New and Experienced climbers over 50 #21

Idaho Bobwrote:

Not an epic, but another lesson just learned.  It's now 4 days after surgery to repair detached retina.  Vision already improving.  I now understand that there were two warning signs that I ignored:  a sudden increase in "floaters" in one eye,  bright flashes in same eye with certain head movements. If I had understood these warning signs, it's possible that the retina could have been repaired before becoming completely detached.   

Valuable warning!

There’s can be an overlap between “almost died” stories and “epic” stories, but not necessarily.  I have 3-4 of the former but only one day that I consider my epic.  but I’m on the road without my laptop  and don’t want to type a story on the phone.  Maybe when I get back…

Carl Schneiderwrote:

A pic of me climbing at my local crag down here in South Australia this weekend. Cold, wet but with excellent friction. I so love climbing and the social interaction that comes with it. A good part of the day was spent sheltering from the rain in a cave with only about 4 pitches climbed but it was fun and invigorating.

Nice picture, Carl!  I have to agree with you... the social interaction is what makes it so great.  

I climbed a route here called Loose Lady.  I had never been to that crag before, but it's quite stunning.  When we got to it a storm came in, lightening in the near distance... wind howling, rain, and we had to take shelter under some boulders for an hour or so.  We got to sit and talk while we watched the weather move through.  That's what i remember best about that day.  Once on the route the clouds continued to darken and lighten the rock as they moved by.  I watched lightening off in the distance, and wondered if it would get close to my rock.  Just a very memorable day.  

Idaho Bobwrote:

I've had a couple of epics backcountry ski touring but just one climbing.  Wake and I were on Solar Slab, late start, no other parties, rope stuck after first rap. We we're rapping with double 70's, so a long way down.  Free solo (easy 5.6) to the top to free the rope.  We reached the big ledge around 10pm.   Very slow raps down the gully.  We knew where the rap stations were, but still interesting finding them in the dark.  Reached the base just before midnight.

Two lessons learned.  First rap on Solar Slab: go to the last pitch anchor (skiers right) instead of straight down to the rap anchor.   This greatly reduces chance of rope hanging up in the crack under top rap station.  Bi-color ropes make finding the middle mark much easier in the dark.   

Not an epic, but another lesson just learned.  It's now 4 days after surgery to repair detached retina.  Vision already improving.  I now understand that there were two warning signs that I ignored:  a sudden increase in "floaters" in one eye,  bright flashes in same eye with certain head movements. If I had understood these warning signs, it's possible that the retina could have been repaired before becoming completely detached.   

Backcountry skiing and stuck rap rope pretty much says it for me. Not actually an epic, but the year after we moved to CO, we were camped high in RMNP during a fierce thunderstorm planning to climb Spearhead the next day. We bagged it and hiked out in the morning to find that the Big Thomson flood had just happened.

Thanks for the tip on detached retinas. I hope you continue healing quickly.

I really enjoyed this video, and I can see how it is that a relaxed partner can support you in doing almost anything.  This reminds me of my very first time climbing, when I did not want to step off the ground.  A very calm guide said "You can stay on the ground if you want, or would you consider 1 foot?"  And that was the negotiation.  I agreed to climb 1 foot.  And then, 2.  There was never any pressure... but quiet support for whatever I could handle.  80 feet later I was hooked.  

Idaho Bobwrote:

... It's now 4 days after surgery to repair detached retina.  Vision already improving.  I now understand that there were two warning signs that I ignored:  a sudden increase in "floaters" in one eye,  bright flashes in same eye with certain head movements. If I had understood these warning signs, it's possible that the retina could have been repaired before becoming completely detached.   

Bob, glad to hear you're getting your vision back.  We missed you at COR, but you "chose" a good week to miss. It was very windy throughout the week and, with one exception, cold at night. There were some nice days for sure, but the overall feel of the week was type 2. I missed Brandt, and pretty much everybody else who was there. The weather inhibited casual socializing, because we just wanted to be out of the wind.

In any case, COR is a magical place. Scream Cheese, Red Rib, Numbshull, Drilling Fields were all excellent. Redtail yielded one secret, but a send still awaits. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get a few more days there this season. 

Sorry we didn’t get to spend more time with you Victor, the weather definitely made things a little more challenging. We still managed to climb 6 out of 7 days with a trail run on the rest day. Wildflowers were off the hook and I think I had 37 pitches for the week. And yes - wind, torrential rain, more wind, a short blizzard (with wind), cold and heat all in one week. The city certainly delivered!! Already planning the next trip…. 

Idaho Bobwrote:

Not an epic, but another lesson just learned.  It's now 4 days after surgery to repair detached retina.  Vision already improving.  I now understand that there were two warning signs that I ignored:  a sudden increase in "floaters" in one eye,  bright flashes in same eye with certain head movements. If I had understood these warning signs, it's possible that the retina could have been repaired before becoming completely detached.   

Similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago.  I’m pretty sure I did it falling repeatedly onto my back trying to stick this dyno at the top of the gym bouldering wall.

Fortunately, I had so many floaters that I went to the eye doctor quickly, and it was only partially torn.  He did the laser surgery then and there and later said I’m all set.  I don’t think modern medicine is very good at prevention, but for fixing things like that they can’t be beat.  50 years ago I would now be blind in one eye.

Todd Berlier wrote:

Made this video of Avery's FA  

Todd that is so awesome!  Just one question: what is jellow?

GO

A bunch of us here know the Lambs quite well. Her brother Andy is also an amazing boulderer and climber.  Great kids.  Very smart too.
They grew up one town over from I am.

You want epics?  I got epics.  Here's one:

I was climbing the Jackson-Johnson route on Hallet's Peak with my girlfriend at the time Barbara.  There's a lot of mid-fifth class climbing before the crux pitch at the top, and we were on one of those.  I climbed twenty feet up a shallow chimney that was blocked by a chockstone about the size of a window air conditioner.  No gear in yet.  Being the safety-minded climber I am, I banged the chockstone with the heel of my hand to test its solidity.  The chockstone immediately dropped into my lap (I had my back on one wall and feet on the other.)

So now I'm wrestling with---I don't know---a few hundred pounds of rock, no pro in, and Barbara directly below me. And I'm losing the wrestling match; I can't hold on to the block, it is slowly oozing off my lap and out of my grip. I scream to Barbara that she has to unclip from the anchor and traverse out of the fall line. She does, but the traverse is on sloping hand and footholds, maybe 5.7, and is very insecure.

Get the picture? I'm losing a battle with a big rock, Barbara is teetering on slopers off to the side, we're roped together, but there is no gear on the rope---the only gear is the anchor gear that she's unclipped from. I have a fleeting thought about what the authorities will think when they find our smashed bodies roped together at the basis of the route with no pro on the rope and, after investigation, find a perfectly good anchor with no sign that anyone was attached to it. Nowadays it would be worth a few hundred hypothetical posts on MP.

With Barbara off to the side and the block sliding inexorably from my grip, I let it go.  It dropped straight down to where she had been standing and obliterated part of the belay ledge---no way she would have survived that.  It continued down the wall, fracturing, raising dust clouds, and making lots of noise. 

And then everything was quiet again.  Barbara traversed back to her ledge.  The anchor hadn't been destroyed, so she clipped back in.  I continued up the now chockstoneless chimney, and we went on with the climb.

And we never spoke of it again.

rgoldwrote:

You want epics?  I got epics.  Here's one:

I was climbing the Jackson-Johnson route on Hallet's Peak with my girlfriend at the time Barbara.  There's a lot of mid-fifth class climbing before the crux pitch at the top, and we were on one of those.  I climbed twenty feet up a shallow chimney that was blocked by a chockstone about the size of a window air conditioner.  No gear in yet.  Being the safety-minded climber I am, I banged the chockstone with the heel of my hand to test its solidity.  The chockstone immediately dropped into my lap (I had my back on one wall and feet on the other.)

So now I'm wrestling with---I don't know---a few hundred pounds of rock, no pro in, and Barbara directly below me. And I'm losing the wrestling match; I can't hold on to the block, it is slowly oozing off my lap and out of my grip. I scream to Barbara that she has to unclip from the anchor and traverse out of the fall line. She does, but the traverse is on sloping hand and footholds, maybe 5.7, and is very insecure.

Get the picture? I'm losing a battle with a big rock, Barbara is teetering on slopers off to the side, we're roped together, but there is no gear on the rope---the only gear is the anchor gear that she's unclipped from. I have a fleeting thought about what the authorities will think when they find our smashed bodies roped together at the basis of the route with no pro on the rope and, after investigation, find a perfectly good anchor with no sign that anyone was attached to it. Nowadays it would be worth a few hundred hypothetical posts on MP.

With Barbara off to the side and the block sliding inexorably from my grip, I let it go.  It dropped straight down to where she had been standing and obliterated part of the belay ledge---no way she would have survived that.  It continued down the wall, fracturing, raising dust clouds, and making lots of noise. 

And then everything was quiet again.  Barbara traversed back to her ledge.  The anchor hadn't been destroyed, so she clipped back in.  I continued up the now chockstoneless chimney, and we went on with the climb.

And we never spoke of it again.

Wow.  At first I read "and we never spoke again".      Of course, I want the love story part.  Heck, Rich... that's an incredible tale.  Good thing she handled the traverse so well. 

