New and experienced climbers over 50 #30

It certainly seems Walz has played too fast and loose with his NG experience, but such hyperbole is far from uncommon in politics. And whatever level of fact there may be in this, it pales in comparison to receiving military deferrals due to 'bone spurs', or calling those who have actively and faithfully served 'losers' and 'suckers'.

Edit: it appears this post duplicated some earlier comments- apologies. 

Voting on the issues is certainly the most informed approach, however it's impossible to not consider the personality and past history of a candidate as well. These leaders will be making very difficult, complicated decisions in their role, and both their position on the issues and overall judgment will be at play- all of this must be considered when making a voting choice.

Tad …. Retired in style- I like.

Political discourse… you like what you like and I will like what I like. I don’t wish to carry on a written discussion. When I talk politics- face to face- with my friends we have rules. You get 3 uninterrupted sentences so you can make a point. Then I get 3 sentences… 

Doing this has allowed my friends and I to come to an understanding about issues.

And some of my friends are straight up communist. I do understand. And I hope they understand me and my views.

Lori- working gives most of us a sense of purpose. Working as an engineer in the Ball Bearing industry was a constant challenge. I think I was really good at it. I could help some people who built Dragracing transmissions, that were blowing up when coupled to hi-horsepower, fix thier issues by a proper “execution” of a bearing. Or doing a little task for FAG bearing like climbing under a giant crane- built in 1936- to get the measurements so they can make a $3 million replacement bearing. (The records were destroyed in 1943) Helping really brilliant people understand bearings and how they work so they can make tremendous advances in sound recording, chip manufacturing etc was what I lived for.
Sometimes I really miss the action, the results, the interactions- “the game of making money” that Lori decried as “some sort of purgatory” I found the white shirt, tie and new car to be part of it.

Being retired and taking walks with my granddaughter, forgetting what day it is, and not making excel spreadsheets, and hitting the rocks when it’s perfect is priceless.

The only downside- being old and getting older.

Take care all.

Later 

Kris- solid post. 

Todd Berlier wrote:

Appreciate you so much. I am torn between understanding those I communicate with and not rocking the boat. I don't know what's the right thing to do here. 

Agree, don’t delete any posts.

We are fighting for everyone to do, say and believe whatever it is they feel is correct.

Walz, BTW.

Daniel Joderwrote:

“I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

I remember this being on the top of the editorial page of the local Cheyenne, Wyoming newspaper, decades ago.

Yes, I think at our age we should be mature enough to be nice with our discussions of politics. I will try to do my part!

As to what Frank said above, I have to agree. I spent 21+ years in the USAF, mostly in fighter squadrons or pilot/instructor training squadrons. What he says about the unpredictability of deployments has also been my experience. It sounded like Waltz was already thinking of politics and had filed to run some time before the deployment was in the works.

As to the other comment Waltz has made about “carrying weapons of war”, I saw the video where he says that and it does sound like he is “embellishing” for effect in a local speech and he probably should walk that back.

I have a very few “combat hours” over Iraq in the A-10, but it was between the two wars and during Operation Southern Watch, and even though we were carrying live weapons we were never shot at during our deployment and we never shot at anything ourselves. That’s why I have put combat hours in quotes. My official flight records show them as combat hours but I personally don’t consider them so out of respect for my comrades who truly were actually shot at.

Having said all that, the difference between the two choices (for me, IMHO) is stark and couldn’t be more clear. In the big scheme of things, and for what is at stake in the election (again, from my perspective), the Waltz issue is minor. To others, it might not be, and they are free to decide that.

In the end, global warming, health care (including a woman’s right to it), NATO, Ukraine, Supreme Court ethics and reform,  cleaning up the money in politics…. (and much more) are the bigger issues that will decide my vote, not Waltz’s military record.

Again, all this is just my opinion… and we all know what they say about opinions! 

100%, disagree or not we’re fighting for freedom! Hopefully, this message gets to other nations too…

I have my opinions, but there is a politics thread.  I  do have the luxury of living in Massachusetts. a state where my vote will never count.  We are the only state that voted for McGovern in the Nixon landslide (McGovern lost his home state of South Dakota).  So it is hard for me to get excited about any presidential election.  Carry on, if you must.  Or, we could actually talk about rock climbing. 

Turning 77 in a week, I'm in the Rich & Alan age bracket. (Wish I could meet up with you guys.) I retired early - at 55 - just because my government pension plan allowed me to. I worked with wonderful people and my job, a water lawyer with the Colorado AG's Office, was mostly interesting and challenging, though at its worst it involved Groundhog Day-like meetings. I was ready to spend more time climbing, tele skiing, hiking, and bicycling. It went according to plan for awhile, but then health issues - some mine and more my husband Bruce's - began to slow us down. Now Bruce is pretty much wheelchair-bound and I'm gym climbing on my own.

