New and Experienced Climbers Over 50 #28

Carl Schneiderwrote:

BTW the dog intje pic above is Louis, he’s a Papillon, but he’s small and fluffy for a Papillon. Louis is one reason I keep living  

Super cute!!!   

I think that new girth hitch is the bomb.  i don't own a cordelette either. what I often do when leading in blocks is I use my doubble length sling to rig two bomber pieces then i clove the rope into the third pieceand bring up the 2nd. before I leve the belay to lead the next pitch I clove the 2nd into the third piece with their rope end  and unclove my rope and dance away.. seems to work and is super simple. 

Todd Berlier wrote:

What!? Folks don't immediately change their political views when they read an opinion stated as truth? r u all kidding me! I just assu that yall are in line with me now! 

I want to talk about climbing for once!

One thing about me is i still work full time and my kid's lives take precedence

Well Todd, as we are in the old folks home on mountain project as well as many of us are parents, what we say around the house is taken in and absorbed by the young whippersnappers so this misconception of nobody's mind being changed is probably not true. I guarantee you the audience of this thread is at least triple of the amount of posters we have. If political opinions aren't being expressed by actual humans somewhere all the youth have is mainstream news(which most ignore) and social media(which as we all know is scary AF). Just a thought for the day. We have an important year ahead of us.

When I was in France recently I can say for sure that politics,  especially US politics,  came up daily from restaurants to the crags. 

Glad you got out on real rock, with swimming practice,  volleyball practice and all the other parenting crap I do, indoor plastic has been my refuge. I won't be video recording all my sends just to be nice to everyone!

Hey Todd, I really appreciate the videos you post, and all that you have contributed to this thread over the last few years. I also love that we can come to you for free veterinary advice.  How are things at the Loaf? I stay in touch with Petch and he posts teasers of Sugarloaf, Sometimes I think just to upset me. One of these days. I don’t know how you can drive past that    But you look good and strong.

—-

I’m still thinking about the Decompensator 10c/d that I climbed on Sunday. It’s just such a stunning piece of rock that I visited so many times but I didn’t think I was ready to climb it. It’s one of the four routes I wanted to climb this year, but I thought I had a lot more prep work to do first.

( will say that Chris indulged me on dirty tricks 11d and let me spend a couple of hours just exploring, and seeing what that grade felt like so it made the Decompensator feel much easier in comparison. So there’s something to be said for trying something way over your pay grade.  )

Once again, that thin face climbing took all my attention, and it did feel magical.  At least for me there has to be a complete mind shift to do this kind of climbing. The top third of that route is basically sheer vertical rock. There are no holds. So it becomes an issue of dig in hard with your fingers and believe. It feels like an altered state. 

there are several approaches from the base, and I was convinced I wasn’t strong enough to handle the crack system to the right, but it went just fine. Here’s me just emerging and looking up saying “Oh shit. What am I in for?”   

As usual I’m just mind blown and grateful for this incredible gift of climbing.

I am sort of wrestling with myself on the question of whether this climb was good enough for me to be satisfied and move on. There was one hang, I just needed to shake out my legs and assess what was ahead. So it was not a send.

The benefit of going back would be that I’ve seen the route now and I could probably enjoy it more the second time. The views are stunning and also the arete to the right was the only way to finish that route and I fought it.

Gratitude.

I walked my grandkids to the base of the Decompensator when they were here in February, and I honestly thought that was probably as close as I would ever get to that route.    Maybe I should let them know. 

Todd Berlier wrote:

i can't imagine what the world thinks about so many in our country that don't think our last presidential election was fair.  i can empathize with most conservative positions, while disagreeing, but that one i can't. 

Todd, I think the difference is that everyone's entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.

I wanted to post this separately since some of these topics are of no interest to most people here. My two cents on talking politics: I think mature adults should be able to talk about anything they want respectfully, and I think dialogue, pro and con is a good thing. However, I think it needs to be on another thread, and it needs to be with the intention of understanding each other.  If it’s just to vent frustration, I understand completely but it’s certainly not helpful building bridges with our brothers and sisters here.

My other reason for posting is to see if there is an ANY interest in running a separate thread on diet, exercise, sleep, etc.for “old people “.   .  I don’t know if I’m the outlier with this interest. I get the feeling most climbers here are really comfortable with what they are already doing and consider further discussion kind of annoying.  But I’ve had a real personal challenge turning myself into a climber (using that word very broadly).

