New and Experienced climbers over 50 ##24

Tim Schafstallwrote:

Give the public what they want....

Blur?  What size frame did you go with?

Nice lookin' ride!  I need to upgrade mine...get something less sporty and more comfy (my frame is sized kinda small for techy...now I'm lazy...and less risk tolerant...ha ha).

Brian in SLCwrote:

Blur?  What size frame did you go with?

Nice lookin' ride!  I need to upgrade mine...get something less sporty and more comfy (my frame is sized kinda small for techy...now I'm lazy...and less risk tolerant...ha ha).

Blur, medium.  I'm 5'8" and 140 lbs; pretty standard legs and torso. Perfect fit for me.

Tim Schafstallwrote:

Blur, medium.  I'm 5'8" and 140 lbs; pretty standard legs and torso. Perfect fit for me.

Which frame (if you don't mine me asking)?  I'm kinda in-between sizes (6'1") but might be an XL for comfort.  Those 29'ers are pretty sweet!  

Brian in SLCwrote:

Which frame (if you don't mine me asking)?  I'm kinda in-between sizes (6'1") but might be an XL for comfort.  Those 29'ers are pretty sweet!  

Carbon CC.  This thing almost makes me think I could race again   .

Tim Schafstallwrote:

Carbon CC.  This thing almost makes me think I could race again   .

Great bike!  Nice and light and responsive.

Lori - Brownie Girl Dome?

Here's a couple of photos I took there.

By the way, no way would I consider Playhouse Rock vertical. Just another JT low-angle dummy dome. (But I do enjoy the routes there!)

Brandt Allenwrote:

Lori - Brownie Girl Dome?

Here's a couple of photos I took there.

By the way, no way would I consider Playhouse Rock vertical. Just another JT low-angle dummy dome. (But I do enjoy the routes there!)

These are beautiful too!  Do you have any on your property, Brandt? How about tomatoes this year?  

As for Playhouse I know you are correct.  I just managed to get myself into a jam on a route that had a vertical portion that I’m sure most climbers could handle with no problem.  I struggled a bit and I was also a bit uncomfortable as I was being belayed from above on a loose belay and couldn’t see or communicate with the gentleman so I perhaps gripped too hard.  I really didn’t want to fall or get banged up.  It was only a 5.8 route (I think).

Did anyone ever see City of Angels?  

Coupple weeks ago I found a cliff while skiing. It's about 2 miles deep. Spring has hit hard the last few days and it was 70f at my house when i loaded up the gear. its only 15 min to the trailhead but it was only 60f up there. 

My FA pack is an absolute beast. had to be about 60lbs. Its MUCH easier doing his stuff as a team.. Initially the coverage was good but I had to stay on that little frozen ridge otherwise I would sink in pretty bad. there were a few spots with open water but I was able to skirt them no problem. 2 miles in I had climbed the ridge and was at the top of my cliff. lots of loose rock up there so i did a bunch of trundeling. rapped over in a few different spots trying to find a decent line or a good place for top anchors. Its a beautiful spot with views of the white mountains but the rock is absolute kitty litter. It reminded me of the choss in Glacier national park.

Its been so long since I have done this top down solo gig that I hand forgotten my method of Jumaring with one ascender and the gri gri so it took awhile to get that sorted out...  Eventually i made the call that it is just not going to be a safe place to climb. too many fractured layers.. 

back on top I wrasteled all the gear back in the bag and continued up to the top of the shoulder. Nice open hardwood skiing off the top. Somewhat arduous with my heavy load and minimalist ski set up. 

when I got back on the road I suspected that the section to get back to where I left the road would be washed out and I like suffering so I took a much longer loop through the beaver ponds. lots of stream crossings on suspect snow bridges and I had to travel up on the beaver damns instead of cruising across the ponds.

Saw a moose

got my skis wet quite a few times.. 

pretty fun adventure.. probably only about 5 miles but because of the heavy pack and the very funky snow it was a shit ton of work. I am really sore now. 

Lori - The photos of those flowers were at Brownie Girl Dome. I don't think they grow at lower elevations where my house is.

A wonderful joyful day todayI got on a route that I really couldn’t touch year ago but today there was nothing I couldn’t handle.  More importantly, I can finally say it… I’m starting to feel the joy again in my life.

I went to LabCorp earlier this week and took every test imaginable and then held my breath. I didn’t know if I could handle bad news.  I was so shocked yesterday when all the results were in and everything perfect. This afternoon after I finished Climbing, I got the test results back on the parasites and, for the first time in over a year they are gone.  That’s 6 rounds of antiparasitic meds and even more herbs… I just sat and cried for a while. This has been the longest hardest journey of my life. Now if I can just shake off the dread and the fear and focus on rebuilding and smiling again.

Do you know that saying “fake it till you make it”? I’ve been faking it for many months. I’ve been climbing, but I have been sad climbing . Today was truly a joyful experience and just happens to be the hardest thing I’ve ever climbed.  I feel like life is returning.  

