New and Experienced climbers over 50 #21

Lori Milaswrote:

Russ do you think you could find a time to come check this out? I just talked to the propane company and it looks like in four months we used 400 gallons of propane. I told him it was only to heat hot water and he said well if you like to take baths or hot showers you could use up to 4 gallons of propane per hour. That’s insane.  

Just when I thought we had exhausted all possible topics we now have enough material for a thread on conduction stove tops.    

Who is your propane provider?  Hopefully not Amerigas or Ferrel… but that might work too.  Idea is to switch to High Desert Propane. First fill is at a discount, they do a referral program, and can pressure test your line when your current tank is down to the nub.  I can’t really check for leaks besides putting a nose on it or seeing a corroded line going into the ground

wendy weisswrote:

Kristian, your great uncle sounds amazing. (I googled him.)

For grilled steak, I prefer filet. But NY strip takes stir fries and kebabs up a notch. It's been many years since we cooked anything in a tent vestibule. Sadly, the beef was mostly Richmoor. I miss the tent, but not the food. 

That whole Norway/Nazi thing is a long time ago. Ugly business. 

Skis against the Atom is a must read. Short, intense, tragic in a way that's hard to comprehend.

The Germans were bent on using "heavy water," D20, for developing a nuclear weapon. Large amounts of electricity are required to create D20 (as opposed to H20). The huge hydro plants in the Norwegian fiords were ideal. The Norwegian resistance fought hard but eventually the Germans had a convoy of tanker trucks full of their precious heavy water. There was a ferry crossing from one side of a fiord to the other. Every day, along with commercial traffic, villagers from the town on one side rode the ferry across in the morning to work at the fish factory on the far side of the fiord. When the Germans came to send their trucks across on the ferry the resistance knew this was their chance. They rigged the ferry with charges to sink it, but they could not warn their fellow countrymen. If no one showed up that morning the Germans would know something was up. The ferry was sunk with its cargo of Germans and their evil load, along with most of the able bodied people of the village. Can you even imagine making that call...

Well, look what happens to the adults here when they are not supervised.    You just roam hither and yon.  Now we have a steak/nazi thread here.  I love it.

Kris I love the picture of your smiling face… and that must be the uncle.  Surely you could work ‘Bloodaxe” into a climbing moniker.  

Tony and I came late to the party watching Breaking Bad, but ‘chicken man’ (Gus) was such a well-crafted character, how could you ever forget him? and have we wondered if they patterned the restaurant after El Pollo Loco.  Gus’ demise was cinematic history…  

Tony and I argue a lot about steaks… and finally have chosen a middle ground.  I was vegetarian for years, then chicken/fish only… since climbing and dealing with health issues I eat red meat daily.  In my opinion, it should only be grass-fed and organic.  Tony believes it should only be ‘prime’ and he couldn’t care less about grass-fed.  We both like fat.  The last two steaks I  brought home were tough, too chewy, hard to eat—a big expensive disapppointment.  Tony’s taste great, but I’m trying to explain that taste is one thing, hormones and garbage stored in the fat are another.  And there’s that precious K2 which is only found in grass-finished meat.  

We did hot have a vent over our stove, it turns out, and so Tony hasn’t been able to chef the way he wants.  Now we have the vent, he can crank up the cast iron all the way.  But I love these cooking instructions… we’ll try them out.  It goes against all my training to put a steak in an oven… doesn’t that make it tough?  Apparently not.  

——-

Well, my 10 day trip to No Cal is coming to an end.  I have been sick in bed the last 3 days, still sick today.  I haven’t been sick in years.  It’s surprisingly wet and windy and cool here… any little breeze sets me off on coughing/choking.  I’ve been wanting to find out, if I needed to call 911, but couldn’t speak into the phone, could they read a text?  It’s been very unsettling to be here alone, stuck inside, and trying to manage out of a suitcase.  

I enjoyed the climbing I got in.,, especially enjoyed the discussion here (again) about thin-face climbing.  There was a guy climbing a 10b slab next to me, and I heard him say in wonder  “this shouldn’t be happening” as he moved up an almost vertical face.  My sentiments exactly.  I often think of U2’s song The Fly.  The sheer face of love, like a fly on the wall…

Mostly, I got to play and splash with some of my grandkids.  I got to sit with my daughter without 600 miles between us.  Something I have not mentioned here is the falling apart of my relationship with my oldest son, Tim.  His dad died 2 1/2 years ago and he has not spoken to me but only a few times since then.  I have thought and prayed for him and his family every day, but I didn’t feel like it would work to just barge in.  I have had to do a lot of inner work to let him go… this kid I fought so hard for.  I got a text while I was here sick in bed “Mom, are you here?”  And the floodgates opened.  We texted back and forth for an hour … all I could think was ‘so this is why I’m here… to restore things with my son.‘  

But I miss the desert, I miss the rocks, I miss climbing.  I have no need to go or be anywhere else.  

