New and Experienced climbers over 50 #23

Bob Gaineswrote:

A firend of mine was leading EBGB's in the early 80's and took a leader fall. The aluminum DPH hanger broke, and he took a long one. Broke his leg!

When I lead it in the 80s that broken hanger was still there, next to a new bolt.  Really boosted my confidence for the rest of the route, lol. 

It’s amazing to me that all these stories have sat there on the shelf and no one has bothered to write them all down. You do know that most of this disappears with you? I am grateful that the county of riverside bothered to do so many incredible interviews with climbers… That’s great And I’ve listened to quite a few but you really have  to go hunting for them and then you have to sit down and be ready to read or listen for long periods of time. I never thought I was the person to transcribe all these and write a book because I didn’t know any of you guys back in the day But I am deeply interested in this. You know it wouldn’t have to be a long book— we have hundreds of short stories right here on these threads.

My view and perspective is pretty limited too.  Most of you guys have been everywhere including Yosemite, Colorado and the Gunks…  and I have only seen a few other places. I arrived in Joshua Tree and had no idea of the history here or even the scale in terms of miles. Only by hiking and roaming for a number of years now did I start to see what all is back there in those hills. It’s hard to miss the spiritual vibe of this place and the uniqueness of this area. I still fall asleep at night aware that Tumbling Rainbow is a beacon of energy over this whole town. I don’t know, maybe we’ll  find a way to go back over 23,000 posts and grab stories on cut and paste – – you would all have to agree to that – – and maybe Bob with his treasure trove of pictures could supply some of the visuals. I happen to know that Bob is an awesome photographer. 

So I don’t want to embarrass Bob Gaines but I’m trying to figure out where his story fits in. Maybe Bob will grace us with a little recap of his own climbing journey. I’ve spent many many hours on the rock with Bob and heard bits and pieces and even gotten to see Bob climb on occasion. It’s weird to have a relationship that is first and foremost a professional one with boundaries but overtime for sure a meaningful friendship. But really only now that I am sidelined for a while and thinking about all the places that we have climbed am I just totally blown away  by my incredible luck.  And this is almost off the subject but I think of the patience and kindness that Bob has had with me, almost a rambunctious teenager wanting to go way over my abilities, and Bob frequently trying to redirect my attention toward routes I could actually accomplish. The one for some reason I hope I still get to do one day is White Room. Sometimes something just grabs  you and this one grabbed me and I know it’s not the top of anyone’s list but I sure spent a lot of time hiking up to that route and trying to figure where it started and ended and how to even get to it. But I ramble…

PS. I sent a little note off to Dave Houser reminding him how fondly he is remembered and how much the crew here would love to say hello.  Maybe one day he’ll stop by. 

EDIT:  There it is, a two-fer! Me on RFYL and White Room to the right.   

It was a great day at Climbing with Jeremy and Greg and seeing how it’s really done. I was focused on the task of climbing run for your life but watching a Jeremy hike up  Runaway of course then I wanted to climb that. 

Jeremy just hanging out and chatting while standing on that huge ledge   … And when it was my turn of course I wasn’t quite that elegant. Actually as I recall the hardest part of this route is right in those early moves… After you get over the crux the rest of it is just a lot of fun.

WHERE IS CARL?

It was tights day the other day.
Thus is at West Flank in the northern Grampians.

Carl Schneiderwrote:

It was tights day the other day.
Thus is at West Flank in the northern Grampians.

Yay Carl!

It's rocketed up to 8 here. Supposed to hit 45 next week.   

H.

still working my butt off getting the place livable and only climbed once so far this winter.   big progress. 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

still working my butt off getting the place livable and only climbed once so far this winter.   big progress. 

Beautiful work Nick!  Tony and I are oohing and ahhhing over the blue cabinets and gorgeous wood.  We would like to move in.   

So, whereabouts is this and what are the seasons like. How far is climbing?  Lakes?  A decent sized town?  I’m in love with your pictures. 

its 32min from this

and this

and 10 min from this

and this

Nick, that's stunning!

