New and Experienced climbers over 50 ##24

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Brandt. in my defense that was a really long time ago. it was a rubber snake and Alex the desert rat was not fazed at all by the rubber snake.  Alex's mom is most certainly still suffering from PTSD because as she said She KNOWS her son. that same young man (almost 60 now)  who as a child once picked up a live Black mamba while they were vacationing in some exotic part of the British empire. The same fellow who when sent to school in America turned into a desert rat who knows most of the obscure towers and is quite comfortable with all the creepy crawly things associated with the American south west. I have seen him pick up tarantulas to get them safely out of the roadway.  one of our more interesting interactions was the time he found a roadkill rattle snake and naturally picked it up thinking it might be useful. Knowing that I am a north easterner and posses the usual snake phobias of that geographic region Alex assumed that the best use of his dead rattle snake was to coil it up in the seat of my Honda civic..   made sleeping on the desert floor with no tent a bit unnerving for me for the following week or so... 

Great snake story Nick.  We have a snake handler here who has created a full-time business for herself just catching and transporting rattlesnakes out of peoples yards and back into the wild. She’s very young and very pretty and kind of has a rattlesnake vibe. But I do not now how long she can keep this up without getting bitten since she loves to handle them and pose for pictures. Also it doesn’t seem as though she has a calling for squirrels which could also be very useful right about now.

We are watching the HBO documentary on Elizabeth Holmes.  Geez. 

The saga of the agave continues!  I just got home from two weeks away and the sprout has sprouted side shoots!

phylp phylpwrote:

The saga of the agave continues!  I just got home from two weeks away and the sprout has sprouted side shoots!

Wow! Looks like it is getting quite tall.

It seems you desert dwellers just need more snakes in the garden. 

Anyone have any direct experience with our wordle word today? My son did!

H.

Lori Milaswrote:

But to the right of that is a Gaines route called The Big Apple that I would love to climb.  It grabbed me right away.   

Public Service Announcement:  That route, which used to be called "Rad Nad" has the dubious honor of having the most caked on bird shit I've ever climbed through.  There are places that it appears almost like calcite.  Granted that was years ago, but I suspect its gotten worse, not better.

Murfwrote:

Public Service Announcement:  That route, which used to be called "Rad Nad" has the dubious honor of having the most caked on bird shit I've ever climbed through.  There are places that it appears almost like calcite.  Granted that was years ago, but I suspect its gotten worse, not better.

Why the name change?  

Old lady Hwrote:

Anyone have any direct experience with our wordle word today? My son did!

H.

I got yesterday’s in 2.  I’m on line 5 today, and no idea.  I may hand it off to Tony before I break my streak.  It turns out he’s brilliant at Wordle.  

I’d like to ask the folks here about warmups for outdoor climbing.  I need to come up with a routine, some way of being fully warmed up before launching.  

If it were gym climbing, I had that wired.  For every 2 hour gym session, the first full hour was warm up.  I always started on some easy 5.8 routes, moving to 5.9s for awhile… until finally ready to climb something hard.  The challenge was ending the warmup before I was out of energy.  

Outdoor climbing is always kind of a jolt for me.  Even with a little stretching, and a short hike to the crag… that first route is a shock to my system.  I feel awkward, shaky,  feeling completely unsteady, breathing hard… overwhelmed.  It just takes some time to get my head on straight.  By the end of the day I’m feeling great, nothing feels too difficult or awkward.  

How do you all warm up… not just physically, but mentally… for the challenges ahead?  Do you have something you do at the crag before starting on your first route?

———-

Well… we watched the whole HBO special on Elizabeth Holmes.  Very interesting story.  Seemed like she wanted to emulate the can-do mindset of Steve Jobs that made him such a visionary, and part of the job was refusing to accept that her invention was not viable ‘yet’.  I think she thought she could eventually make it work.  Along the way she did a lot of damage…and sure, she needs to go to prison.  

I don’t know about the rubber snakes yet.  I’m with Brandt.  These look so real they freak me out every time.  I don’t know if they freak out the squirrels.  There are 3 branches now missing on my sunflower.  But I hung the second snake and so far, no squirrels.  

