New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #26

gunkie Xwrote:

on a lighter note... now this is a surf forecast for Cape May NJ.

I don’t understand the forecast? I follow east coast hurricane swells by watching Mr. Gravy and there were definitely some bombs recently but nothing close to that?

A sweet left in front of my place turned on this morning. Screwed up my courage to the paddling point and made it out without too much trouble. Blew the drop on my very first wave, took 5 on the head and eventually washed myself up on shore feeling like Tom Hanks in that volleyball-head movie. Literally took me 10 minutes to catch my breath. That was the sesh. Surfing in the Arctic is more about survival than fun but anytime you get out it puts a little stoke in the tank. 

And that’s why I come to this thread. Non-youngsters still getting out doing rad shit. I love to hear all the positive stories about people getting out. So happy you had a great day recently, Lori! That’s the kind of stoke-sharing we all need to hear.

He was a very handsome fellow (zoom in). I’ve just been hanging out, haven’t actually climbed yet, my friend turnip today so we’ll zoom up a couple of routes before dark. There’s been a number of accidents here lately.  

Came across this old Summit magazine from 1983. That's me on top of Headstone Rock in Joshua Tree after leading Southwest Corner (5.7). The follower was my first client as a professional guide. This year will mark my 40th season as a pro guide. Time flies!

Coincidentally, I just found out that Summit magazine, published from 1955 to 1995, has been resurrected as Summit Journal, a high-end glossy mag much like the old Ascent magazine, priced at $60 a year (for just two issues). They serendipitously used the old cover shot in their ad for the new mag.

I'm just back from a Women's wellness weekend at a YMCA camp, about 2 hours north of here.

It was soggy.

I'm not in this pic, but I did climb on this stuff. Anyone know what the rock is? I thought basalt, but now I'm thinking no. IdahoBob, you know any blobs like this up your way? This is quite near Cascade, on private land, so there's no going back to exactly these rocks.

It was soggy, this was an event, with guides, so the ropes went up the day before. Everything was sopping wet, and I didn't really make any progress up this at all. I was on "easier" stuff to the right. It's bulgy, with little to no handholds. And, it was slick and dirty.

I did, however, get to have the fun of bouncing around on a rope that truly rivaled a bungee cord, it was so springy. Literally, it was fun, and yes all I was doing was boinging around a bit, and you'd get quite a lot of up and down, lol!

The very snazzy camp had a shit ton of facilities to do all sorts of stuff. I got on their giant swing, but, knowing what CLIMBERS consider a swing, well, it was fun, but not exactly anything I'd be screaming about. Again, no pic of me. Here's a frame from someone else's ride in it. Full body harness, clipped to a snap shackle with a release you pull when ready. The staff have a rope they use (it goes to a pulley attached  to another tree), pulling you back and up to past horizontal, if you wanna get that far up. Then, you do a short countdown, yank a little pull cord to release the shackle, and let fly.

The rigging was interesting. This is slung partway up some pretty burly conifers, but, the trees bow some, as you're swinging, so there's bounce, too. Surprisingly dynamic, for static cables!

Then, there was also their outside climbing wall. It actually fun, but it kept getting rained out, at least when I had the open slots.

There was a high and low challenge course, zipline, all sorts of sports fields and setups, artsy stuff, on and on. About 100 women attending.

Oh.

And Chef Steve. OMG. This was not REMOTELY close to the usual sort of food one gets for any sort of event like this.

Departure time was noon today, and yet there was this enormous spread, not just dried up bagels and some coffee. 

It was really fun, and very nice to see how all these women just melted into relaxation.....and fun. The simple healing pleasure of play. 

And play we did!

Re fostering pups?

I ran into quite a lot of pups who were in temporary situations, when I filled in manning the library bookmobile now and then. It had steps that folded out when parked, which meant they were open steps, tread only. Scary, for dogs.

The dogs were welcome to hop on, and were brought there as part of their training to eventually (perhaps) become service dogs of one sort or another. In fact, quite a lot of potential service dogs spend their early months with families who train them to be decent dogs. Step one. Then, if they get past that (often a 4H project for a kid, btw), then they go to another home, where they get additional training, such as those scary steps. THEN they might get to move up to the final trainings, eventually including training both dog and human. It's pretty cool to watch the process.*

I do actually sympathize with Frank's empathy for the pooch, yes, leaving a shelter and going back could be terrible. 