---

I'm sitting here in front of my computer this morning, recovering from an awful trip up north... in a way it was a blessing because it reminded me of reasons I had to move.  Anyway, because diet/nutrition has been a big interest of mine over the years, every ad that pops up on my computer is of some new guaranteed vitamin or shake that will fix whatever ails you.  In particular I've been getting a lot of video ads from Suzanne Somers who I've been a sort of fan because she introduced bioidentical hormones to the world, and later detoxifying your home and environment... but now she's 75 and pushing her new Gut Fix shake.  The thing is, despite all the makeup and wardrobe, she looks bent over and pretty feeble.  

Ok, where I'm going with this is that never once does she mention exercise.  Come to think of it, no one mentions exercise in any context of good health.  Gundry would be another one who frequently proclaims another breakthrough miracle to recover health.  Never once heard him mention exercise.  As Tony and I sat in front of the TV last night, watching some form of news... every single commercial was for a prescription drug.  In fact, one on cardiac heart failure... another on Type 2 diabetes, both showed generally overweight sedentary people having a good time, supposedly after popping whatever pill.  I guess we are sold on pills... be they natural, or from a pharmacy.  

I'm trying to find my own middle ground on all of this.  It's possible that all I ever needed was the one iron pill I have to take, maybe that B12 shot.  The best and most consistent medicine I've ever had was time spent outdoors--whether roaming and scrambling, or climbing hard.  Or sometimes, lolling about in the sunshine.  Laughter is good medicine, too.  Friendship and connection.  

Also... another vacation thought... because I am friends with his mom, Alex Honnold's videos and doings are in front of me a lot.  He moved to Red Rocks so he could walk out his front door and be on a rock within a half hour.  Hey!  I moved to Joshua Tree for the same reason!  Great minds... 

Rgold, that’s a fantastic and scary story!

But in my own personal definition of terms, I’d call that an “almost died” story and not an epic. For me, for something to be an epic, there has to be an element of longer duration. I’m sure to you it felt like forever but your whole story took place over, what, 2 minutes?  

Still, one of the best “almost died” stories I ever heard! Tell more!

phylp phylpwrote:

Rgold, that’s a fantastic and scary story!

But in my own personal definition of terms, I’d call that an “almost died” story and not an epic. For me, for something to be an epic, there has to be an element of longer duration. I’m sure to you it felt like forever but your whole story took place over, what, 2 minutes?  

Still, one of the best “almost died” stories I ever heard! Tell more!

Haha, tough audience.  Maybe 5 minutes---an epic-ette perhaps?  The longest 5 minutes of my life fer sure.

Does this clear the bar? http://www.supertopo.com/tr/A-Walk-with-McCarthy-in-the-Winds/t223n.html.

Same Barbara, by the way.

rgoldwrote:

Haha, tough audience.  Maybe 5 minutes---an epic-ette perhaps?  The longest 5 minutes of my life fer sure.

Does this clear the bar?

LOL, yes the second story clearly meets my exacting standards of an epic!

rgoldwrote:

Haha, tough audience.  Maybe 5 minutes---an epic-ette perhaps?  The longest 5 minutes of my life fer sure.

Does this clear the bar? http://www.supertopo.com/tr/A-Walk-with-McCarthy-in-the-Winds/t223n.html.

Same Barbara, by the way.

Both amazing stories.  And epics!
I don't know if I long for such experiences or darn glad that I had neither.  To date. :) 

Looking back, I guess we never really looked death squarely in the eyes, but at the time it felt epic.

Guy Keesee and I were three pitches up an unclimbed wall. Our proposed route followed the only natural line on the entire formation; a long, shallow, left arching corner of about 1,000 feet. This corner was formed by the meeting of two distinctly different faces. To the right of the corner the rock was dead vertical, clean and nearly featureless. The wall to the left was entirely different; a seemingly endless series of flaps, one-to-five-foot overhangs separated by sections, mostly about 30 feet, of steep slabs. Overall, the face averaged out to be nearly vertical, since each successive overhang made up for the slightly less than vertical slabs in between.

This formation, the Silver Turret, sits two miles north of, and 2,000 feet below the crest of Harrington Pass. The pass is 10 miles, and 6,500 feet up, from the middle fork of the Kings River, not far from Road’s End, in Kings Canyon National Park. Back in 1995 this remote hanging canyon, the Gorge of Despair, could go for years at a time unvisited by a human. We were on our own.

The second and third pitches were hard. We kept getting forced out left into the sea of hangs and slabs. Finally, the third pitch offered up an undercling under the lip of a roof, which enabled us to get back to the corner where we so desired to be. This undercling was the sort of climbing that demanded a mix of thuggery and grace.

At the top of that pitch, I drilled a pair of bolts and relaxed. I was pleased with myself, and optimistic about the outcome of our adventure. As I belayed Guy across the undercling the ropes went tight. He’d come off. It was no big deal, the moves were desperate, he’d figure it out soon enough. But nothing changed, he just hung there. I thought I heard him yell, but the sound was drowned out by the noise of the creek running down through the canyon below. Then I heard him. “My Kneeee!”