Lori Milaswrote:

...

Outdoor climbing is always kind of a jolt for me.  Even with a little stretching, and a short hike to the crag… that first route is a shock to my system.  I feel awkward, shaky,  feeling completely unsteady, breathing hard… overwhelmed.  It just takes some time to get my head on straight.  By the end of the day I’m feeling great, nothing feels too difficult or awkward.  

How do you all warm up… not just physically, but mentally… for the challenges ahead?  Do you have something you do at the crag before starting on your first route?

If it's a sport venue, I always do 2 or 3 easy routes to warm up (by easy I mean 5.7 or below, if possible). I try to get at least 10-12 routes in per day, so I can afford having 2-3 warm ups. If trad, I always do one easy climb (or 2 pitches) that I am familiar with, if possible, before venturing onto harder stuff.  In the gym, several routes in the 5.5 to 5.7 range for a warm up.  That's pretty easy to do because I can do 2-3 shorter routes on each rope, then lead a couple easier routes after that.  But my gym sessions tend to last 3-4 hours so I have the time to do that.  Just for comparison purposes, in the gym I'd be projecting 5.11d to 5.12b, so I know my routine is odd (i.e., I don't know many 5.11 climbers who warm up on 5.5  ).  But at 65 years old, warming up is crucial.

Tim Schafstallwrote:

If it's a sport venue, I always do 2 or 3 easy routes to warm up (by easy I mean 5.7 or below, if possible). I try to get at least 10-12 routes in per day, so I can afford having 2-3 warm ups. If trad, I always do one easy climb (or 2 pitches) that I am familiar with, if possible, before venturing onto harder stuff.  In the gym, several routes in the 5.5 to 5.7 range for a warm up.  That's pretty easy to do because I can do 2-3 shorter routes on each rope, then lead a couple easier routes after that.  But my gym sessions tend to last 3-4 hours so I have the time to do that.  Just for comparison purposes, in the gym I'd be projecting 5.11d to 5.12b, so I know my routine is odd (i.e., I don't know many 5.11 climbers who warm up on 5.5  ).  But at 65 years old, warming up is crucial.

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Thank you.   By those standards I’m not warming up nearly enough.  Since warming up on a routine 5.5 here is not feasible (we are at a different crag almost every time), I wonder how it would be if I found a fairly stout scramble that I could reliably do before showing up for a climbing session with Bob. 

Lori Milaswrote:

How do you all warm up… not just physically, but mentally… for the challenges ahead?  Do you have something you do at the crag before starting on your first route?

Mentally, no warm up.  Physically, not much.  Maybe do an easy route, but usually not.  I try not to waste my pulls.  We have a saying of, "I'll warm up on the route", meaning sorta just climb slow and deliberate without any crazy crimps or dynos or full splits... unless you have to, then go for it, since "onsight" takes precedent over 6 weeks on the shelf.  Usually only takes two or three bolts before I'm good to go.  Bouldering is a different story.  More warmup for that exercise.

If there is beer available, and there oftentimes is, slam one real quick before starting your first route.  Smooths the bumps out of the coffee jitters.

Took me 5 today. I got it in 3 three days in a row awhile back. 

Russ Wallingwrote:

Mentally, no warm up.  Physically, not much.  Maybe do an easy route, but usually not.  I try not to waste my pulls.  We have a saying of, "I'll warm up on the route", meaning sorta just climb slow and deliberate without any crazy crimps or dynos or full splits... unless you have to, then go for it, since "onsight" takes precedent over 6 weeks on the shelf.  Usually only takes two or three bolts before I'm good to go.  Bouldering is a different story.  More warmup for that exercise.

If there is beer available, and there oftentimes is, slam one real quick before starting your first route.  Smooths the bumps out of the coffee jitters.

Oh god. How I enjoy these posts!  OF COURSE… why didn’t I think of tossing a few beers back before I start climbing at 8 in the morning.  I’m sure Bob would have no problem with me heading up slightly drunk.   Another thing I missed by not being one of the boys bitd.  

But seriously… I wonder if some of the jittery feeling on the rock could be from coffee.  Hello!