But it isn't always like that.

Dogs are pack creatures, after all, which helps them to be able to go from person to person, place to.place, so long as they are getting good care. Shelters aren't optimal, I'd bet we could all easily agree on that, but it sounds like this one is really trying pretty darn hard.

This dog does seem to have an abundance of sparkle, so that should help, even if Lori and Tony simply aren't the right match for this cutey. Don't despair yet, Frank! You're a curmudgeon for sure, but also a softie, with pups. 

Best, Helen 

*Edit to add, Idaho, as do many places, actually has a program for prison inmates to work with dogs, to make them more adoptable. 

Edit 2, it's raining in Boise, too. Catcat is most displeased with that.

Hey Carl, sorry to hear there's been accidents. I'm assuming there's a venomous YGD slithering around in that pic??

Nice rock, Bob, looks really fun! I confess, I neither took the intro to fly tying class, nor the fly casting instruction. But, there were maybe 20.other things I didn't do either.

H.

Sitting around camp watching people and making up stories about them. If only they knew.  

It’s midday and The Bavarian has only just finished grooming himself while singing in a high pitched tone. When I left for town he was twirling his moustache. When I returned he was clipping his toe nails. He has lovely long blonde hair that’s plaited. I think he’s in love with the albino chubby fellow, who goes by the name of Louise. Heinrich (The Bavarian) has a very very large van. Inside he grows mushrooms in a room lined with coloured Luci lights. They share a very complicated washing line with Serious Long Haired Dude, who plays the guitar, although not well, and in an uninterested way. Heinrich likes to walk about shirtless while adjusting the elastic waistband of his green kletter trousen singing in his high pitched plaintive way. One would think that Louise would be the camp bitch, but it appears Serious Long Haired Dude is astonishingly domestic.

Old lady Hwrote:

Hey Carl, sorry to hear there's been accidents. I'm assuming there's a venomous YGD slithering around in that pic??

Nice rock, Bob, looks really fun! I confess, I neither took the intro to fly tying class, nor the fly casting instruction. But, there were maybe 20.other things I didn't do either.

H.

Probably. Apparently it’s a bad snake season. I never really consider snakes. I’ll walk about the bush in thongs and shorts. Often the word ‘things’ needs to be explained to non Australians.

I have returned cats after a week or so trying to make it work. Some critters simply are not a good fit.  Finally got to climb after a couple weeks of working really hard.  I had a 3 day photo gid in my old stomping grounds so i talked my friend Reed into driving down there sunday for a half day of climbing. The colors are popping.

Reed following Center Crack. its a lot more work to lead it than solo it... 

Reed following Off width. same observation as with center crack. I had no clue these climbs were so burly ;) 

its fairly steep right here Lorie but this is a good example of what good footwork and posture can do for you. 

Reed following Extra Stout. 

I forgot to take a photo on Wild woman but my elbow is telling me its steep and pumpy... . 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

I have returned cats after a week or so trying to make it work. Some critters simply are not a good fit.  Finally got to climb after a couple weeks of working really hard.  I had a 3 day photo gid in my old stomping grounds so i talked my friend Reed into driving down there sunday for a half day of climbing. The colors are popping.

Wow! Those New England fall colors. I have great memories of New Hampshire.

As we think about adopting another cat, we're considering our limitations -- we'll be looking for an older cat and a fairly lightweight one. So far we've been lucky finding cats we've grown to love. I had some doubts when we first adopted Stormy because of his need to roam and a few times he lashed out at me. But he became the most loving, if always independent, companion. I've noticed that our local humane society, where we adopted our last three cats, has a special category of less socialized "working cats," who are more suited to living on farms, nurseries, or the like than to being house pets.   

I tried one that kept peeing on my bed. Xmas morning she peed on me while I was sleeping.sent her right back to jail and took a kitty that was so shy that no one would adopt it. He ended up being awesome but I was the only person who could ever touch him and no one other than Isa and myself ever saw him. He was very good at hiding. I called him the invisible cat but he would hang with me. As soon as he heard another vehicle come up the driveway he was disappeared.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

I tried one that kept peeing on my bed. Xmas morning she peed on me while I was sleeping.sent her right back to jail and took a kitty that was so shy that no one would adopt it. He ended up being awesome but I was the only person who could ever touch him and no one other than Isa and myself ever saw him. He was very good at hiding. I called him the invisible cat but he would hang with me. As soon as he heard another vehicle come up the driveway he was disappeared.

