New and experienced climbers over 50 # 25

I woke up with the strange word “Exasperator” on my mind and finally realized I had been dreaming about the Decompensator. Was this my rock angel advising me to take this off the list?  I decided to go check it out again—spent a LONG time staring at this rock.  Whatever was I thinking?     

I ran this one by Bob and he was doubtful I could manage the bottom slab.  I have learned to trust Bob (with my life) and if he says “doubtful” that’s a no.  

I’m not a happy camper today. 

Wendy.. how are you doing? I hope you’re on the mend.  Sending good thoughts your way. 

Those who know me, understand my love of organization.  All lead ropes have their own color bag (40, 60 skinny, 60, 70 80), for fast and easy grab and go!

phylp phylpwrote:

Those who know me, understand my love of organization.  All lead ropes have their own color bag (40, 60 skinny, 60, 70 80), for fast and easy grab and go!

That's fun.  Unless there was a tag or label on each, I'd still have to look and see what rope was what...

Lori, thanks for asking. It will be four weeks tomorrow and things seem to be going well. I think the docs' and hospital's expectations for me track some of what you've been saying about how the medical profession treats older patients. They seemed to expect me to need a walker and/or cane when I got home. But it was my back, not my hip or leg, so I was immediately walking, climbing stairs, and driving (once I cut back on the oxycodone). They did give me a lot of advice about nutrition and what so-called exercises I should do. Anyway, it's gonna be long haul before I can climb again, but I'm increasing the amount of walking I do.

phylp phylpwrote:

Those who know me, understand my love of organization.  All lead ropes have their own color bag (40, 60 skinny, 60, 70 80), for fast and easy grab and go!

That's great and I do the same, but I can never remember which color bag goes with which rope.  I solved the problem by leaving a tiny piece of the rope end out of the bag.

Excellent idea, Tim! Why didn't I think of that?!

Wendy, Glad to hear that you are healing up and getting out walking. 

Phylp, Those are way too many ropes for me to handle, though we certainly don't get as many days outside as you. A single 70 seems to work well for us, even if it is a bit long for some shorter routes. An 80 seems to be necessary for some newer sport routes (Eastside), but, we usually have a friend with us that has one for these.  

Lori, the bottom face move on Sidewinder is fairly reachy, but other than that, it isn't super difficult (good footwork helps) . Decompensator, is pretty straightforward, just a quick traverse and move up at the bottom --- start on the boulder to the left, hand traverse a bit right, then up into the crack. You don't climb straight up that blank face to the crack.

phylp phylpwrote:

Those who know me, understand my love of organization.  All lead ropes have their own color bag (40, 60 skinny, 60, 70 80), for fast and easy grab and go!

Curious Phyl, What is the difference in diameter between your 60 and ‘skinny’ 60? And what about your 70 and, especially, your 80–those seem to be the lengths where ‘skinny’ will make the most difference?

Wendy, thanks for the update!  I'm so glad you are getting out to walk, and weaning off the meds etc.  

Randy... thanks for the upper.  Things have changed for me this summer... I've gone from wanting to climb 'everything' to wanting to carefully choose a few routes I can work up to.  I wondered about the boulder to the left... looks like that's the better start.  The whole rock is quite stunning, and I just hope my eyes aren't bigger than my stomach, as it were.  

It's been amazing this summer how I've just stumbled onto some of the most beautiful rocks, the most amazing areas of this park.  But it is nerve-wracking to have to be so vigilant about snakes right now.  

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I wasn't going to gripe anymore about the medical establishment, but it does seem relevant to those of us who may need medical treatment at some point.  I did clean up my attitude yesterday and walked into the treatment room with Tony for his Cardiology appointment.  I was kinda suprised to see a very perky, athletic-looking young doctor in bright green tennis shoes, big smile.  I sat back and decided not to speak at all until the whole appointment was over.  Cardiologist said all the recent tests looked 'fine'... 'Keep on doing what you're doing'.  And that was about the sum of it and he was getting up to leave. 

Until I started with some questions.  I asked about the clogged femoral artery, about the calcium score of 10,000 when "0" is optimal.  Doc said "Oh, that... no big deal at this point. You can't undo that, it's been there for 30 years."   (and yet no one in 30 years ever discussed how to stop that progression). 

Then I asked... "Is there anything Tony can do to feel better, to be able to walk more, to stop being so tired?"  Oh!  THEN doc launched into long dissertation on the value of the Mediterranean diet, on losing another 50-75 pounds, on being fastidious about exercise and 'healthy fats'.  I asked about CoQ10 since doc wants him on a statin now.  And we got another 15 minutes on the available studies for and against, on supplements.  Also... that taking any of these meds only adds 1% protection... so maybe he won't want them.   

So the key point here was... we had to ASK.  

Brian & Tim, this is on the wall of the gear closet, but I don't have to look at it to remember, anymore than you'd have to look at a chart to remember the names of your children! Randy, Yes the 80 is used mostly in Pine Creek and the Gorge, and my local friends have them, but some of my other partners don't. So I decided to get one last year. I suppose I'd retire a rope if it sat in my closet for 10 years, but I've never retired a rope for that reason.  They all get used enough to wear out, the 70 the most frequently.  That one gets replaced about every 2-3 years.  We'll see what happens with the 80.  That could be the exception - will see the least use.  

