New and Experienced climbers over 50 #20

gunkie Xwrote:

Just missed clipping the swing side of the Climbing Technology ROLLNLOCK into the locking carabiner.  From above, like when the carabiner is on the (backed up) belay loop, the device looks quite similar when it is correctly setup and when it is not setup correctly.  See images. (1) carabiner and device. (2) correctly setup. (3 & 4) incorrectly setup like did and from the top, it almost looks good.  My first backup (same device) stopped me pretty quickly and the next backup (micro-traxion) wasn't even close to beig activated.

Glad you are rattled but not physically hurt.

Ward Smithwrote:

Lori, supplements are a pain, and expensive.  But so is modern dentistry.  Do you brush and floss your teeth daily?  God, that is a pain, but I’ve been doing it for 40+ years and have all my teeth. I also go get my teeth cleaned twice a year.  My teeth are no better than 40 years ago, so maybe I’m wasting my money.

How about home insurance?  I’ve been paying over a thousand dollars a year forever and have never used it once.  

Point is, if you believe in it (and I do) the right supplements will keep you healthier than your peers.  Research it so that you believe in it.  My peers are falling apart.  Maybe it is not the supplements, but I’ll keep wasting money. At some point we have more money than time. 

Ward, I’m sure if you’ve read along you will see how often I have brought up diet and supplements and yet I am still supremely frustrated with this. I am jealous of those whose steady diet of beer and nachos keeps them strong. I am still trying to sort out what I need and if anything will allow my body to run more smoothly.
Climbing is sort of an extraordinary thing to be doing at our age and I think it takes extraordinary diet and nutrition to keep at it.

I just went to the lab to get a ton of mineral and hormone levels drawn. Maybe when all that comes in I will have a little more direction. I would love to know what supplements you currently take. It can be hard to find a balance… and new information comes in all the time.

I have long held the belief that all the things that go wrong with aging are really just because, like a car engine given crappy fuel it just chugs along for those last 10 or 20 years and then finally goes kaput. Our bodies have been gasping for fuel.  I do think we can maintain or rebuild what we once had with some effort. I’m working on this… sounds like you are, too.

Ribs were great.  We are re-watching one of the best series ever imo on HBO, John Adams.  To see the heart and the passion and the sacrifice of this country’s founding fathers causes me to understand what it is we’ve  inherited here. And why Ukraine is fighting so hard for its own freedom.

Lori Milaswrote:

Also... I'm just fed up with the bottles of vitamins and glandular supplements in our kitchen, it's my fault, I just buy them for a reason, usually, and then they sit.  I rechecked my minimal list of supps, and am banishing the rest to the garage.  One thing, however, I noticed a huge change in Tony with the addition of K2.  I had read for years that we should never take Vitamin D alone... it pyramids with A and K2.  They have to be taken together, or you run risk of creating shortages or worse.  Tony bruises easily, and those bruises do not heal.  At this moment, all the bruises are healed, and his skin is beautiful... like a baby's butt.    It's a profound difference, so that one is a keeper.  

and don't forget magnesium. (Not enough magnesium, then D cannot be properly utilized)

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

my back gets worse not better... 

Uh, Nick, none of my business really, but it sounded to me before you said this that you might have been out climbing ice and rock too soon.  Most of us have done this---a lot.  And paid the price with injuries that just linger on and on.  Rest up and do real PT stuff, not climbing, where you may not be able to keep from momentary straining beyond what the injury can tolerate. Take the long view and heal up!

After that day last week of hard (for me) bouldering (first day outside in ages), my elbow felt fine.  I rested for two days and then went to the climbing gym.  Stupid me, I forgot to put on my elbow brace, but who knows if it would've made a difference.  Anyway, one route and my elbow was screaming.  I fear I may have set myself back a year and a half.  Depressing.  

Gabe

I suspect the real culprit is  work..  but you might also have a point. i do feel that really easy climbing is great therapy. 

GabeOwrote:

Anyway, one route and my elbow was screaming.  I fear I may have set myself back a year and a half.  Depressing.  

Gabe

Oh no!  Don’t say that! I hope not…

I decided to go visit Little Hunk today for the first time and I think I could explore every day for the next year and still not have scratched the surface of Joshua tree. I had climbed routes on the southwest side of Little Hunk but it never occurred to me that rock had a backside.     It’s a little like the astonishment of climbing SW Corner on Headstone and not even imagining the other side of that rock could be climbed by someone like Scott Cosgrove. (Cutting Edge) I wanted to see what this route New Deal was all about and all I could say is I took one look and said “nope“. That’s just crazy talk. 