It always takes ultimate humility for me to bring my  issues here (even though I’m 5 years in).  But the combined experience of this group is incredible.  I just appreciate it more than I can say. 

Lori Milaswrote:

Oh god. How I enjoy these posts!  OF COURSE… why didn’t I think of tossing a few beers back before I start climbing at 8 in the morning.  I’m sure Bob would have no problem with me heading up slightly drunk.   Another thing I missed by not being one of the boys bitd. 

Well, for one, I'm not climbing at 8 in the morning.  I'm more a noon and go fast guy, if it is long.  It is a good strategy since all the Gumbys know they are Gumbys and start bigger routes at like 0:dark 30.  By the time I get to the base @ noon to 2pm anyone who can actually climb is on pitch 8, and all the rest have bailed since their giant packs were full of bullshit and it wore them down.  Works like a dream in Yosemite, Potrero, and Red Rock.  Especially Red Rock.

And BITD those early birds would do some hippy lettuce to calm their nerves.  Sometimes a lot of hippy lettuce, all day, everyday.  It was just their way of warming up.

Russ Wallingwrote:

And BITD those early birds would do some hippy lettuce to calm their nerves.  Sometimes a lot of hippy lettuce, all day, everyday.  It was just their way of warming up.

On the walk to the crag we would stop someplace comfy and have a 'safety session'.  My favorite was on the walk up to Suicide Rock.  After the safety session there was a long log that we would walk out to the end of.  The end was about 20 feet above the ground so you really didn't want to fall off.  The real trick was to stand on the end, which wobbled slightly, and relax enough to pee.  If you could do that you were definitely ready to climb.

I used to believe that ‘to warm up is to wear out’. Not any longer!!!!! In the gym I’ll start easy and work my way up—usually a grade per route ( my top level isn’t that hard anyway—all to often what I am aiming for has been my partner’s warm up!!!!). But then I can often keep going not too far below my limit for quite a while.

Outside, much of my climbing these days is at local areas I know well, so, to the extent possible, I follow a similar routine on old favorites ( though, disappointingly, now some of those former warmups are not so much any longer!!!).

When visiting a new area, I also try to find easy routes ( ideally local classics) for my first climbs—if I am not sandbagged by the locals.

This is all for shorter climbs, of course, as longer routes aren’t currently in the picture for me. I understand this option doesn’t work for a place such as JT , with stand alone formations with usually limited routes on each.

Lori- re the warm up. I have found that everyone is different and responds to a different style of warm up.
Some like Jan and Kris never warmup- they just liked to start on something hard then keep going. I on the other hand do my best if I can do something trivial first then something with some pulling- enuf to get a minor pump. Rest up, then climb. Now you can’t always do that because of the situation. If you can at least boulder a bit that helps.

Rubber Snake fun. BITD we had one. You must be careful using it. One time I hid it and bought it along- just for giggles- I was leading P2 of Reeds. When I was about 2/3 of the way up I dug it out of my shirt yelling snake snake!! And dropped it straight down on Bulwinkle. A direct hit. Only problem- He didn’t think it was very funny! He looked up and said “that’s not funny” “you want to know what’s funny? This” and with that he took me off belay, untied and started down climbing…. It took some pleading to get him back to work.

Last Saturday I went and watched “the Dead and Co.” …. With Jan’s wife Rachel. I have gone to shows scene 75 and Rachel about 80. The Boys have been around, so have I, and we show it.
What a long strange trip it’s been. 

Old lady Hwrote:

Anyone have any direct experience with our wordle word today? My son did!

H.

Yes, had 4 of the five letters with my first two tries, two more to get it

No experience with rubber snakes but came across Barbie and Ken in a suggestive position inside a large hueco at Smith Rocks.

Idaho Bobwrote:

No experience with rubber snakes but came across Barbie and Ken in a suggestive position inside a large hueco at Smith Rocks.

I hope you averted your eyes and gave them some privacy!!!

Much better that, though, than snakes (fake or real)—I’m very much with Brant ( and Bullwinkle) on that type of not at all funny ( and potentially very dangerous) prank.