In the year since my back surgery, I've gotten back to my pre-surgery climbing level. Since 5.12 climbers are the norm at my Boulder gym, with plenty of people climbing 13s and harder, climbing 10s and 11s is frustrating, though the climbers I get to watch on a regular basis are inspiring. But I'm realizing that getting beyond 11s would require the kind of disciplined training that many of you here do. I'm not motivated to do that and, even if I were, I figure there's a 50-50 chance I'd just destroy myself, probably fingers first, but there's also my back and shoulders to consider. So I'm just getting to the gym a few times a week and climbing as hard as I can for as long as I can. Boulder's a pleasant place to grow old though.  

This picture showed up on my FB feed as Devil’s Tower.  Is this for real?  What the heck is down there?  

No, not at all for real--at least not the Devil's Tower in eastern Wyoming near where Kris lives. The top of Devil's Tower is merely an acre or so of the same semi-arid prairie found at the bottom some 800 ft. lower, complete with the occasional rattlesnake. When I first climbed it--mid-60s, the highest point ( it is slightly domed ) was adorned with a small wooden sign stating "No Climbing Beyond this Point". There is a well-known photo of Gunks climber Dick Williams doing a handstand upon it. Sadly, that sign disappeared years ago.

wendy weisswrote:

Turning 77 in a week, I'm in the Rich & Alan age bracket. (Wish I could meet up with you guys.) I retired early - at 55 - just because my government pension plan allowed me to. I worked with wonderful people and my job, a water lawyer with the Colorado AG's Office, was mostly interesting and challenging, though at its worst it involved Groundhog Day-like meetings. I was ready to spend more time climbing, tele skiing, hiking, and bicycling. It went according to plan for awhile, but then health issues - some mine and more my husband Bruce's - began to slow us down. Now Bruce is pretty much wheelchair-bound and I'm gym climbing on my own.

In the year since my back surgery, I've gotten back to my pre-surgery climbing level. Since 5.12 climbers are the norm at my Boulder gym, with plenty of people climbing 13s and harder, climbing 10s and 11s is frustrating, though the climbers I get to watch on a regular basis are inspiring. But I'm realizing that getting beyond 11s would require the kind of disciplined training that many of you here do. I'm not motivated to do that and, even if I were, I figure there's a 50-50 chance I'd just destroy myself, probably fingers first, but there's also my back and shoulders to consider. So I'm just getting to the gym a few times a week and climbing as hard as I can for as long as I can. Boulder's a pleasant place to grow old though.  

Wendy, I'm climbing 9's and 10's in my gym.  Very occasionally get up an over-graded 11.  And that's with some training. During my BD party bash, some folks from out of town complained that the grading in the gym was stiff, so that might be a consolation, but I don't think about it too much and just go about doing what I can do and trying some things I can't do.

Lori Milaswrote:

This picture showed up on my FB feed as Devil’s Tower.  Is this for real?  What the heck is down there?  

There's been an explosion of AI-generated BS on my feed---I've seen this particular bit of nonsense as well. Meta claims to be working on ways to label AI-generated images, but I'm not holding my breath. https://about.fb.com/news/2024/04/metas-approach-to-labeling-ai-generated-content-and-manipulated-media/.

Meanwhile, it is sad to see people celebrating the "beauties of nature" when in fact they are responding to a total fabrication.

Lori Milaswrote:

This picture showed up on my FB feed as Devil’s Tower.  Is this for real?  What the heck is down there?  

I think it looks more formerly living, then rock-like. Like an evergreen cone of some sort, with the middle ripped out. If it was, say, an image intended to be a fictional location for a movie or something, then it needs more work down in the bottom. Geology would have rubble, or talus or whatever. Those top blobs would break off, or a column would crash, that sort if thing.

The other way to go?

It's a fossilized sand worm.

.As to politicians....

My long standing policy has been, if you knock on my door, in person, you get my vote. I only had to vote for one whack in all these years. Fortunately they lost.

Then that's the other thing.

Vote.

Have an opinion, respect the other opinions, work with whoever gets voted in to do the job.

But vote. Or shut up. 

One election here, a state office? Won by about 15 votes. And mine was one of them. Presidential election, okay, your individual vote may mean nothing, but, you are voting for a system that allows you to express your opinion. 

That, matters, and isn't a given for a great many people in this world.

