New and Experienced climbers over 50 #20

Yeah, I’ve talked about stuff with my phone off and ads show up shortly thereafter.  Creepy as F.  I was told that my phone was listening to me 20 years ago and thought it was crazy talk.  It is not.

Thanks for the pain suggestions  everyone.

Knee is feeling significantly better, though still not great.  Paula is mad at me because I don’t want to go to the doctors tomorrow if it is still improving.  Day three  of supercharged collagen and fingerboarding.  I wait 45 minutes then do knee mobility exercises as well as fingerboarding.  Looking forward to a better tomorrow but we’ll see.

Kristian Solemwrote:

That's nothing. Last week I was poking around up in Death Valley in the jeep. I drove over Steele Pass, from Eureka Dunes over and down through Panamint Hot Springs. I was behind schedule so I just stopped and looked around for a quick minute and went on my way. The place is a small scale commercial venture with camping to rent. 

Now I get ads on FB for the place. I didn't even talk to anyone, and my phone was in airplane mode (I don't like leaving a trail of cell phone pings). So, obviously, FB has access to my car's GPS info.

Airplane mode typically doesn’t turn off gps.  There are other ways to do it

I think EE is correct^.
I would not have guessed there can be any worse than Google, MS, etc but now I know FB is worse, maybe even much worse.
I was never a fan so hence not a member of the billion strong FB community.

Eric Engbergwrote:

Airplane mode typically doesn’t turn off gps.  There are other ways to do it

Interesting. Does simply shutting the thing off do the trick?

Kristian Solemwrote:

Interesting. Does simply shutting the thing off do the trick?

If you totally power it down it should do the trick.  I think there are settings that allow you to turn off GPS in Airplane mode - different for Apple vs Samsung vs...???   But I'm not sure I would trust them.   Depending on paranoia level you could put it in a lead bag.  Or use a tin foil hat - on the phone not your noggin

I always keep the GPS off on all of my devices. 

Great week for me. I went to the Grand Canyon to rendezvous with my grandkids & meet my great granddaughter. Three granddaughters, one grandson, and the GREATS THING EVER A GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER.

So if I read Carl's fuck poems out loud often enough will I get, uh, ummmm... interesting content delivered to my doorstep??

Eric Engbergwrote:

 But I'm not sure I would trust them.   Depending on paranoia level you could put it in a lead bag.  Or use a tin foil hat - on the phone not your noggin

+1.

And, yeah, def the thin foil hat.  :)  Big Brother is watching, listening, and spying.

Todd Berlier wrote:

best comment of the day!

my willful ignorance on this tracking and targeted ads reminds me of a line from a RATM song, "if ignorance is bliss then wipe the smile off my face mother fucker!!!"

back to climbing--just had a couple hour session with my 11 year old: she flashed a pipeworks 11a!! she was super stoked as thats a first for her. it was hard for me to contain myself. i managed an 11d which i was psyched on as it was 50 feet tall which is 4x the length im use to!

Pipeworks.  Wow.  An 11d is very hard!  Congrats on your daughter's 11a!  

Those skills would come in handy here on this route.  I never found out the name, or even if it has a name.  I sat in awe and watched a young climber on this route 3+ years ago (Zach)... and thought "I will never be able to touch that."  but never stopped thinking about it. 

Today Tony and I drove into the Park so I could check out when Run For Your Life will be in shade (looks like it will be an afternoon climb)... and swung by Intersection to watch a whole lot of people having fun on top rope, including a guy I could swear was Dave, casually working his way up Trapeze.  A really elegant strong climber.  I had never seen anyone complete that route.  

That got me thinking about the route... the one I would love to just sample--any part of it, even if not the whole thing!  This is when those Pipework or bouldering skills would come so in handy.  Maybe more work on the climbing wall in my garage.  I'm re-inspired!  

S. Neohwrote:

+1.

And, yeah, def the thin foil hat.  :)  Big Brother is watching, listening, and spying.

Hmm, I've "disabled" a lot of stuff on my phone and laptop, never had an experience like many report.  But perhaps it's because no one cares about those who live in small mountain towns in Idaho vs those who live in Gotham.

Mark Frumkinwrote:

Never thought I would live much passed 25.

You and me both. Well, actually, I was shooting for 35...   

‘Carl of the Mountains’  (AKA ‘Nothing Man’ because as far as bouldering goes he does almost nothing) did an actual whole boulder problem today. 

An actual whole one. 

Got to the top and realised my pad was nowhere near where I would fall. Jokingly I thought to myself ‘could someone move that pad for me?’  

It was very easy (V1) but when you’re out there alone things can quickly go wrong.  

They were grading a nearby road which sort of killed the ambiance. Normally around here all you can hear is the birds and flies and your breathing. 

https://youtu.be/mbdrOZ0fbOE

That’s a heartbreaker, Todd.  So much devastation in our forests and it seems everyone now plans their schedule around the forest fires in the Sierra, expecting a month or two of those beautiful mountains being inhospitable. My son and his wife and three daughters live in Soda Springs  and I keep wondering when they’re going to decide to move. Getting out of there during snow storms is nearly impossible where he lives but getting out of there in a fire is worse.

