New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #18

we finally  got a little bit of snow at the cabin. 9 inches according to Stanley.  The old girl did her job.  i am going to have to open up the heater box, clean the mouse/squirl nest out and instal a new blower motor soon.. 

Someone was nice enough to set in the skin track ;)  naturally it helps if you take your time getting there :)

 Still feeling this nasty cold/chest infection?.

Mark, Is that your son?  

S. Neohwrote:

I also generally prefer women setter's routes for they are usually less reachy, less powerful, more techy, and more graceful when climbed right.  That said, I tend to find they are quite fingery once in the .11 range and up.  

There are also many male route setters who are capable of, and have set, excellent routes which are not reachy, nor scrunchy, and very interesting.  Dave Wetmore is one who comes to mind for me.  The setters for Youth Divisional and National comps are also excellent.  My complete and utter failure on a route which a young Ashima walked up certainly was not due to my short stature!

The BRC has good male route setters too, but I'm particularly conscious of the women.

Yesterday I watched an eight-year-old kid who probably came up to my armpit autobelay two laps on an 11 (fingery, like you said), do another 11, and then do a 12-. I left, so no idea what came next. Talking to his mom -- also a climber -- I learned he's on Robyn's ABC team. I'll look for him in future comps and Olympics.  

Lori Milaswrote:

Broken record here... don't these stories belong in a book?  Over the last thousands of posts backstories have emerged on many of these famous routes... Jan, Kris, Guy, Cosmic, Bob, Randy, Russ, Darrell have held forth... this is the colorful history of Joshua Tree climbing.  I'm just so afraid it will all be lost.  

I've got some Josh gold. The problem is that the best of it involves Dave Mayville and Hidetaka Suzuki. Needless to say there was some wild climbing going on, competitive sessions  that Hidetaka always won with ease. Perhaps in retaliation, or just for the hell of it, Mayville was ruthless in the way that he took advantage of Suzuki's limited English and Japanese accent. This resulted in some scenarios and events that were so far beyond the pale, so profoundly politically incorrect, that if I were to tell some of them here I'd be banned immediately. Cancelled. Neither could they go in a book.

The only other time I recall laughing that hard was the time Jan and I got locked out of Indian Cove because it snowed half an inch. Jan took me down to Russ Walling - Soozes house. Jan and Russ got going with stories, slander, and even some jokes. They had me cracking up non-stop for the rest of the afternoon. Abs hurt he next day. Can't tell most of those either.

Sometimes what happens in Josh needs to stay in Josh  .

I have a good Two Scoops Please story that many may not believe.  

When Mike Waugh and I started climbing, the first day we were in Josh he got in way over his head leading some route.  He didn't lead again for at least a year.  When he finally decided to lead something for some reason this route became the target.  He led the first part quickly but then stalled out on the ledge.  He sat there in the sun for so long I finally threw a soda up to him (which he mostly sprayed all over me below because I wouldn't let him come down) so that he didn't die of dehydration.  Eventually he did lead the route and then I almost embarrassed myself by falling off the last move (but I didn't quite).  From then on Mike was a leading machine and has led some of the scariest routes ever put up.

Man... I'm loving these pictures, and so inspired by climbers everywhere posting up.  Hard to imagine 'ice' right now.  Wendy, Erika in Colorado... this is just impressive.  

For all the teasing about some kind of book... Randy of course is the guy, and I don't blame him if he would not want to produce another tome.  One thought I have would be to choose maybe 20 of the best routes here in Josh and tell some stories around them.  Cover the main perpetrators in those chapters   so that somehow a historical picture would emerge.  But also, I'd want to take it right up to current, get the low-down from Jeremy, Zach, some of the other young climbers who see this place through new eyes.  

Clearly there is a tradition of Joshua Tree climbing that is unique and separate from other places.  I just think it deserves some space. 

That's my wish, as a new resident of Joshua Tree... as a newish climber here who faces new rocks all the time, with NO IDEA what came before.  Some kind of representation of the culture here currently and how it came to be.  There is humor here.  There is youth.  There is 'the wrong crowd'... as Guy has said, which saved many young lives.  