I hope to do some climbing there tomorrow with Bob and since the place is so new to me I’m kind of excited wondering what routes I could possibly climb there. All that rock looks pretty incredible.

Lori Milaswrote:

I hope to do some climbing there tomorrow with Bob and since the place is so new to me I’m kind of excited wondering what routes I could possibly climb there. All that rock looks pretty incredible.

IMO one of Bob's best F.A.'s is right there. Electric Blue. What a beauty. And just when you think you're done...

Get him to point it out to you.

One of the routes there is Energy Crisis. Guy was on the FA. Anyway, you'll see a sign at the base closing it because of Native American rock art. But word has it that a certain Stone Master who was studying petroglyphs, and learning to make the inks and dyes, put it there. He must have been pretty dialed in to fool the archaeologists.

Lori Milaswrote:

I decided to go visit Little Hunk today for the first time and I think I could explore every day for the next year and still not have scratched the surface of Joshua tree. I had climbed routes on the southwest side of Little Hunk but it never occurred to me that rock had a backside.     It’s a little like the astonishment of climbing SW Corner on Headstone and not even imagining the other side of that rock could be climbed by someone like Scott Cosgrove. (Cutting Edge) I wanted to see what this route New Deal was all about and all I could say is I took one look and said “nope“. That’s just crazy talk. 

I hope to do some climbing there tomorrow with Bob and since the place is so new to me I’m kind of excited wondering what routes I could possibly climb there. All that rock looks pretty incredible.

Cool piece of rock.  More patina and texture than typical J tree rock.

GO

GabeOwrote:

Cool piece of rock.  More patina and texture than typical J tree rock.

GO

Yes, but the route in question is on the blank, steep face to the right.

Jan Mcwrote:

Yes, but the route in question is on the blank, steep face to the right.

I have to admit that I was captivated by that whole face to the right and that’s where I was hoping there might be a route for me. The hardest part about seeing these incredible walls and climbing with great climbers is that I can’t do the half of it. I try not to get my hopes up when I see something so beautiful.

S. Neohwrote:

Can I redeem myself by saying I like cracks up to hands?  Anything wider gets me super pumped.  

This is for phylp and other crack aficionado,

Battle scars from today. Hand jam and ring lock in a gritty crack on a steepie with 'difficult' feet.
I went up with no idea I was doing to do either but you got to make the most of it on lead.  LOL.  

Jan Mcwrote:

Yes, but the route in question is on the blank, steep face to the right.

Not sure which route Jan means. At the left side of the image there's a shady right leaning chimney. New Deal, 5.14a, climbs the dead vertical face directly above the chimney. It's a fairly long pitch, but in this oblique view it's hard to see.

Energy Crisis, 5.10, closed due to "Native American" art, climbs a two stage crack up the hueco'd wall just left of center.

Electric Blue is at the right end. I think it starts off that diamond shaped boulder/flake at the base of the clean face. It's much steeper than you'd think, looking at a foreshortened photo.

Kristian Solemwrote:

Not sure which route Jan means. At the left side of the image there's a shady right leaning chimney. New Deal, 5.14a, climbs the dead vertical face directly above the chimney. It's a fairly long pitch, but in this oblique view it's hard to see.

Energy Crisis, 5.10, closed due to "Native American" art, climbs a two stage crack up the hueco'd wall just left of center.

Electric Blue is at the right end. I think it starts off that diamond shaped boulder/flake at the base of the clean face. It's much steeper than you'd think, looking at a foreshortened photo.

Kris, you started this!     

Here's a cool thing:  this video segued into the Bachar-Yerian video.  Tony has been present for that video at least five times.  He remembers none of it... but today, after watching the New Deal video (closely!) he watched Jan on the Bachar-Yerian and said 'Jan?  Do we know Jan?  What is this route?'    

He may have actually seen and understood.  Like, there was a moment of recognition...   

Progress.  

Very cool video, love the resurrection of old test pieces that remain badass.  Here a great one from the other coast about Rich Romano, gunks legend.

A day with the bank manger

some background 

Background

Great video.  
I remember Cosgrove's loud lycra.  He really rocked them!  But dead at 52. Sorry to learn that.  RIP.  

Two brothers who have been at it for over fifty years. (A bit of a Mammut commercial included---Mammut has sponsored them since forever.)  Claude is 69, Yves is 66.  

Their dad is Marcel Remy, who is still climbing at 99.  (I posted a video of him somewhere back...)

Let's hear it for good genetics!

That’s really cool, my brother and I have a ways to go I guess.  We’ve been roped climbing together since high school.  Actually, we started scrambling  way before high school.   I’m 61, he’s 60.