Alan, the skinny 60 is 8.8 mm and is used mostly for things in Red Rock with long approaches 5.9 and under.  The fat 60 is 9.5 - that's my local and Joshua Tree rope, a little fatter than my other ones to take a little more abuse.  I agree it would be nice to have a lighter rope for the 70 and 80 but those ropes are often used on grades where I might actually fall, so I don't want sub-9 MM for that application. 

phylp phylpwrote:

  I agree it would be nice to have a lighter rope for the 70 and 80 but those ropes are often used on grades where I might actually fall, so I don't want sub-9 MM for that application. 

FWIW, I and a very large contingent of UK climbers use half ropes and so have been falling on 8--8.5mm strands for years...

RG the difference is with the half rope system if one skinny rope cuts you hopefully get caught by the other before you deck. i have always used doubbles @ seneca with it's sharp crystals. there was a cut rope fatality there last week... 

Lori Milaswrote:

So the key point here was... we had to ASK.  

Glad the doc had good evidence based recommendations for you! No, you shouldn’t have to ask about nutrition etc, but I’ll also add it gets pretty soul sucking trying to inform people about these things when most want the quick fix and are definitely not interested in lifestyle change. Combine that with the extreme productivity expectations in healthcare where providers simply can’t spend a lot of time with every patient (and probably will not get reimbursed for the time spent and education they provide) and I guess I’m not surprised the conversation isn’t initiated by them.

It sounds like you are a great advocate for yourself and for Tony. And it’s sad that a lot of people don’t know how or what to ask. Our system is messed up and I think this is another symptom of that. 

that being said I  use a single half rope for climbs with big approaches and low likelihood of falls. I have taken multiple falls on single strand of half rope just because of the way the gear was placed only one rope was taking the  load. that was however the beefy 8.8mm marathon... 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

RG the difference is with the half rope system if one skinny rope cuts you hopefully get caught by the other before you deck. i have always used doubbles @ seneca with it's sharp crystals. there was a cut rope fatality there last week... 

I use double half ropes (8.5, 4 total) for safety and redundancy. Two harnesses too. Gotten a bit tricky to rig now that there's  a depends in the mix.

phylp phylpwrote:

Brian & Tim, this is on the wall of the gear closet, but I don't have to look at it to remember, anymore than you'd have to look at a chart to remember the names of your children! Randy, Yes the 80 is used mostly in Pine Creek and the Gorge, and my local friends have them, but some of my other partners don't. So I decided to get one last year. I suppose I'd retire a rope if it sat in my closet for 10 years, but I've never retired a rope for that reason.  They all get used enough to wear out, the 70 the most frequently.  That one gets replaced about every 2-3 years.  We'll see what happens with the 80.  That could be the exception - will see the least use.  

Alan, the skinny 60 is 8.8 mm and is used mostly for things in Red Rock with long approaches 5.9 and under.  The fat 60 is 9.5 - that's my local and Joshua Tree rope, a little fatter than my other ones to take a little more abuse.  I agree it would be nice to have a lighter rope for the 70 and 80 but those ropes are often used on grades where I might actually fall, so I don't want sub-9 MM for that application. 

Not a lot of weight difference between the ropes really is there? The difference between packing a couple of stubbies in the pack or not packing a couple of stubbies. You may need to google ‘stubbies Aussie slang’.

I’m preparing for the comp in four weeks which coincided bizarrely with getting a bad back, caused by climbing too hard followed by a long rest.  It seems if I STOP climbing I fall apart; I need to keep in survival mode.
I had a plan for the next four weeks all drawn up and now it’s all up shit creek. Was able to climb indoors tonight after a few days off though, but I felt clunky, failed on the first go of my favourite 22 TR route in the gym. I explained to my partner I either go home depressed or try it again and risk getting MORE depressed or redeeming myself, which prompted an observation about the tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands?) of people in China recently evacuated due to floods and the terrible fires in Hawaii which in contrast meant whether Carl did or did not climb the gym 22 doesn’t really fucking matter.

Jay Goodwinwrote:

I use double half ropes (8.5, 4 total) for safety and redundancy. Two harnesses too. Gotten a bit tricky to rig now that there's  a depends in the mix.

I am Jay's designated belay slave. He insists that I run each rope through two belay devices. Having eight gri-gris hanging off my harness gets a bit unwieldy, but hey, safety first is our motto!

phylp phylpwrote:

Those who know me, understand my love of organization.  All lead ropes have their own color bag (40, 60 skinny, 60, 70 80), for fast and easy grab and go!

I have a 100m static you could add to your collection.  All that's needed is finding a sherpa to carry it when putting up new routes!

phylp phylpwrote:

Interesting rope list, Phyl. I am wondering if you use a pull cord/tag line at all? Do you do any alpine climbing?