tony's had over a decade of being officially in "heart failure", and we were told that this isn't something you can reverse.  Apparently, he reversed it.. and the only thing that Tony did differently was to start taking bovine dessicated heart and lung capsules by the fistful 4 months ago--sort of a Hail Mary, couldn't hurt, might help  His heart has actually restored to it's normal size and capacity, and the 'ejection fraction', which we were told could never improve, is now normal.  And yet, with everything now 'normal' this Cardiologist came up with a list of 5 medications Tony might want to consider taking, including statins.  (His cholesterol is actually below normal).  No mention of diet, sodium, healthy fats or exercise.  Just a walking PDF.  If I were a doctor today, I think I would tire of just dispensing meds.  

Thanks for letting me share and indulge a bit... as I guess we can consider partners to be somewhat included in the lives of 'climbers over 50'.  This aging thing.  ARGH!  The good lord has given me the vision to 'see' Tony as the strong dude he is, even though at this moment he is a bit flustered and out of his element.  I want to see him wake up swinging and get his swag back. This is one guy who had inborn swag, and it would be a joy to see it again.    

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I am REALLY sorry to beat a dead horse (and I will stop).  But can anyone tell me (maybe Bob?) exactly where Jane's Getting Serious is on the EBGBs block?  Is it just to the left of EBGBs but on the same face, or is it around the corner on the left face?  Is there a separate bolt line for it?   Very hard to tell from the description and pictures... but it appears to me to be just left by a few feet/yards of the EBGBs route.  

I don't know when/if I'll be back, so it's just a little haunting to only have had only one go at it, and not know why I found it so difficult.  Is this about the correct line for EBGBs? 

On the other hand... I thought Run For Your Life was about my speed--both about 10b face climbing, right? ... fun, engaging and well within my limit.  That was a surprisingly fun afternoon, when I suspected it might go badly. 

I get to have a little climbing interlude today before we head back to UCI hospital.  Changed hotels.  I'm starting to think that Sprinter van would be a good thing after all.  Ya'll have fun... keep telling your stories!!!  

I'll be thinking of both of you tomorrow!

I once met a doc who was leaning more and more toward alternative ways of doing medicine. She was also getting more and more torn with keeping her M.D. up to date (all that pharma) but did so, to keep her hospital privileges. Super interesting lady to chat with, back then!

Lori, you are one of the rare ones, sadly. Someone who not only can understand what info they get from a doc, but will also research on your own. For those who don't/won't/can't do that? Get in tight with a good pharmacist, at the least.

Best wishes tomorrow! 

Helen

Lori, we'll be keeping Tony and you in our thoughts.

Jane's Getting Serious lies on the face around the corner to the left of EBGBs (in shade in your pictures), the start maybe 50 feet from EBGBs start, and is a completely separate line and bolts.  The face is protected by a large roof/undercut. When we last climbed it, there was a large "cheat stone" pile to start. Even so, the moves getting established on the face are very hard and height dependent (solid 5.12). There is a bolt at the lip that was used for aid on the FA, and protects the free move. Once on the face, it is maybe 5.11b... a noticably more difficult version of EBGBs. I don't think it gets climbed much, but has good climbing once over the roof..

Ugh, that roof move was HARD!

I haven’t posted here for years. Just reading through the comments. I have been climbing a lot, mostly Smith but Colorado and CA as well (Clear Creek mostly in CO). A picture of my son and I on Guppy in CO, fun four pitch route that is pretty easy, and me on the final pitch of Voyage of the Cowdog at Smith.

Reading about injuries and fitness. I see them both as fluid. I dealt with plantar fasciitis for years when I was racing triathlons. Stiff soles and orthopedics finally stopped it. Dealt with elbow issues and tons of PT. Straight arm kettle bell walks working on shoulders down and back makes a huge difference and makes all the difference on overhangs and manteling.

I mountain bike a lot, spin a lot, but still deal with heart issues. I was passing out and ended up with an implant monitor to find out my heart rate would drop to the low 30’s and upper 20’s. Cardiologist doesn’t know why, but I monitor my heart rate continuously. A new prescription fish oil has really helped me a ton.

Best thing is my wife took up climbing in October and took her on her first outdoor climb with our kids over Thanksgiving. It was great and now we climb almost daily between gym and Smith.

Glad to see you are all still climbing. I have done many sports in my life, climbing is the most incredible. I call it yoga with consequences.

Tom Hickmannwrote:

...I call it yoga with consequences.

Nice. Very nice...   

I killed it. I really needed the win today.  Coming down from this route I took it as a sign… everything is going to be ok.   

Will catch up on all these posts soon… and thank you Randy, that helped.  

Tom Hickmannwrote:

I have done many sports in my life, climbing is the most incredible. I call it yoga with consequences.

I know that road! I drove on it a bunch of times in 2017.  

Yeah, climbing is pretty awesome by comparison.  Yoga with consequences.  Got to remember that one!

I’m still basking a bit on the surprise Old Soft Shoe.  My plan was to visit the rock during this brief outing and climb everything else… and wave at the Laeger/Houser/McCollum route.  Nelson led it (and then the bottom route) and threw down a top rope-what could I say? 

 What I am learning from Nelson is the power of language when climbing. What I call “scary” Nelson calmly converts to “challenging”. When I say hard he says intense. When I am believing I can’t he says, yea well maybe you can on this one. His instructions through the first five moves required me to just trust and do— there is a kind of surrender.Words and positivity mean a lot—as you lifelong climbers well know.  Mental discipline.

When belaying Nelson I’m learning to let go of anxiety and just try to be a good partner… and laugh.  (More yoga philosophy… detachment.)  (Maybe Bride of Frankenstein?)

Lori Milaswrote:

I killed it. I really needed the win today.  Coming down from this route I took it as a sign… everything is going to be ok.   

Will catch up on all these posts soon… and thank you Randy, that helped.  

Oh that's lovely! Well done! I'm so glad you're feeling happy... 

Playing the waiting game this morning. Does anyone know any good knock knock jokes?

Tony went into surgery this morning at seven and won’t be out until five. He’s looking strong and hopeful, we had a string of surgeons come in and out and ask him his name and if he knew what they were going to do to him today and he manages to glaze over and tell them he’s pretty sure they’re going to operate on his back. I glare at him and he says well what? Did I guess right?  

I heard his ortho out in the hallway this morning giving one of the nurses hell for not assembling his chart right, so he doesn’t take crap. I saw another attending with a ring on his finger and I asked him if that was an Oura ring and he said yeah, They all monitor their sleep fitness and recovery and today they are on top of their game. So what more could one ask?

edit: I meant to add that somehow it came up that these surgeons do not break to eat and they do not pee for the entire nine hours surgery. One doctor said we just train our bodies that way, so I guess these are true superheroes. Myself, I have to pee every hour so we would have a problem.   

Thank you all so much for your support, I know Tony is not a climber but he means one hell of a lot to this climber. I’m going to kill a little time today with some shopping… A thing we don’t have much of an Joshua Tree. Peace!