This past year I have continued to make some big changes—careful ones but big.  I have been monitoring my nightly sleep with my Whoop, and now I am a competition- worthy sleeper  

I threw out all my old vitamins, and created my own with all methylated B’s all at a much lower dose, and it has made a profound difference. So that’s a keeper. 

I changed my probiotics. I have found that the one thing that helps with recovery is hydration so now I remember that whether I am thirsty or not after a day of climbing, I start drinking water and keep on drinking through the night and the next day. I finally figured out that Stevia gives me gut problems, so I’ve been experimenting with other electrolyte formulas.  I am really looking at protein still and there’s no getting around at least for me, I need about double the protein than I would ever have guessed.

I’m also sold on breath work.  Nothing moves the needle on my sleep and recovery like pranayama. I found an app that lets me breathe right along with it. I think it would be helpful to use DURING climbing. 

I came home a complete wreck after the decompensator, considered even taking one of Tony‘s Norco’s, but instead went for a tall glass of tart cherry juice and 15 minutes that pain was cut in half. So another tool in the tool kit. 

My body is a work in progress, and there’s almost no information out there for older people let alone athletes. I am honestly thinking that the book I should write is about this.  Virtually all of my older friends and family just sit and vegetate. Would they maybe be more alive if they just ate a little better?

So I looked at the results of my six hours of Climbing on the decompensator on Sunday. I spent four hours in zone four and five – – the highest heart rate zones. my WHOOP strain score was 20.6, which is unbelievably close to the highest theoretical strain you can have. Based upon that my WHOOP advised me to get 13 hours of sleep sleep that night, which didn’t happen.   So that climb put enormous strain on my body, and yet I did it! My challenge now is, how can I do it with less strain— what’s it gonna take?  

I like data. So for Sunday…

so my curiosity is, can I improve this with better hydration, better sleep… More liver, miracle water.  This is an ongoing project. Does anyone want to talk about this stuff?

I've always liked a stiff shoe for edging.  What are your suggestions for someone with flexible toes?  And yeah, those are really mine.  Will miracle water help?

M Mwrote:

When I was in France recently I can say for sure that politics,  especially US politics,  came up daily from restaurants to the crags. 

At some point, they’ll find something else to laugh about.   

Glad you got out on real rock, with swimming practice,  volleyball practice and all the other parenting crap I do, indoor plastic has been my refuge. I won't be video recording all my sends just to be nice to everyone!

What? We want pics and videos!

Li Huwrote:

At some point, they’ll find something else to laugh about.   

What? We want pics and videos!

 

I'm the guy who shamelessly and sometimes cluelessly walks in front of gym recordings, lucky I wasn't there !

Russ Wallingwrote:

I've always liked a stiff shoe for edging.  What are your suggestions for someone with flexible toes?  And yeah, those are really mine.  Will miracle water help?

That's clearly someone who wears Crocs™

Russ Wallingwrote:

I've always liked a stiff shoe for edging.  What are your suggestions for someone with flexible toes?  And yeah, those are really mine.  Will miracle water help?

Dayum Russ, that's freaky flexibility. Do all your digits do that or just the big toes?

For a stiff edging shoe might I suggest mountaineering boots.   

Russ Wallingwrote:

I've always liked a stiff shoe for edging.  What are your suggestions for someone with flexible toes?  And yeah, those are really mine.  Will miracle water help?

Something’s fishy about this whole deal. Russ is not ready to show his soft underbelly just yet.  I half expected this to be porn. 

No.! Not sharing my miracle water with you… you insulted it previously, so “no soup for you!”   

T Hockingwrote:

Dayum Russ, that's freaky flexibility. Do all your digits do that or just the big toes?

For a stiff edging shoe might I suggest mountaineering boots.   

Does anyone remember the little boulder problem that was out the back door of the hamburger stand At Whitney Portal???

The Cook, Manager, head bus boy had a 4 move wonder problem that he had wired.

You needed to stand on the most ridiculous, tiny edge you can imagine, so you could reach the exit holds… If you could do it in 3 tries you got your lunch free! Fail and it was double. Nobody could do it. If you complained the cook would exit the building and show you how it goes- in his Mountain Boots! That was one of the most amazing thing I have ever seen in climbing.