I must have felt the shift deep inside, because I started planning a little getaway… A pause in my life where I can sit by a river or a lake and just be still for a while. I have missed my kids and my grandkids something awful. I need to know in my heart what is next—what I want and what I might need to let go of.  meanwhile this route today is one that will take a little practice to climb clean.

Wordle in 3 this morning !  

Bob Gaines took the pics. 

Lori. awesome that you are feeling better and  you are getting out climbing.   i thought wordel was tricky again today. took me 5.. 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

got my skis wet quite a few times.. 

The hazards of spring skiing are similar in Colorado. Wendy low on Quandary's gentle E slopes BITD:

I am still reveling in the great climbing experience yesterday. It was such perfect weather, and this particular rock was one I have been wanting to climb for a long time.   Since this route has never been climbed before neither Bob nor I had any idea what was up there. it was maybe only my second experience with trying to climb on very loose gravelly rock, where, in addition to hanging on and not taking a fall you have to clean each step throughly before you proceed. I would find some tiny divot for a foothold, and then it would slide away under my shoe. But really, it just adds to the challenge the fun of an already difficult route.

There are parts of that rock that are dead vertical, and I was wondering, is this still considered slab? You know, whatever it is, it has intrigued me more than anything else. I get absolutely absorbed in the mechanics of sticking to a high angle wall of rock… Looking for tiny crystals to crimp that won’t crumble underneath my fingers. If you get lucky, there may be a crack or a sidepull, some thing that is not microscopic.   But was it Jan or Kris who previously said it’s really about believing. I think this kind of climbing has a magical quality to it.

my Whoop showed a Strain score 20+ at the end of the day and Tim called me out on that. The theoretical maximum score you can get on Whoop is 21 but it is set so you can never get to 21. But it indicated that I spent a lot of time in my maximum heart rate zone. I do think it counts the beats properly, but the zones are not set correctly so now that it’s been pointed out, I will try to figure out what my real maximum heart rate is or should be. But I sure do love this wearable for sleep. I feel like it has saved my life. (I seem to remember asking my primary care doctor at Kaiser about this high heart rate during rockclimbing, and he actually consulted with a cardiologist on staff because they had actually never had to deal with an old person who exercises… Sadly enough. But after looking at all the numbers, they concluded that this was just fine… For me.)

It’s kind of hard to tell from this picture, but this is at least one crux move. It’s quite a surprise because that’s a blind corner onto no obvious hold. You have to kind of take a leap of faith, reaching around that corner, and then stepping left to get situated on the face. That is not a hand hold on the right it’s just a place for a balance. There is one foothold way out there, but you just have to know where it is. If you miss it, then down, you go! There’s a real feeling of exposure on that face.  

Tony just had the gout again and I’ve never seen anyone so miserable yet he pouts when I suggest we really clean up his diet. 

It's rare that I get skunked on ice but I took a chance today and struck out.  Broke Kermit out of jail (winter storage) and drove a bit. 

 In the past this thing has been amazingly durable and offered good climbing long after everything else is toast but apparently 5 days of 70f temps is too much to ask of it.

last Sunday it was in mid winter shape. 

Hard to see in the photo but it was gushing water.   I figured what the heck might as well hike up there and see if there is any booty at the base.  grabbed some crampons and an ice ax butbdidnt bother to change into synthetic climbing pants.. Big mistake ;)  no booty at the base which is suprising as we had a big snow year. it was a water fall  and i wanted out from under there in a hurry so I forgot to get close up photos.  I then slogged up the decent gully to the top of the ridge.  This is the top of the climb.

 That was enough of a thrash  that I didn't feel like reversing it. Its only a half mile to the table rock lookout. how bad can that be? the answer is pretty bad...

I had a 70cm ax with me and its not touching terra firma... 

 sometimes I would get 3 or 4 good steps before I fell through crotch deep. other places I simply had to crawl..  It was a rather long and arduous half mile.

  Finally solid ground!

It's a straight shot down a gully from here to the road. I donned crampons again. 

nice firm ice and rocks for the upper 3rd then it got a bit sloppy again but not too bad. much of the time it was firm enough to support me. 

very relieved to be safe back at the van and into dry clothes. No cell signal up there so it could have gotten squirly.  after a nice meander back to my place I wandered over to the lake which is 8 min from my house.  The water was a bit brisk. 

just 2 miles from my house. this is why I don't drive sports cars.. this one was stuck and abandoned in the middle of the road.. 

LOL Nick! You’re pretty out there guy! You have adventures a couple times a week that most people wouldn’t have once a year!

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

just 2 miles from my house. this is why I don't drive sports cars.. this one was stuck and abandoned in the middle of the road.. 

Yup.  It's mud season in Vermont....and NH.

Skunked at wordel today...

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Skunked at wordel today...

I barely got it. Took 6 tries!

Old lady Hwrote:

I barely got it. Took 6 tries!

Me too. Whew. Bruce and my friend BJ got it in 5. Truly a tough one.