----------------

I've been having a rough time, pesonally, physically, lately.  So, it has been helpful to just accept it and go with it for awhile.  Winter, I guess.  Meanwhile, I ran into a quote from Lonnie Kauk... very meaningful to me.  Not everyone is here for spiritual reasons, but I'm sure spirit called me here.  Where meditation, church, formal prayer may not be a good fit for everyone, rock and nature may offer something powerful, and a great form of spiritual practice.  One of my 2022 New Years goals is to make more room for this.  

"The spirits know your intention. Everything travels as energy. So when you approach with a certain intention, a climb or a certain place, the spirit, the rock, they know. Once you experience that, all those new feelings come into you. Then, you're flying."

Next to Lonnie's quote was a pic of his dad... and geez.  All troubles vanished for me when I saw this picture.  What's more to say?

 

"One thought I have would be to choose maybe 20 of the best routes here in Josh and tell some stories around them."

Hi Lori, check out Randy's book Classic Joshua Tree Routes and Bouldering (2010).

He includes stories of the first ascents and history of many of the classic routes told by the key players.

Same climb, different climber doing it for different reason(s).  In 1986.

Photo from Heinz Zak's collection.  He went on to solo it himself in 2005.

who is in this photo?

After having a great few months last summer in the Gunks I have decided to move from south FL to Las Vegas.  I just have to have outdoor climbing in my life!

I would love to put some names to faces and do a little climbing with any of you fine folks :)

I am also hoping to do a few trips over the next year perhaps to Zion, J-tree, Gunks...?

If anyone would like to climb please reach out here or on Instagram where I am Killfatmike.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

who is in this photo?

Wolfgang Gullich

Mike Kwrote:

After having a great few months last summer in the Gunks I have decided to move from south FL to Las Vegas.  

I would love to put some names to faces and do a little climbing with any of you fine folks :)

Hi Mike, I go there regularly. I’d be happy to climb with you sometime. Pm me once you get settled in. Phyl

S. Neohwrote:

Same climb, different climber doing it for different reason(s).  In 1986.

Photo from Heinz Zak's collection.  He went on to solo it himself in 2005.

I got to know Wolfgang really well when I worked with him on the movie Cliffhanger. He was Stallone's climbing double. He was one of the most humble GOAT climbers you'd ever meet. He died in a car crash shortly after the movie wrapped.

I've done Separate Reality a couple of times, once for the movie  Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), when I doubled for Capt. Kirk for his El Cap free solo in the opening sequence of the movie. Separate Reality was part of the climbing montage. Since he was free soloing, I wore a hidden swami belt and ran the rope through the sleeve of the sweater I wore for wardrobe. The crack on Separate Reality is through a thick flake of rock, and when you're standing on top of the climb the crack is at your feet and you can look down through it.  So for a belay I ran the rope through the crack and my belayer walked on top and followed me as I jammed out toward the lip.

It's hard to comprehend free soloing it, since the move at the lip is a bouldery sequence (11d/12a). Here's a shot from the first time I led it (1983).

PS: 

On a little side note, both Ron Kauk and Wolfgang Gullich were hired as climbing doubles for Sylvester Stallone in the movie Cliffhanger. 

Wolfgang was hired after I showed Sly a video of Wolfgang in training, doing one-arm one-finger pull ups.

I attended an initial production meeting in Hollywood with Sly, Ron and Wolfgang. Ron and Wolfgang had been housed in a Hollywood hotel, fed 5 meals a day, working out daily with a trainer to bulk up to replicate Sly's physique. When Ron showed up, he was whippet thin, climbing 5.14, and I think the last thing he wanted to do was bulk up.

Wolfgang was more receptive. At the meeting Sly mentioned that they might need a little "supplementation," which I took to mean something administered by injection, but I'm not exactly sure what went down. All I know is that Wolfgang bulked up considerably to more closely resemble Sly's stature and ended up as Sly's climbing double. Ron was so well-liked by everyone that he remained on the stunt crew for the duration of the shoot, on the payroll for about 4 months, occasionally doubling for some of the other actors.

cool bob!

Bob, are those karate pants? I found it was hard to see my  feet wearing my gi pants so I taped the ankles. I also didn't climb 5.12 ;) 

 Once you made Black belt we had a choice to wear whatever color Gi we wanted . I  ususally did white top and black pants or black top and white pants..  

Looks like i  sometimes wore all black or all white as well... 

Bob Gaineswrote:

. Since he was free soloing, I wore a hidden swami belt and ran the rope through the sleeve of the sweater I wore for wardrobe. The crack on Separate Reality is through a thick flake of rock, and when you're standing on top of the climb the crack is at your feet and you can look down through it.  So for a belay I ran the rope through the crack and my belayer walked on top and followed me as I jammed out toward the lip.

