New and Experienced climbers over 50 #20

Yo Tony!  Happy birthday!!

Todd Berlier wrote:

i truly appreciate and applaud this position. i struggle with how or if to separate the person from their art, but feel similarly about scientology,  lemme from motorhead and his love of nazi memorabilia, mel gibson's comments about the jewish religion, etc. 

So many musicians, authors, actors like that. And I'm in love with Tim Riggins despite "Texas forever!"

wendy weiss wrote:

So many musicians, authors, actors like that. And I'm in love with Tim Riggins despite "Texas forever!"

Another Riggins fan?   

I’m of two minds with regards to Tom Cruise. Over the years I’ve seen and read a lot about Scientology and even paid a few visits and thought it was just scary nuts. But perhaps there is some thing there that uniquely works for Tom – – I don’t want to judge it or him. Sometimes there’s a light in a person that is really compelling and I guess that’s what I’m talking about. He shines very bright light.  

I did know that Val is struggling with cancer and did  see his movie, Val.  No aspersions there and no judgment, just sadness for him.

Tony and I just sat down and had a long discussion. He has lost all his energy and he’s not sure why. The thing is I have too, and it’s gotten a little scary. I’m starting to think that maybe the desert is just a physically taxing place to live. I don’t think we’ve changed much about our diets. I’ve even tested the water here to make sure we’re not getting some kind of heavy metals. I only mention this because I’ve noticed that even Joshua Tree lovers have chosen to live in more moderate climates so I’m wondering if anyone has inside information on this. I am heading back up north for another full week just to have more time with family and mountains and Tony wants to stay behind because he’s just too tired  so I hope we’re able to figure this out. He has said that his back is just physically and mentally exhausting and until that is fixed he doesn’t have many solutions.  I am also trying to aggressively deal with concurrent health issues and maybe we both just need time to get it figured out.  

Texas forever!!! 

A long time ago, someone said with regards to Joshua Tree / the desert:  “nobody comes here to get better…”

It’s a sandtrap for the last of those so called “good years”.  It’s harsh and mostly fucked… a soul cage.  You can get the most out of it by taking a nihilistic stance.  It’s how I stay so fucking cheery.  

phylp phylp wrote:

His documentary "Val" was fabulous. It's been reported that Tom Cruise insisted that Kilmer had to be included in this Top Gun sequel, despite the difficulties of filming associated with his health battles.  I have mixed feelings about patronizing Tom Cruise films because of his Scientology connections, but he comes across as a damn decent person.  And he sure knows how to make an entertaining movie.

I just heard about "Val" on NPR last weekend and want catch it somewhere.
Yeah, Tom Cruise is entertaining.  I appreaciate his talent for that.  The rest I don't really care to know more.  His movies are make-believe.To me, his life can be too! :) 

Russ Walling wrote:

A long time ago, someone said with regards to Joshua Tree / the desert:  “nobody comes here to get better…”

It’s a sandtrap for the last of those so called “good years”.  It’s harsh and mostly fucked… a soul cage.  You can get the most out of it by taking a nihilistic stance.  It’s how I stay so fucking cheery.  

Oh! And here I was just trying to stay positive and cheerful. If only I had known all we had to do was go pound sand and become a bottomless pit of negativity we could have started that a long time ago. I feel so much better now Russ, thank you! 

Lori, re your daughter finding mountaineering partners? The first, obvious place is if there are willing women (or couples, maybe?) in her SAR group. I assume she's already considered that. I'm sorry their relationship is such that she's to be with female partners, not male, but that's something all couples need to work out. Climbing can forge mighty tight friendships, and I can see that being a problem, for some. I always had best friends who were guys, and that trust was inviolable, so it made the friendships even closer. Axe out the folderal, and it's.....nice. Make that clear from the get go, and no one needs to worry about it.

Anyway, if she searches on Facebook, or otherwise online, there's pretty likely a Shasta climbers group, N.CA climbers, something like that. There's certainly the N CA partner forum on here, and quite possibly a Shasta partner thread. Women have posted for partners in the women's forum on here, dunno how much luck they've had though. MP in general is just not the traffic it used to be.

One week from today I'm back off to COR! It'll be interesting.....

Best, Helen

We are  boondocking on a  swampy  lake  with  loons and ospreys.  The skeeters are so  thick  we can  hear them  whining up  against our  windows.  Good  thing we have an  indoor  toilet.. it is absolutely  science fiction out there.  A few of them snuck in when we opened  doors  this  afternoon when we first got in here. Fckers are  sneaky and  laying  low  until we fall asleep....

Russ Walling wrote:

A long time ago, someone said with regards to Joshua Tree / the desert:  “nobody comes here to get better…”

It’s a sandtrap for the last of those so called “good years”.  It’s harsh and mostly fucked… a soul cage.  You can get the most out of it by taking a nihilistic stance.  It’s how I stay so fucking cheery.  