Don't you have a great big cat?     Come to think of it, a snow cat?  

Nice pictures, Nick!  I have teased Bob asking him if we have any crags here with fields of blueberries at the top.  One can always wish.      So far, no blueberries... but really good climbing. 

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Wendy, so nice to see you post.  How is recovery going?  Slow but steady?  I thought I remembered pictures of dogs you guys have.  Cats, too?

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Helen, I'm a little envious of your weekend!  It sounds like so much fun!  And breakfast/meals don't look too shabby either.  Your little community sounds so sweet, and you have gotten out there and participated in farmers markets, events, etc.  I picture a little Idaho town and happy you have such a place to call home.  Have you dug up your spuds?

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Issa gets another pee-date today.  She's making progress with peeing outside.  Her brother, Gus, is coming by for the afternoon so they can romp and she can do some more peeing outside.  I think she and Tony have buried the hatchet and they are each trying to be friends..  

What I didn't know is that even when she's playing in fun, she can misjudge and bite hard.  So tug-of-wars and playing with toys has to go very carefully.  She doesn't mean to, but I have to keep my hands away from her  mouth.  

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I am still emotional over our last outing to Trix. I had no expectation of actually climbing it -- and from the outset it looked like I might not even get off the ground.  But it was the hardest workout I've had in ages, and it answered the question for me of whether at 70 I had any business on the rock.  I really needed a hit of confidence. Reviewing some of those moves/sequences this morning, I think perhaps I can one day climb them clean, at least in part.  It's that upper 10c face that may not happen (and that's the part I want to happen).  

Blue arrow, first ledge off the ground--looked like it was going to have to be a very tall mantle, but we figured out a workaround.  Yellow arrow, upper headwall, with some kind of overhang... don't think I can do it.  But I want to try. 

My Primary at Kaiser referred me over to their sport medicine doc.  We had a great phone appointment on Friday... and I think I have a team now.  This doctor is also the doctor for the Sport teams in Indio... attends all their football games, and he's big into nutrition, sleep, etc.  He said he has not had a 70 year old patient.

He also said there is NO data for older people who are athletes, or very active.  "Lori, we're in this together and I won't abandon you... we'll see this through."  Starting with a journal of 7 days food, fluids, exercise, sleep, RHR, etc.  He's hooking me up with the Registered Dietician he works with.  The nice thing is he also reviewed all my lab tests and diabetic issues, knows that history and can work with it.  

What I'm starting to think, with these docs having on average 2400 patients each... is that it must be a huge upper to have someone who is not desperately ill and where they can help in a positive way.  They cannot be the healers they wanted to be... they are herding patients through so quickly.  

So, I guess what I'm saying is this is new territory for everyone, we CAN be strong, we CAN climb (unless injured), there are no known limits except the LazyBoy.  

Dealing with a little bit of lung/asthma issues.  I haven't given up on Ancestral Supplements.  The Heart and Lung saved Tony from Congestive Heart Failure... twice.  They are so powerful.  So, I've started on the lung formula, to try to help with the post-exertion asthma, and the new dog.    

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

I tried one that kept peeing on my bed. Xmas morning she peed on me while I was sleeping.sent her right back to jail and took a kitty that was so shy that no one would adopt it. He ended up being awesome but I was the only person who could ever touch him and no one other than Isa and myself ever saw him. He was very good at hiding. I called him the invisible cat but he would hang with me. As soon as he heard another vehicle come up the driveway he was disappeared.

Nick, one of our previous cats, Flip, began doing that in her last year. At first we thought it was deliberate. I think it was a symptom of a UTI and failing kidney. She was probably ~20 when we put her down. She was a shy cat, but a lap cat to us. Stormy was the opposite with people. He visited everyone in our cul de sac.

Lori, as you said, slow and fairly steady. My PT is giving me some challenging exercises and prescribes lots of walking. Always cats. No dogs.  

This was a pretty young cat from the shelter. less than a year old. whatever the issue was I did not want to deal with it. she did know the drill but about once ever week she would pee on the bed. doing it with me in the bed and soaking me with her pee on  Christmas morning was the last straw.  she had her chance but if you fuck up your parole too many times you go back to prison. is what it is...  she would have been a fine barn cat but the folks at the shelters are too woke to allow outside cats.  My current cat Hugi. He is very well behaved for a murderer. 