Old lady Hwrote:

Yay Carl!

It's rocketed up to 8 here. Supposed to hit 45 next week.   

H.

Shouldn’t mix and match measurement units for folks :). I always kid overseas folks when I say it only got to 40 here.    

rgoldwrote:

We all have "other lives."  Al Rubin has been a dedicated public defender for 50 years, and is finally retiring at 77, after a lifetime of dedicated public service.  Here's an article about him.  https://www.gazettenet.com/Alan-Rubin-retirement-49109690.

Congratulations, and as a MA resident, thank you for the service you have given as a PD the past 50 years.  Not to mention finding time to be a route developer and guide book author!
Enjoy the send off's. They are all well deserved. See you in the new year and the start of the next chapter.

P.S.  Now with copious amount of free time on your hands, you can plan our next climbing trip!  :) 

Alan Van Nevelwrote:

Shouldn’t mix and match measurement units for folks :). I always kid overseas folks when I say it only got to 40 here.    

Oh oops....I forgot Carl uses what everywhere in the world uses. Except us, lol!

Fahrenheit for both numbers. I was just thinking about Fahrenheit, too. How the heck did it come about? No numbers match anything in day to day life, so I'd presume it measured something else?? I don't have any idea what a degree is, or how it came about. Earthquakes are odd too. I do like all the different ways things are measured. Living with a pilot added a few more.

H.

Try this...

Brandt and I had a nice day climbing in Apple Valley today. As I was leaving to head home I got to see this gorgeous sunset. 

Home from a great trip to Araps. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, as it always is for me. 

Bill and ‘Canberra Dave’ were so great to climb with; interesting, knowledgeable, supportive and fun. And unreasonably fit and strong and psyched for their ages. Inspirational. 

The opportunity to connect with everything else; everything else, the stones, the ants the birds the flowering stems of grass the sky moon sun rock and humans is something to be eternally grateful for.

Old lady Hwrote:

Oh oops....I forgot Carl uses what everywhere in the world uses. Except us, lol!

Fahrenheit for both numbers. I was just thinking about Fahrenheit, too. How the heck did it come about? No numbers match anything in day to day life, so I'd presume it measured something else?? I don't have any idea what a degree is, or how it came about. Earthquakes are odd too. I do like all the different ways things are measured. Living with a pilot added a few more.

H.

Celsius makes much more sense. Freezing point of water as a starting point. Going to be about 41 after Chrissy (‘Chrissy’ is Australian for Christmas). 

I love the book ‘To Light a Fire’ by Jack London. I haven’t actually read it; I listen to it as an audio book. It’s very cool. Temperatures where your spit freezes in the air (can it actually do that?) seem astonishing to me.

Carl Schneiderwrote:

Celsius makes much more sense. Freezing point of water as a starting point. Going to be about 41 after Chrissy (‘Chrissy’ is Australian for Christmas). 

I love the book ‘To Light a Fire’ by Jack London. I haven’t actually read it; I listen to it as an audio book. It’s very cool. Temperatures where your spit freezes in the air (can it actually do that?) seem astonishing to me.

My cousin was, a long time ago, mayor of Fargo North Dakota. This business of seeing your spit hit the ground frozen was routine. Do not ever grab a metal door knob without gloves on. Everyone has an electric heater for their car motor. You plug it in at night, otherwise your oil freezes. And when you drive away the frozen flat area on your tires goes "clunk, clunk, clunk" down the road for several minutes. You do not drive at night, except in town, without heated snowmobile suits in the car. If you slide off the road on black ice and no one comes by for a few hours you're dead.

And that’s during the summer in Fargo.

Didn't you get kicked out of the gym for those tights ;)

I helped furnish and finish a new hotel in Fargo a few winters ago, it was cold. We had to unload a truck once a day on the North side of the building, that hour alone would really mess up the temporary help that didnt know how to dress, from frostbite to hypothermia, that hour every day *messed* some people up. Having experience in the mountains was a huge help on that job, the locals just preferred to not be prepared and stay inside 24/7.