Ah, so thats how you did!  I remember the footage and was wondering how the climber (you!) was protected.  COOL.
Now I know how that sausage was made!!  Thanks.

"Bob, are those karate pants?"

Thrift store painter's pants.

Bob Gaineswrote:

"Bob, are those karate pants?"

Thrift store painter's pants.

I showed this picture to Tony and he said “That’s our Bob?”  Pretty spectacular!

Helen plans to come visit in April and I’m pretty sure she’ll be wanting to climb something like this.  I’m ready, too… we may need a little extra coaching and some white chalk dots.  Otherwise we are all good to go.  

You really want that inverted, dontcha girl?   

How to tell we have Dignified Old Ladies participating in this thread:

Neither Lori nor I nor any of the others have (to my knowledge) marketed a pinup calendar of you hunks yet and your climbing porn pics.

Dignified, or perhaps merely sneaky?

Anyway, yeah, Lori and I are negotiating how many tonnes of lasagne I need to consume to earn housing. I'm thinking firstish week in April. It's a long drive, so I'll do it in two days. Not sure where exactly I'll be, or when, for the up and back parts, but I might go up to 2ish weeks total, and up to half that down on the southern end of it.

There are heaps of MP people I've yet to meet, and a few I know already, down south, so it should be a super fun trip!

The MP rendezvous is June, but I'll likely be at COR before that. Plus, I intend to get to some places closer to home, in Idaho and Oregon. 

I'm going for fun, meeting people, and, well, pushing myself to get out there, for my 65th year. I started with our September get together, birthday is next month, so 2022 will be fun!

Best, Helen

Bob Gaineswrote:

I got to know Wolfgang really well when I worked with him on the movie Cliffhanger. He was Stallone's climbing double. He was one of the most humble GOAT climbers you'd ever meet. He died in a car crash shortly after the movie wrapped.

I've done Separate Reality a couple of times, once for the movie  Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), when I doubled for Capt. Kirk for his El Cap free solo in the opening sequence of the movie. Separate Reality was part of the climbing montage. Since he was free soloing, I wore a hidden swami belt and ran the rope through the sleeve of the sweater I wore for wardrobe. The crack on Separate Reality is through a thick flake of rock, and when you're standing on top of the climb the crack is at your feet and you can look down through it.  So for a belay I ran the rope through the crack and my belayer walked on top and followed me as I jammed out toward the lip.

It's hard to comprehend free soloing it, since the move at the lip is a bouldery sequence (11d/12a). Here's a shot from the first time I led it (1983).

PS: 

On a little side note, both Ron Kauk and Wolfgang Gullich were hired as climbing doubles for Sylvester Stallone in the movie Cliffhanger. 

Wolfgang was hired after I showed Sly a video of Wolfgang in training, doing one-arm one-finger pull ups.

I attended an initial production meeting in Hollywood with Sly, Ron and Wolfgang. Ron and Wolfgang had been housed in a Hollywood hotel, fed 5 meals a day, working out daily with a trainer to bulk up to replicate Sly's physique. When Ron showed up, he was whippet thin, climbing 5.14, and I think the last thing he wanted to do was bulk up.

Wolfgang was more receptive. At the meeting Sly mentioned that they might need a little "supplementation," which I took to mean something administered by injection, but I'm not exactly sure what went down. All I know is that Wolfgang bulked up considerably to more closely resemble Sly's stature and ended up as Sly's climbing double. Ron was so well-liked by everyone that he remained on the stunt crew for the duration of the shoot, on the payroll for about 4 months, occasionally doubling for some of the other actors.

Hey Bob, was Barry Blanchard also doing stunt work there?

Barry was one of the climbing stunt riggers. He's just an awesome guy, and a great alpinist and guide. After being Sly's climbing instructor pre-production, I was the Chief Safety Officer during the shoot, in charge of safety for cast and crew, when we were on location in the Italian Dolomites. Barry knew I was like a fish out of water on the snow and ice and would laugh at me when I floundered in the snow, or put my gaiters on backwards. We got along great, and I have a lot of respect for his accomplishments as an alpinist and ice climber- one of the best ever. I'm glad he's recovering well from a recent traumatic brain injury.