Funny.  I was going to throw that exact quote out to Lori.  She should probably know that it was Cosgrove who said that famous line.

Todd Berlier wrote:

i truly appreciate and applaud this position. i struggle with how or if to separate the person from their art, but feel similarly about scientology,  lemme from motorhead and his love of nazi memorabilia, mel gibson's comments about the jewish religion, etc. 

I have a Lemmy Kilmister story.

In 1998 I got booked to do the mastering on a Motorhead album, Snakebite Love. I had a production assistant named Pete who’d spent time hanging out with Lemmy, mostly at the iconic Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset Boulevard. He decided he should give me a couple of tips before the first session.

“Kris, this is huge. Whatever you do, don’t look at the wart. This is serious. Do not look at it.”

“Got it. Anything else I should know?”

“Don’t fuck with the bass. He plays lead guitar from the bass. It’s his thing, don’t even think about tweaking it.”

“Thanks, man.” And I meant it. Pete was in on the scene and knew all the inside scoop. More than a few times he’d find out who was coming in the next week and fill me in on the “do’s and don’ts.” He had my back.

So, Lemmy and a couple of ruffians came in and set down large boxes of tapes, mostly ½” tape on 14” reels. Big stuff. State of the art analog. I dug that. We talked for a while and went over his notes. I did not look at the wart. This was immensely challenging since it occupied the better part of his left cheek. Then, satisfied that I could get started, he and his guys went out back to the parking lot and hit the Jack Daniels.

Later, Lemmy came back into the studio and passed out on one of the big black leather couches in the back of the room. I was listening through the tapes trying to size the whole thing up. My job was to know how hit records in many genres of music sound, listen to the new music in front of me, understand the difference, and use the specialized equipment in the mastering studio to close the gap.

In this case I was having trouble wrapping my brain around a metal band with the bass guitar not playing bass. At some point, with Lemmy passed out behind me, I turned a knob on an equalizer – just to hear it – up 1dB at 100Hz. A very small tweak to the base. It wasn’t three seconds before “DON’T FUCK WITH THE BASS!!” hit me in the back of the head like a freight train.

“Sorry man, I was just poking around a little, it won’t happen again.”

Jan Mc wrote:

Funny.  I was going to throw that exact quote out to Lori.  She should probably know that it was Cosgrove who said that famous line.

I think it was "Nobody comes to the high desert to improve themselves."

Cool day indoor top roping today. Had a few peeps who wanted to climb who couldn’t all start at the same time so ended up climbing steadily for four hours. Grades 18 to 21 (about 5.9c to 5.10d). Did everything several times. Can’t remember how many routes but quite a few.
Climbing there again tomorrow.  It’s rainy and cold here at the moment; well, cold for Australia, day time temps of about 13, night time about 14.

I’m feeling pretty strong right now.

I’m a bit excited because I access some of my superannuation next week. Buying a really nice motorcycle helmet (Hedon, about 1 grand), a new (second hand) car (a Subaru Impreza) and some nice clothes. Also getting a heated Bosch vest and heated glove liners for the bike.  

Carl Schneider wrote:

Cool day indoor top roping today. Had a few peeps who wanted to climb who couldn’t all start at the same time so ended up climbing steadily for four hours. Grades 18 to 21 (about 5.9c to 5.10d). Did everything several times. Can’t remember how many routes but quite a few.
Climbing there again tomorrow.  It’s rainy and cold here at the moment; well, cold for Australia, day time temps of about 13, night time about 14.

I’m feeling pretty strong right now.

I’m a bit excited because I access some of my superannuation next week. Buying a really nice motorcycle helmet (Hedon, about 1 grand), a new (second hand) car (a Subaru Impreza) and some nice clothes. Also getting a heated Bosch vest and heated glove liners for the bike.  

Carl... so glad you keep checking in with this group here... I don't know if it's weird for you to be so far away and upside down.  Glad you are feeling strong again.  Now that we know how you roll, it's always just a matter of time til you pull yourself together again and continue on.  Happy for you!  

Kristian Solem wrote:

I think it was "Nobody comes to the high desert to improve themselves."

What a difference a few words makes!  I was leaning towards Russ' translation, always cheerful and uplifting as he is.  

I guess I've continued to share this part of my/our journey because it is very much to my mind part of 'climbing over 50'.  I don't know if Tony and I need a total overhaul or abandonment of our adventure, but we probably need some tweaking.  I may need more oil, more skin moisturizer, darker sunglasses (if that is even possible), hats... for sure more hydration.  My eyes are really bothering me, and I think it may just be 'dry eye'... fixable. 

