New and experienced climbers over 50 # 25

Lori, my tomatoes are not ripe yet.  Just starting to harvest sungold and other cherry tomatoes.  They got so tall they collapsed and now I have a giant mess that is so thick it is hard to get in to pick tomatoes.  I am going to have a LOT.  Jalapenos are getting close and herbs are doing great.

Here  is where Keesee and I were this weekend.  I tortured about 120 trout over the two days.  I never saw another person, except Guy, from Friday evening until I was sitting at the top of the mountain waiting for Guy to finish hiking out on Sunday afternoon.  We spent Saturday night on the far side of the meadow, right about in the middle.

Noooooo!

phylp phylpwrote:

It doesn’t bother me. They are new routes and it’s not retrobolting classics. I think it’s perfectly OK for there to be routes that beginners can lead while they are learning. I just skip clipping a bunch of bolts if I’m at a grade that I find easy.  

Re older climbs, in the prehistoric olden times before sport climbing,  I once asked a Yosemite climber, why the 5.11 Meadows routes I was doing were so well-bolted (12-15 ft apart) compared to the 5.9 and under routes. He knew all those people and said that people didn’t bother bolting stuff that was easy for them, but when it started getting to a grade where they themselves might fall, they put in more bolts. So now it’s a nicer attitude to others, new route developers put in bolts with the skill set in mind of the grade of the climb. 

Agree that bolt spacing should be consistent with the grade, but also minimize hazards, such as ledge falls.  I'm a big fan of close spacing of second bolts to reduce potential of ground falls.  I know some route developers who don't want climbers getting hurt on their routes and therefore use closer bolt spacing.  That's fine, it's "their" route. I don't have to climb it.  There are also some locations (such as Kalymnos) where the bolting ethic is injury avoidance.  Some criticize that but if it's a good enough location for some of the best climbers in the world, perhaps the rest of us should be more humble.

I’ve been out hiking around the campground this morning. Tony is on his way home tomorrow. I don’t think this trip was all he was hoping for. Seems his best friends have gotten old. He didn’t expect to see them walking with a cane and really being so finished with life.  Some have been in long lifeless marriages and they feel they have no way out. So this was all a bit of a jolt. Anyway, he’s packing today and ready to make his 2000 mile drive tomorrow and Thursday.

I’ve been a little offended that Tony’s family hasn’t wholeheartedly embraced his life change but thinking about it now I can kind of chuckle. A 70 year old guy who’s wife of 35 years just died announces that he’s selling everything and moving to Joshua Tree to be with his rock climbing girlfriend… must have caused some to question his sanity.   

Meanwhile, I really just wanted to go sit under a pinon tree and ponder some things, but I wound up looking at this route directly to the right of chalk up another one. Never seen it before! Strange how you can look at some thing 100 times and then see it with new eyes. I just think I should climb it (whatever it is). (The line in profile)

Since I still had some energy, I thought I would go hike around to the backside of Trix where Bob had suggested there might be some preparatory routes. He’s a little concerned that I might not be so happy climbing Trix just yet. So I hiked around to the left and didn’t see a whole lot except this one slightly overhanging wall that looks seriously difficult. Again… Never been to this place!

I hiked around the right side of that formation, and was greeted by a surreal wonderland – – I have no idea what I was looking at, but I took a lot of pictures. It looks like everything had my name on it or at least a fantasy. Magnificent…although I have no idea how you would get to that headwall… maybe the traverse below.?

Not to worry because further in there was this.

To my left were formations that were beautiful (and I suspect, climbable). This one is for those hip flexors.

In other words there’s easily a full season of climbing in this one place.   I keep trying to make plans to head back up north and do some climbing in Tahoe and Strawberry (Lovers Leap) but the truth is I don’t want to. I’m waiting for this to get old.  So far, it only gets better. 

Lori, those last pictures are of Steve Canyon, home many a fine route with easy access from the road or HVCG. The classic Sidewinder (10b) goes up under the large horizontal roof then traverses the cool dike.

Given the sad state of many of Tony's friends, sounds like he did the sane thing in trying something new.

Yeah, Tony took a giant leap of faith.....and a big vote for his future self!

Meanwhile....

No hornworms. Still. Thank you, Raccoon! (first cat resident here, way way back).

But!

First tomatoes!! Okay, there were some red cherry toms too, but they uh, went to quality control.

Plants are all looking great, have green tomatoes, and, lots of blossoms. Those blossoms are the later tomatoes. It's good they're there now....

It's supposed to flirt with triple digits soon. That'll wipe out anything that's not already pollinated itself and on the way to making a tomato.

Almost through the weeding! I'll get it all watered in a few days, right before I run off again. Only 4 days, so everything should stay in control.

Good looking rocks, Lori!

H.

Randywrote:

Lori, those last pictures are of Steve Canyon, home many a fine route with easy access from the road or HVCG. The classic Sidewinder (10b) goes up under the large horizontal roof then traverses the cool dike.

Given the sad state of many of Tony's friends, sounds like he did the sane thing in trying something new.

So that’s Sidewinder!  Wow! I was kind of wondering if I had stumbled onto it.  I believe that will be off limits to me because of that traverse… but you never know.  

I roam without your guidebook, Randy… mostly because it is so fun to wander without prejudice, see what turns up in new places, and check it out later. Thank you for filling in these blanks.  