PS. Got rid of Amerigas… that was a nightmare.  Now with High Desert Propane, and they are great.  Still, if I’m really using $20 worth of propane to take a bath, that’s a problem. 

High desert propane is the best.  Tell them to come out and look at your set up.  It is curious how you could be using so much.  Is your water heater heating all the time?

rgoldwrote:

Hmm...it is nondescript in a region that is generally nondescript.  It is a slab that comes right down to the climber trail.  At the left edge of the slab about 20 feet up, just past a tree, is a left-facing inside corner, perhaps15-20 feet high, whose right wall is maybe three feet deep.  At the top of the corner is a pretty big tree and another one just above that on a ledge.  Above that is a noticeably steeper buttress.  That's about the best I can do.  Here is a picture of the first pitch copied from Mountain Project. The climber is approaching the inside corner.

Thanks, Rich.  This helps.  I hope I can talk my partners into looking for it on Monday.  I will have my trusty red Williams and I think one of them has the Nears app.  I wandered past Gelsa once… in about 1988.

Russ Wallingwrote:

High desert propane is the best.  Tell them to come out and look at your set up.  It is curious how you could be using so much.  Is your water heater heating all the time?

I wonder, does her house have one of those circulating pumps so the hot water is almost instant at the faucets? My place has one, and by the time the water gets all the way around back to the heater it's cooled off enough that the heater runs almost full time. I put an X-10 remote on the thing, and only have it running when it's useful. The gas bill went down.

Kristian Solemwrote:

I wonder, does her house have one of those circulating pumps so the hot water is almost instant at the faucets? My place has one, and by the time the water gets all the way around back to the heater it's cooled off enough that the heater runs almost full time. I put an X-10 remote on the thing, and only have it running when it's useful. The gas bill went down.

Yes, I have a circulating pump.  I’m going to look at the whole thing when I get home.  I thought that running water forever until it reaches hot was a bad water/environmental thing out in the desert.  Kris, can you coach me on an x-10?  

i’ve been giving some thought to getting a GoPro. I know Rgold said he hates them and watching them makes him nauseous. But I’m wondering if anyone has practical advice for using these and which one to purchase. The guy who died recently on Illusion Dweller had just a few days before taped a bunch of his free Solo climbs up at Tahquitz and I thought they were fascinating. Most of the routes he climbed were cracks and it was an up-close class on crack climbing… It didn’t make me nauseous at all.  Just beautiful to see hand over hand, foot placement etc.  As a way of having a second look at my own technique  on hard climbs I think it might be useful. I’ve enjoyed the shoe-cam for being able to grab a memory from many of my climbs but it is nothing close to really see the challenges of the route. Anyone?

Go pro  increases your chances of having an  accident by 30%

As to hot water, drought, and instant hot water vs the shit making a 3 mile journey around your house just so you can wash your hands….  If you care about such things as water shortages and washing your hands (two things that never cross my mind) you can get a mini electric hot water tank that goes under your sink.  There is usually power there already, one switched (garbage disposal) and one hot (dishwasher), they run on 120v, and are about gallon sized. Easy hookup. Instant hot water for hand washing, rinsing out a couscous bowl, freshening up a jade egg, or topping off a kombucha libation on the quick.  

Here's some go pro footage that'll make yer hands sweat...

Vitaly is an animal...
edit. This one blows me away compared to Honnold's gig on El Cap.

Lori Milaswrote:

Yes, I have a circulating pump.  I’m going to look at the whole thing when I get home.  I thought that running water forever until it reaches hot was a bad water/environmental thing out in the desert.  Kris, can you coach me on an x-10?  

X10 is a legacy home automation system. Basically a way to control lights and appliances remotely, from within your home. It's not wireless bluetooth. It sends a signal multiplexed on your house wiring. There is probably something much more tech now.

You plug an "appliance module" in where your pump is, and plug the pump into that. Set up the channel and numbers and use the remote to turn on the pump a few minutes before you want hot water on demand.

Like I said there's got to be a newer set up now. Mine came with the house and it works.

https://www.x10.com/

Kristian Solemwrote:

I wonder, does her house have one of those circulating pumps so the hot water is almost instant at the faucets? My place has one, and by the time the water gets all the way around back to the heater it's cooled off enough that the heater runs almost full time. I put an X-10 remote on the thing, and only have it running when it's useful. The gas bill went down.