TAD!!! Good to see you!

Edit: Lori, good job on the Decominsator (sp?) practice makes perfect. 

Hey Guy, Hope you are doing well.

BITD,  I found that edging on dimes was easier in my Robbins boots than either PA's or EB's, go figure.

T Hockingwrote:

Hey Guy, Hope you are doing well.

BITD,  I found that edging on dimes was easier in my Robbins boots than either PA's or EB's, go figure.

RRs and, even better, Megas for me. I remember once trying to get off the ground on which it was necessary to stand on tiny edge/crystal ( forget which) but whatever shoe I was initially wearing repeatedly rolled off. I changed into Megas, put my foot on the hold and I swear that I heard a 'click', the foot stayed and the move was done. From then on Megas were my edging shoe of choice, until, 'tragically' they were discontinued. My climbing has never recovered!!!!

Alan Rubinwrote:

RRs and, even better, Megas for me. I remember once trying to get off the ground on which it was necessary to stand on tiny edge/crystal ( forget which) but whatever shoe I was initially wearing repeatedly rolled off. I changed into Megas, put my foot on the hold and I swear that I heard a 'click', the foot stayed and the move was done. From then on Megas were my edging shoe of choice, until, 'tragically' they were discontinued. My climbing has never recovered!!!!

What did Largo say about the shoes?

May need to take a few days off from climbing. Climbed terribly.

Word of wisdom from one of the staff was “even the worst day climbing will help you get better”. I assume no injuries…

Going to golf tomorrow. Going to let my forearms rest a bit. Incidentally, this climbing training is making me stronger for golf too. I’m carrying my 6i 175 yards.(this statement would warrant much criticism from a golf forum…   )

But holding 135 pounds with my body weight and progressing from 45 to 135 seems to be building my core and back very nicely.

Todd Berlier wrote:

funny story. im very particular that when im asked by my kids about a hot button topic, i do my best to give a balanced answer. im sure its not truly balanced. i never tell my kids what to think, at least not directly. so when my kids were about 4 and 6 we were driving by a church near our house. its a pretty building and i commented as such. my oldest says, "thats the place where they think they know everything, right Daddy." 

An incredulous, "what!?"

in unison, "Thats what mommy says."

funny that each party says our perception by the world is worse under the other guy. i can't imagine what the world thinks about so many in our country that don't think our last presidential election was fair.  i can empathize with most conservative positions, while disagreeing, but that one i can't. 

i had the thought driving up that i would be better off on plastic and would be able to get stuff done at home, but needed some mountain time.

Lori, I assume the Leap is dry, the turn to ice house is before that. and im always happy to give advice, but will qualify it with, im almost always going to say, see your vet because the physical exam part of the visit is so important.

heres a hot topic we can argue over: whats the best dog food? i say 1 to 2 solid shits a day and an AAFCO statement is all you need. go...

You didn't marry an ex Mormon while in SLC did you? They can be tough on organized religion. 

Speaking of which, I  think our country needs more God fearing, just not myself!

My dog can crap 8 times a day, 3 would  be a slow day. 

Todd Berlier wrote:

ive already caused enough angst with politics, ill not push the religion convo.

We know you’re not trolling, so…

I had brought up the TikTok thing and side with the first amendment on that issue. I hear the arguments, but if you’re on TilTok expect some influence from the Chinese government whom are also protected by our first amendment. I believe that the act Congress just created is unconstitutional and the same precedent can apply to all social media including the likes of Truth Social.

They’re idiots.

Bottom line, to run for office, there should be a minimum IQ of 135, pass psychological profile tests and an exhaustive background check.

Li Huwrote:

We know you’re not trolling, so…

I had brought up the TikTok thing and side with the first amendment on that issue. I hear the arguments, but if you’re on TilTok expect some influence from the Chinese government whom are also protected by our first amendment. I believe that the act Congress just created is unconstitutional and the same precedent can apply to all social media including the likes of Truth Social.

They’re idiots.

Bottom line, to run for office, there should be a minimum IQ of 135, pass psychological profile tests and an exhaustive background check.

It would be OK with me if all social media disappeared.  The bad far outweighs the good IMHO.