I went climbing today on a route that I really wanted to do three years ago and at that time I did nothing but slip and slide on it. Today didn’t go much better, at least I’m learning when to call it a day and move on to something else. I feel like I have a hard limit of 10b (with a few exceptions) and I don’t see that changing without some weight loss that is probably beyond what I can handle as a diabetic, and maybe just a little more technique would help. Although, come to think of it, Bob is not tiny and he’s a powerful steam engine , so there’s that. Maybe I just need to channel my inner Bob.    

I just had a long talk with my survivalist next-door neighbor and I’ve been saying for a while that I think we need to be more prepared out here in the desert with water, food and alternative communication. He is an ex marine so it’s his opinion that unless we were in an active war the Marines would help out here in Joshua Tree, eventually. I believe the United States is going to feel it has no choice but to go into Ukraine soon, and I think we need to be prepared as much as possible for whatever happens after that. I’m such a scaredy-cat  but I know we cannot keep watching and trying to explain our inaction. It's the first time in my life where I feel so much compassion for the suffering in Ukraine that I would endanger my own life if it would stop the pain for others.  It's just, I finally understand why someone would ignore their own fear in the service of helping another.  anyway I wouldn’t be surprised that one morning soon we turn on the news and find that we have gone in.  

Afterthought:  climbing with shoes a half size too small is bullshit.  My feet hurt, my toes hurt, and the pain is a distraction.  I'm not a good enough climber where this should matter.  So... I'm going to buy new shoes.  

I think climbing 10.b is fine. As long as you’re enjoying it. I’m sitting contemplating the rising of the sun before I go bouldering alone. I’ll simply do the traverse start of a V4 over and over as I don’t want to/can’t do anything else by myself. From tomorrow I start having company so things will change.  It’s so peaceful here and there’s so much bird life.  

Carl Schneiderwrote:

I think climbing 10.b is fine. As long as you’re enjoying it. I’m sitting contemplating the rising of the sun before I go bouldering alone. I’ll simply do the traverse start of a V4 over and over as I don’t want to/can’t do anything else by myself. From tomorrow I start having company so things will change.  It’s so peaceful here and there’s so much bird life.  

Beautiful place you got there, Carl.

Climbing at any grade should be fine as long as you are enjoying it!

A lot of us here have to come to terms with that as we age.Realistic expectations go a long way.
For me that means half a number grade reduction in absolute difficulty per decade. Ambitious perhaps but so far attainable and gets me psyched for climbing even after 30+ years.

I could do V0 traverses all day every day and be happy, its still better than walking.

I went climbing today.  I don't normally have proof of such activity, but we actually had 3 people today, so I did get a photo or 5.

Lori, you definitely can work on your technique.  Your ass should never be stuck out in the air on a slab route.  You should be standing straight up (per gravity) with your heels dropped and your body relaxed.  Almost like you are when hanging there.

I think worrying about us getting involved in Ukraine is a little over the top.  Nobody in this country will be willing to push that far for them.  Just like nobody started WW3 over Yemen.

Lori Milaswrote:

I believe the United States is going to feel it has no choice but to go into Ukraine soon, and I think we need to be prepared as much as possible for whatever happens after that. I’m such a scaredy-cat  but I know we cannot keep watching and trying to explain our inaction. It's the first time in my life where I feel so much compassion for the suffering in Ukraine that I would endanger my own life if it would stop the pain for others.  It's just, I finally understand why someone would ignore their own fear in the service of helping another.  anyway I wouldn’t be surprised that one morning soon we turn on the news and find that we have gone in.  

Afterthought:  climbing with shoes a half size too small is bullshit.  My feet hurt, my toes hurt, and the pain is a distraction.  I'm not a good enough climber where this should matter.  So... I'm going to buy new shoes.  

Oh Lori. I have never breathed a word on this thread that could be seen as political. I don’t mean this post to be political either.

We, and NATO, must not get involved in combat in Ukraine. Even a no-fly zone is crazy. What do we do when good pilot in a Mig-29 takes down one of our fighters? Escalate? Back down? What’s it going to be?

I hear people talking about a Berlin Airlift type of operation, to deliver aid and supplies to Kyiv and other cities. They haven’t studied their history. The Berlin airlift worked because we made a deal with the Soviets that our aircraft could come and go via a narrow corridor where they would be safe. The Soviets gambled that we wouldn’t be able to pull it off logistically, and they lost their bet. Flying over Ukraine, we will have no such deal. What do we do when the Russians shoot down one of our C-17’s on a mercy flight? Escalate? Back down?

When you get into that kind of brinksmanship all it takes is one Russki with a happy trigger finger on a SAM, and we’re looking at a much larger conflict.

We all feel for the people of Ukraine. But unless Putin moves on a NATO ally it’s not our fight. The risk of escalation, even to biological or nuclear war (Putin has now threatened both) is unjustifiable. We cannot go to war based on our feelings. Cold as that sounds.

Are Putin’s threats empty? Is he a psychopath? Can we take a gamble on that with the future inhabitability of our planet at stake?

Bit of traversing followed by hammocking 

https://youtu.be/zGERlKObxhE