I've pulled those out of houses for the same reason, good for not wasting water,  wasting fuel is another thing.

Todd Berlier wrote:

My oldest, Avery topping out her FA project. I asked her what she thought the grade was and she gave it a V2 (V negative 1 on Jan and Russ's scale :), but also said it would be a V4 in the gym. She grades about 2 lower than what the gym gives, mostly because she had a hard time on a V2 in Yosemite, so that's her experience, which is perfect. 

My youngest, Ella, topping out an FA. 

Dear GOD that’s a scary top out.  No fall zone for sure. Looks spooky as hell!  Good on her!

Had a wee bit of an epic yesterday on Mcgregor Slabs in Estes.  I led and linked pitches 1 & 2 on the Left Standard route and my partner was linking 3 & 4, and he was partway up the 4th pitch, when a thunder/rain and crazy hail storm just blew up!  He quickly built a hanging belay and brought me up.  I grabbed the gear and went left and up for a nearly full pitch to a tree over a gully and brought him over.  Then we rapped into the gully and hunkered down for 1.5 hours until the storm passed.  Then it was beautiful again so we ascended our rap line and i led another pitch up and right to mostly get back on track.  Nothing like wet granite slab climbing.  Then my partner led the next pitch and we unroped and went up to the summit just before another fricken storm blew in.  We grabbed the gear and headed down the hellacious descent trail.  Two hours of bushwhacking back to the car in pouring rain.  What a day!  Weather forecast had called for 24% chance of a slight afternoon shower, not Thunder and Rain and Huge Hail forecasted at all, to say nothing of in the late morning!

Kristian. Vitaly is a beast!  soloing big grade 5 however is pretty routine for lots of real ice climbers. Heck I have a 60 year old partner who could casually hike that thing with two new fake knees..  the thing that made Vtalys video so gripping is that it looked like he was pretty much learning to ice climb while soloing widows tears...  That thing is fickel so you have to grab it when it's in.   Seemed like by the time he got 2/3rds of the way up he had it figured out ;)  Ice climbing is easy if you have the head and the guns... 

It's hard to imagine that any hot water circulation system would not have been installed with a switch/timer.  Ours is set in the off position 95 % of the time.  In the winter, it's set to circulate in the AM for an hour or so just before post cycling shower time.  If you don't have one, I expect any plumber can install one.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Go pro  increases your chances of having an  accident by 30%

If not more.  :)
Someone showing up to climb at a crag with a GoPro on their head or helmet is 5-alarm fire for me.  I pack up and head the other way.

Todd Berlier wrote:

My oldest, Avery topping out her FA project. I asked her what she thought the grade was and she gave it a V2 (V negative 1 on Jan and Russ's scale :), but also said it would be a V4 in the gym. She grades about 2 lower than what the gym gives, mostly because she had a hard time on a V2 in Yosemite, so that's her experience, which is perfect.

Bravo, that is a proud and heady send for sure.  Every bit V4 as far as I am concerned.  :)
Please tell her that. And she will be CRUSHING soon enough.
Glad she and you did not wear a GoPro and posted the send to social media. :) :) 

PTRwrote:

Thanks, Rich.  This helps.  I hope I can talk my partners into looking for it on Monday.  I will have my trusty red Williams and I think one of them has the Nears app.  I wandered past Gelsa once… in about 1988.

I have the Gunks App but forgot to look there.  They've done a lot of updating and YYYY is there with a good pic of the start.  The app has a GPS feature I've never used. You click the "Navigate" button and magic happens. Teleportation for all I know.  The combination of that and the first-pitch picture should get you there.

Worth noting is that there is no rap highway down. It's a nice walk on the blue trail, but then you end up on the carriage road just south of the bridge. If you want to get back to the Near Trapps base trail, you have to verge off to the climber's cliff-edge path. If you left a pack at the bottom of YYYY you then have to walk back again to get it, My favorite way to do this route is to make it the only one of the day, start in the afternoon, gearing up at the car at the West Trapps Lot, and so carrying nothing to be left at the base---like the old days. Then the Blue Trail descent back to the car is perfect---or of course you can verge off to the base trail and do other routes...

Either way, there's enough walking to carry a pair of shoes to hike with.

S. Neohwrote:

If not more.  :)
Someone showing up to climb at a crag with a GoPro on their head or helmet is 5-alarm fire for me.  I pack up and head the other way.

All tame compared to flying your drone while lying in your hammock at the base (oblivious to falling objects).  Now that's rad and worth of the gram.