New and Experienced climbers over 50 #20

Randywrote:

Carl, sounds like you are having a great time and cranking!

GaboO, we love real maple syrup. That's so cool

Quite an interesting time really. Quite a bit of time spent by myself. Off too Arapalis today for some easy trad.  

Alan Rubinwrote:

Carl, What crag is that? It doesn’t look like Arapiles and other than Summersday Valley I don’t recall too many crags in the Grampians with a concentration of routes in those grades.

Oh you know Summerday valley? You’re only allowed to climb there with a guide now. This is Lower Tribute. The routes are lined up perfectly, in order from easiest to hardest L to R!  

Ward Smithwrote:

No, I used to always take at least a week or two off around Christmas, I just haven’t done it in a few years.  I think it makes a lot of sense for a bunch of reasons, 

Yeah, I usually time mine for early Jan when the gyms are packed with people with newly minted New Year's resolution.
This year it was actually a 'forced' one when I had a stubborn climbing related injury.  Very convenient :) 

GabeOwrote:

  Here is a sample bottle from each batch:

NICE!!!!
Glad you make the light stuff too.  We have both Light and Dark.  The light stuff is delightfully subtle when used as a sweetener on certain bland foods.

S. Neohwrote:

Yeah, I usually time mine for early Jan when the gyms are packed with people with newly minted New Year's resolution.
This year it was actually a 'forced' one when I had a stubborn climbing related injury.  Very convenient :) 

Well I couldn’t stay away and hit the gym this morning. Didn’t use my left leg and did three 8s and four 9’s.   Hoppitty hop hop….

Knew that it would take more than a bum knee to keep you down long, Ward, though I still think that you should listen to your wise wife and see a doctor!!!! I don’t like them either, but they did save my life 10 years ago. See you soon—and about that secret crag……

Todd Berlier wrote:

those are beautiful Gabe! go to know about your elbow!

Thanks Todd!  Now I just need to find time to get outside and try it out on some real rock.

Carl Schneider wrote: 

Did someone say pancakes?

Coming right up Carl!  You can try 'em with my mother-in-law's blueberries.  She's from Maine.  Yum...  By the way, that crag in your picture is absolutely gorgeous.

Lori wrote:
Oh this is beautiful, Gabe! Wish I was there to help... I would take one the darkest bottles home with me.

Thanks Lori!  The dark is my favorite too.  Though I also like the vanilla/marshmallow flavor of the light ones.

Randy wrote: 

GaboO, we love real maple syrup. That's so cool 

Thanks Randy!  We do too!  It does not, and cannot come from a factory.  It's a real labor of love.

Idaho Bob wrote:

When I lived in Vermont, sugar season was kind of special.  Friend had a sugar shack, details classified.

LOL.  Dunno how you rolled in VT, but in my neck of the woods it's not exactly a wild uncensored party!  More like back-breaking work, hauling endless buckets of sap over frozen snowy ground, in a starkly beautiful woodland.  All on my own.  No sound but the drip, drip, drip of the sap in the buckets, the roar of the fire in the evaporator, and the bubbling of the boiling sap.

Here's a short video I took a couple weeks ago:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/ECcEg8UYfK1YRQ1h9

Cheers,

GO

S. Neohwrote:

NICE!!!!
Glad you make the light stuff too.  We have both Light and Dark.  The light stuff is delightfully subtle when used as a sweetener on certain bland foods.

Yep.  It's nice to get a variety.  Though I actually have no control over what I make.  It's all determined by the sap.   All come from the same trees, and I process the sap the same.  All the syrup has the the same final sugar content and density.  It is a seasonal trend.  The trees give a sap at the early season (late Feb) that produces a syrup that is lighter in color and flavor.  More marshmallow/vanilla than "classic" maple flavor.  The Amber comes from mid-season (mid March) sap with that classic maple.  And late season (late March) sap tends to produce the darker color and richer flavors. 

GO

Bit of trad climbing at Araps today. Followed Hornpiece (3 star 13) then Ejaculation (15).  At the top I couldn’t resist announcing “Wow!!! Carl ejaculated. “I think I just ejaculated!”

Now I’m having a beer in my tent and watching an episode of The Young Ones on my laptop. None of you would know The Young Ones. British TV comedy.
BTW pancake mix and maple syrup are on the shopping list for tomorrow. Rest day tomorrow I think.
(pic is Hornpiece, following seams straight up the front of that buttress. 

Wow, Carl, you have been climbing some stunning looking rocks!  Rather envious!
Enjoy.

if you are at home you never need pancake mix. its just flour, water an egg or two and baking powder. 

I wrote a poem. Sorry. Hope it might connect with someone.

When I Wuz 12

Empty of futurepast,
There’s nothing only now.
(full).

I love my dreams they are so delightful,
I love that dreamscape it’s so enlightful,

I love bits of it,
The tales telled,
It’s like books I read when I wuz 12.

Carl - when I was a teenager I used to watch The Young Ones.  I thought it was the funniest thing I'd ever seen on TV.  Not sure how it wound up on our side of the pond, maybe on MTV?  I can't recall.

GO

Carl Schneiderwrote:

I wrote a poem. Sorry. Hope it might connect with someone.

When I Wuz 12

Empty of futurepast,
There’s nothing only now.
(full).

I love my dreams they are so delightful,
I love that dreamscape it’s so enlightful,

I love bits of it,
The tales telled,
It’s like books I read when I wuz 12.

Carl... lovely poem, beautiful pics!  What animals/critters do you have around you there?  Anything we don't have here?

---

I bumped into this video of my Pipeworks partner/coach working out the moves on a 10d that I couldn't quite get.  Watching it now I think, gee... was I climbing routes like that--I think I eventually did send it?  Ryan is/was such an excellent climber, strong, compact, very relaxed, forearms of steel.  He could climb most anything in the gym.  

But I was biding my time at Pipeworks so I could be a better climber at Joshua Tree.  I would come back from a trip to Josh and say "Ryan... how does this translate to slab, or crack?"  Short answer, it doesn't.  Still, the workout and training somehow helped overall.  It was very hard to leave Ryan and his friendship behind...he had become so important to me!  Tony suggested we kidnap him and just keep him.    

That’s cool Gabe. I guess I assume a lot. Lori there’s a few wallabies (they are like small ugly kangaroos) a lot of skinks, parrots, wrens, crows. I somehow managed to drink five beers and a bottle and a half of wine by myself in my tent last night. Woke up and it was 1030 already.  Rest day today. Shopping, shower, laundry, maybe even a meal at a cafe?

Spent close to two weeks here at Red rocks. Will climb a couple more days here. Then head out to Joshua tree climb with Lori for a couple days and some other friends. Depends on how tired we are we'll either climb in Arizona with my nephew for two to three days or head down to Sandy Utah and spend a couple days with our son daughter-in-law and grandson.

John

Bouldering at a new to me place today. Super good day, with good people....and pups!

Best, Helen

Hey John, hope you can get in touch when you're in JT!

Bit of bouldering. It’s so hard. V0, V1, V2 all after multiple tries.  

And now I’m hammocking.

Brandt Allenwrote:

Hey John, hope you can get in touch when you're in JT!

Brandt

I definitely will.

John