But I asked for a change in life 2 years ago--and I wasn't figuring out any good halfway measures up there in Rocklin-- I craved one life-experience that was full immersion while I still could... and this is pretty close.  This is a banquet here.  There is everything to learn and do.  And now the Park is beautiful and quiet... all the critters are out, every kind of lizard, wildflower... 

If I can't be grateful for this... morning walk, in any direction I choose to go...  

I was thinking about Randy's ZZZZZ route and how much it feels like a gym route.  It's vertical, it's balancy on tiny edges and very thin holds... very cool.  Very inspirational.  I'm so eager to go back and continue on.  Descending from that route I tried to catch a good look at the 10b next to it, Blues Traveler.  Looks hard, all the way.    

Helen... thanks for your suggestion for my daughter to check out SAR.  She's the only female in her current group... and that's been a problem.  But there may be a nugget of hope in your suggestion, since she has been contemplating joining SAR in the adjacent county, which has many more members and surely some women.  She may find her partner there!!!  I'm going to talk to her more about this!  

It hasn't come up in this forum, I don't think... but one of the greatest joys of climbing for me has been the deep friendships that develop that don't converge with romance and sex. You can spend long hours on the rock together, talking and getting to know each other and catching up on lives, without ever compromising home relationships.  I can't think of another venue in which you could do that.  

But I do have to honor my daughter's commitment here, in that  she has already experienced that being out on long journeys, camping 4 or 5 nights on a snowy mountain together, going through some tough/scary times together... just puts a lot of temptation in the way.  And it's not just the one trip, but all the training, hiking, handling of ropes and gear... there is a lot of time spent together before the trip, and then the adventure itself can be big bonding experience.  Allen is still pretty laid up from his motorcycle accident and stays home with the kids.  It's just a bad scene for both of them... it would be a great solution if she could find another gal to get out with locally.  Thank you!  

Tony has gout.    

Lori, I think there's a big difference between going on day trips with someone you might possibly be attracted to (opposite sex or otherwise) and overnight trips and camping out together. I wouldn't recommend the latter even if your partner were healthy and you had a great relationship.

Best wishes to Tony. Jeez, that's a lot to deal with.

Kristian Solem wrote:

I think it was "Nobody comes to the high desert to improve themselves."

Way too flowery for Grover…. 

wendy weiss wrote:

overnight trips and camping out together. I wouldn't recommend the latter even if your partner were healthy and you had a great relationship.

Wendy, I used to do the latter all the time, still do,  if you count camping out “together” as being we each had separate tents. On my part I cared a lot for each of my male partners but was never attracted to any of them. It’s not that they weren't attractive, I just never felt attraction for them. Those partners became dear friends, some were like brothers.  A few of the younger ones compared me to their mothers :-).

All of my partners had met my husband, who I think is, to this day, after 42 years together, very handsome and sexy. On their part, maybe they figured with him in the picture, they never would have had a chance. Equally likely, I probably was never particularly appealing myself, so the thought of attraction never arose!

I wasn’t the only one who routinely went climbing for weekends with the opposite sex.  My female partners Rita, Alice, Chris, and Lyn (to name a few off the top of my head) did as well.

Still, there are plenty of women climbers around today. It’s easy enough to cultivate those partnerships if that aspect of a partner is important to you.

Lori, Scott"s line, however he said it, wasn't meant to be taken seriously...

Thanks Kris. I am feeling a little vulnerable right now, but also realizing that none of us have had a normal last two years. I think Covid changed everything. This town shut down and emptied out just as we were moving in. There was a general terror now that I think about it. So when contemplating how our adventure has gone I have to factor in that, and a few health issues. But really all that seems to go hand-in-hand with the climbing mindset where you figure it out on the fly, you make do, you go with it, and you smile.

The mention of Cosgrove's name though gave me an idea of where to hike this morning. I walked over to the backside of turtle rock to look at his route Integrity. I wonder if it has ever had a second ascent. actually looking at it I’m not even sure exactly how the route goes. It’s impossibly overhang so the guy must’ve been a wizard.

As long as I was out that way I hiked over to go sit at the base of the Houser Buttress. That’s a bit of a scramble!

as to mixed camping partners, Phylp said exactly how it is for me too.  But would it be OK with me if Tony took off with some young nubile lass to sleep with under the stars for a week or two? Absolutely not! On the other hand, I feel I can be trusted therefore there should be no problem with me doing likewise.  

Neither here nor there but my doctor sent me some pure oil of oregano to take for something called SIBO. I thought, cool! Pizza! Noooo… Not like pizza… So caustic  I almost couldn’t breathe.

Lori, that is more of a picture of Desert Shield than Integrity. Integrity starts to DS's right, then makes a long traverse right, before finishing straight up.

Desert Shield roughly follows that  shallow crack/seam in your picture, before heading left on thin flakes, to finish right and up.

PS, Integrity has been repeated.