In case anyone wonders why I continue to write about Tony and so many other people it’s because this thread has turned out to be about the “lives of climbers over 50”…Not just climbing. I think it’s about decisions that we make at certain crossroads and because we don’t get to sit around that proverbial campfire and talk about it in person I certainly have thrown out the topics as they come up for me. My best friend is going to be leaving here on Thursday to go back to her home in the Lancaster area. She lives in a little town called Rosamond and I think that’s all she’s known for many years. Comparing the two towns is really quite something. Comparing our two lives is stark as well and I know Mal is pretty confused right now. 

 I thought I made a big bold move from Sacramento to Joshua tree, but really that was nothing compared to Tony bailing on Chicago and everything he ever knew. I have asked him why he did this and why he would hook up with me and he has said “Lori, it just works. No need to analyze something this good.”  So be it.

EDIT: Oh,hell. I stumbled onto Grain Surgery? And the Lhassa route discussed just last week? I have to go back with guidebook and see what I’ve been missing. For all the roaming far and wide I never seem to scratch the surface. 

Our tomatoes are being eaten by our back yard skunk I think.  Or the squirrel.  I was too busy this year to put them in the large pots like I usually do, but putting them in the ground only took about 10 minutes so whatever we get will be OK.  I don't have time to put fencing around the wire supports, so we'll see how it goes...

Lori Milaswrote:

Apparently, sunflowers do not grow where there is wind.

That's pretty funny.  Kansas - the Sunflower State.

The wind is ALWAYS blowing.

We grew sunflowers in the garden all the time when I was growing up in KS.

Lori Milaswrote:

EDIT: Oh,hell. I stumbled onto Grain Surgery? And the Lhassa route discussed just last week? I have to go back with guidebook and see what I’ve been missing. For all the roaming far and wide I never seem to scratch the surface. 

Decompensator of Lhasa, low on the direct start in 1988. "Outdoor Retailer" was the publication for the OR Trade Convention. I was sporting Charles Cole's new 5.10 Vertical's.

Photo by Keith Gunnar, Kristian Solem collection. Ah, to be mid-30's again, eh?

Looking stylish Kris!

phylp phylpwrote:

Our tomatoes are being eaten by our back yard skunk I think.  Or the squirrel.  I was too busy this year to put them in the large pots like I usually do, but putting them in the ground only took about 10 minutes so whatever we get will be OK.  I don't have time to put fencing around the wire supports, so we'll see how it goes...

Thought I'd post these pics a friend sent a couple years ago, from her garden near Hollister. 

I put up an electric fence around our backyard here in SF, after racoons dug up and ate most of the plants over several nights.

Lori Milaswrote:

In other words there’s easily a full season of climbing in this one place.   I keep trying to make plans to head back up north and do some climbing in Tahoe and Strawberry (Lovers Leap) but the truth is I don’t want to. I’m waiting for this to get old.  So far, it only gets better. 

The first time I set eyes on that flake on Candelabra I though for sure it was going to come off any day then. That was what, nearly 40 years ago? I wouldn't sit around and meditate under that thing, that's for sure.

phylp phylpwrote:

Our tomatoes are being eaten by our back yard skunk I think.  Or the squirrel.  I was too busy this year to put them in the large pots like I usually do, but putting them in the ground only took about 10 minutes so whatever we get will be OK.  I don't have time to put fencing around the wire supports, so we'll see how it goes...

Any agave plant updates?

Sidewinder was 5.9 when I led it

Jay Goodwinwrote:

Sidewinder was 5.9 when I led it

Still is...

Doggonit, Kris. 1988. Every time I see a picture of you, whether it’s on Seizure or Compassion of the Elephants or this I wish there was a way to close the time gap. I’m so late to the party there isn’t even a party anymore. I guess it’s a new party.

I keep thinking of  Phylp’s pictures. So sweet.   

ErikaNWwrote:

Any agave plant updates?

It's only now starting to get sunny here.  It was a very cool and foggy Spring.  The sprouts of the sprout seem to be getting fatter.  They look like they will open up and look like a flower, but it hasn't happened yet!

Wow, that is a pretty cool looking plant Phylp.

Jan Mcwrote:

Lori, my tomatoes are not ripe yet.  Just starting to harvest sungold and other cherry tomatoes.  They got so tall they collapsed and now I have a giant mess that is so thick it is hard to get in to pick tomatoes.  I am going to have a LOT.  Jalapenos are getting close and herbs are doing great.

Here  is where Keesee and I were this weekend.  I tortured about 120 trout over the two days.  I never saw another person, except Guy, from Friday evening until I was sitting at the top of the mountain waiting for Guy to finish hiking out on Sunday afternoon.  We spent Saturday night on the far side of the meadow, right about in the middle.

  

Posts fly by and then they’re gone but not forgotten . I Love to hear about your camping trips.  Do you hike in? Does anyone get in any climbing or is it strictly fishing? So glad that after all these years you are still good friends and still hang out.

Unintentionally I wound up on Chalk Up Another One this morning and had forgotten that it’s not an effortless climb.  Because we were talking about it here I wanted to revisit Good To The Last Drop, but had a little diabetic incident on that ledge and decided not a good idea today.  But the morning was beautiful and as usual the desert was perfect.  

I played Mallory the Bachar-Yerian video to explain the bolting conversation here and some of the issues here in Josh.