Colden Darkwrote:

I don’t understand the forecast? I follow east coast hurricane swells by watching Mr. Gravy and there were definitely some bombs recently but nothing close to that?

A sweet left in front of my place turned on this morning. Screwed up my courage to the paddling point and made it out without too much trouble. Blew the drop on my very first wave, took 5 on the head and eventually washed myself up on shore feeling like Tom Hanks in that volleyball-head movie. Literally took me 10 minutes to catch my breath. That was the sesh. Surfing in the Arctic is more about survival than fun but anytime you get out it puts a little stoke in the tank. 

And that’s why I come to this thread. Non-youngsters still getting out doing rad shit. I love to hear all the positive stories about people getting out. So happy you had a great day recently, Lori! That’s the kind of stoke-sharing we all need to hear.

Colden, I'm pretty sure this was some sort of database glitch with Surf(lies)line.  I posted in more of a 'tongue-in-cheek' joke.  But, the east coast has been lit with swell for the past 6 weeks.  Unfortunately, the winds have been onshore for the past two weeks.  Tomorrow looks like a stellar day; but , I am not retired yet and need to work :( 

I cannot find Guy's post about climbing language... sort of scolding me for using terms like 'put up' a route, etc.  I've kept an ear out ever since.  Over and over, on various podcasts and interviews, climbers refer to routes they 'put up'... including Honnold at Red Rock.  It's a little awkward to try to fit in 'a route I did the first ascent on'.  What's the scoop on the verbiage?  

^^^

"Put up" is very, very common phrasing. Less common are "established," "authored," or "made" ("I established that route"). Among these phrases I'd use "I put up" almost every time.

Just don't use "set," please oh please (as in "I set that route"). The word set is, in my rarely humble opinion, a distinctly indoors/gym word. It grates the hell out of my aged nerves when someone uses it about real climbing.

Brad Youngwrote:

^^^

"Put up" is very, very common phrasing. Less common are "established," "authored," or "made" ("I established that route"). Among these phrases I'd use "I put up" almost every time.

Just don't use "set," please oh please (as in "I set that route"). The word set is, in my rarely humble opinion, a distinctly indoors/gym word. It grates the hell out of my aged nerves when someone uses it about real climbing.

Totally agree!!!!!

Brad Youngwrote:

^^^

"Put up" is very, very common phrasing. Less common are "established," "authored," or "made" ("I established that route"). Among these phrases I'd use "I put up" almost every time.

Just don't use "set," please oh please (as in "I set that route"). The word set is, in my rarely humble opinion, a distinctly indoors/gym word. It grates the hell out of my aged nerves when someone uses it about real climbing.

Brad says it best!

Lori- I think that “trying hard” is the key to being a climber. If all you did was go out climb something without a struggle, a fight, an assault on yourself, climbing would be truly boring.

Got out yesterday. Weather claims “big storm coming” but the desert forecast was cool and calm- the way I look at it - perfect for an early visit to our local desert spot.

MP still putting all of my photos at the top- no matter what.
No Slab climbing here, no sireee… but holds galore!
PT, after 3 years, is starting to kick in - my legs didn’t go numb, my buttocks didn’t cramp up but my arms failed me.
OLH…. How can I get some Idaho hot peppers? I’d love to grow some of yours.

Happy climbing all 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

This was a pretty young cat from the shelter. less than a year old. whatever the issue was I did not want to deal with it. she did know the drill but about once ever week she would pee on the bed. doing it with me in the bed and soaking me with her pee on  Christmas morning was the last straw.  she had her chance but if you fuck up your parole too many times you go back to prison. is what it is...  she would have been a fine barn cat but the folks at the shelters are too woke to allow outside cats.  My current cat Hugi. He is very well behaved for a murderer. 

Even the wokeness at our local spca/pound is lighter now. When we adopted our last murderer 4 years ago she was only one of 30 that they would allow to be an indoor/outdoor cat. Apparently now half the cats are ok for the same thing. 

The sad thing to me is caging any animal when there is space to roam. People talk about cats killing birds being evil, they keep their cats inside, then the cats finally escape and become coyote food in 1-3 days depending on where they live. One could call it loving the cat to death?