He finished the pitch on one leg, with the help of the rope. When I saw his knee my heart sank. It was already swollen up like a grapefruit, and it was locked. He couldn’t flex it. It was a serious injury. We had to get off the wall and back to the road. Did I mention we were on our own? Such contrivances as Spot devices to call for rescue didn’t exist.

By doing some pendulums, an uninjured climber could have rappelled our route, but for Guy this was not an option. I rapped straight down to the end of the ropes and set a two bolt anchor on a very steep section of slab. Guy came down to join me, and we hung there like meat. I pulled the ropes. Everything felt fine, but when the end of the blue rope was up about 25 feet, they jammed. We tried everything. We were stuck there. All I could do was prussic up the single red rope, hoping that my weight and movement didn’t pull it loose. I was cold and scared, and not really thinking straight. 

I tied two prussics to the rope, clipped the upper one to my harness with a runner, and stood in a pair of long runners attached to the lower knot. It was time to unclip from the anchor and inch my way on up. I felt like I was going to puke. Then it hit me. I stayed clipped to the anchor by several feet of rope and started jumping in place. The 200 plus feet of 8.5mm rope I hung on had some spring to it, and I got a good rhythm going. I was generating some real force when, without warning, the ropes came free. We finished our descent to the base of the wall.

After a day packing his knee in snow, we got up early. Guy wrapped his leg in his ensolite sleeping pad and cinched it down tight with compression straps. “I can walk with this.”

“How far?”

“Back to the car. What other choice do I have?”

I loaded as much as I could carry, and cached the heavy stuff, hammer, drill, bolts, etc., already planning my return.

Guy proceeded to hike out twelve miles in a push. I followed him as he walked stiff legged up 2,000 feet in two trailless miles, as he crossed Harrington Pass, and as he negotiated his way down through an endless two miles of steep granite slabs and crazy talus. He surmounted one obstacle after another. Then we hit the trail. Eight miles to go…

Back at the car Guy barfed and passed out. I dropped my pack, pulled a couple of warm beers out of the trunk, and relaxed. I’d never been so impressed by a climbing partner, and remain so to this day. 

The next morning, over coffee, Guy spoke up.

“So, Kris, what do you want to do now?”

“What kind of a question is that? We’re getting you back to L.A. to get that knee looked at.”

“Kris, this is vacation time. I’ll get my knee fixed on sick time. I don’t want to go home. Let’s go to the Needles.”

I was flabbergasted. “The Needles? Are You nuts??”

He was serious. “You’ll pick up partners no problem. I’ll hang at the Ponderosa. I think Red opens the bar at noon?”

Two years later we went back with the addition of Chelsea Griffie to our party. Chelsea and I pushed the high point of our route up another few pitches, but I took some falls, so we rapped and took a rest day. Fresh, I was able to lead the entire nine pitches clean.

Despairadoes, 5.12.

I only count it as epic if you actually take obituary photos of each other, knowing that the rescue squad will develop the film in any cameras you had on you whilst still among the living.

Here's an epic trip report:  Native Son trip report

Nice. I'd heard a bit about that from E, but he's not much into talking about getting plucked. That's a hell of a story...

Russ Wallingwrote:

I only count it as epic if you actually take obituary photos of each other, knowing that the rescue squad will develop the film in any cameras you had on you whilst still among the living.

Here's an epic trip report:  Native Son trip report

Russ… that qualifies as epic! E has told me the tale before but from his side.

I was with Kris one time in the Needles- strong T storm happening and we were bailing. At one of the anchors while rushing to get down I didn’t get both strands in the ATC. The rain jacket blocked my view of the ATC and I was rushing the raps. Leaned back and fell about 3-4 feet before the line went tight! The knot had jammed at the anchor. I managed to get the side with the knott in the ATC- a 50 50 chance- I won this time around!

If I had gone flying past Kris with the ropes in my ATC he would have had a true epic.

Be careful out there. 

These are incredible stories and ones I cannot conceive.  

Looks like we won’t be climbing tomorrow because there’s a 60% chance of rain, and I have a chest cold.  We could get hit by raindrops!  That’s as close to epic as I’ll ever get.  Precious cargo here, too precious for even a mini-epic.     I have actually, really, asked if there is any way to have a portaledge on a rock here in Joshua Tree, just once for the experience.  But nooooo….. 

Russ, what few words did you leave behind for your obit?  Trying to imagine the impressive skill and adrenaline required to get out of that mess—that’s quite something. 

I don’t know about everyone else, but I love these stories.  Kris, ever since you gifted me your guidebook of the Needles, I have poured over those pictures and mourned the things I’ll never do.  I figured you all had a past… esp Guy.  I knew Russ had a past.  

I tell Tony all the time “I need a past”.  Trying to earn it now…