McGovern. I got to hear him speak, in person, when I was in high school. Not old enough to vote, quite yet, but keenly aware of that right being pretty new for 18 year olds. So many people don't even know it was people who are now the age of many in this forum who fought to be able to vote, at the age deemed, well, fighting age, aka the draft.

Then there was all the earlier fights for rights....

So sure, have your opinion! 

Just understand I will also have mine.

And it makes not a bit of difference what either of us vote, so long as the belaying is up to snuff. 

I don't know, but, my guess is climbing is the great equalizer here, with this community. The friendships, even with people we may never meet, matter more then the politics or any thing else. I think the life and death thing makes it a tight bond, that just isn't very common.

My rambly (as is typical, I admit it) two cents.

It's finally not triple digit temps here. Yay. Very smoky though, even sone ash fall. A sardonic yay. My contractor had to hustle home yesterday to water down his very dried out pasture...

And finish getting sprinklers up on the house roof. In theory he should be fine, the main fire is miles away, with a road and a river between, but, he also had a couple chinks of charred wood show up on his property. There's at least 4 aircraft on it now, so hopefully it'll be kept away from houses, but it's past 150,000 acres. The BLM ones go big, here.

H.

“And it makes not a bit of difference what either of us vote, so long as the belaying is up to snuff.”

—OLH

Here, here! I’ll second the motion.

I’m older than some here, younger than some. But at 66 I am increasingly aware of how fast the years go by now and that my window for ticking off a lot of my bucket list climbs is rapidly closing.

I’m grateful we have safe sport routes and gyms these days that should allow all of us to enjoy the movement of climbing well into our super golden years—assuming reasonable luck with genes and health!

 I heard that some biologist sorted through that pile of rocks that holds up the old sign post and counted 16 prarie rattlers... good thing they are shy.. 

wendy weisswrote:

In the year since my back surgery, I've gotten back to my pre-surgery climbing level. Since 5.12 climbers are the norm at my Boulder gym, with plenty of people climbing 13s and harder, climbing 10s and 11s is frustrating, though the climbers I get to watch on a regular basis are inspiring. But I'm realizing that getting beyond 11s would require the kind of disciplined training that many of you here do. I'm not motivated to do that and, even if I were, I figure there's a 50-50 chance I'd just destroy myself, probably fingers first, but there's also my back and shoulders to consider. So I'm just getting to the gym a few times a week and climbing as hard as I can for as long as I can. Boulder's a pleasant place to grow old though.  

Is 12 and 13 the norm for everyone? Or just the stronger 16-20 year olds? 13 is cranking pretty hard! That’s one arm 20mm pull-up territory?!?

Given your abilities and current state, you may be in the 99th percentile of climbers. Add to that post back surgery and you’re pretty elite. 

Most people top rope 10s at my gym with the occasional 11.

I got home from my trip yesterday – – 11 Hour drive through hundreds of miles of smoke. I wondered if there was a fire burning in Tuolomne that might ruin Jan’s trip.  

It was pretty amazing reading through the various posts. Wendy, I’m so sorry to hear about Bruce. I assumed he was well on his way to recovery.   and I had no idea you were an attorney!. Rgold dropped some great nuggets. I know we are all different, but he has so poignantly over the years described this aging process and how it changes but does not stop the love of climbing. I found myself wondering, rgold, if you are still reading – – can you still work a slide rule?

And Guy… I had no idea what you did before or how good you were at it. This really snaps in some pieces of your life for the big picture.

I know we are all a little skittish and maybe even put off by any talk of politics but reading Helen’s post makes me want to demure just a little.  We always say “be sure you get out and vote.“. I remember a college professor suggesting something very controversial – – not everyone should be able to vote. And his point was if you haven’t informed yourself, you shouldn’t be able to step into a voting booth and put your X in whatever box.

So if I had a new cause it would be “get out and educate yourself THEN vote”.  I was very disheartened to have a discourse with a young woman who was voting for Trump because she believed that all media is fake. I suggested she go to the primary source – – read Donald Trump’s own words, go to his TruthSocial platform and read his daily posts and read his books. Listen to his speeches, etc. I said that with no bias. Her response was she would not trust that any posts she read by Donald Trump were actually written by him and any speech by him could have been distorted. She’s got herself in quite a pickle – – there is no source of information she can trust. And my best friend is in much the same place.  And these two are voting.  

So I REALLY appreciate Kris’ well thought out post.  I met with my financial advisor in Sacramento and she told me that she and a group of her friends get together before every election and they talk about it. Some are Republican and some Democrat, but it’s a calm and engaged conversation where they lay it all out.  

My last thought… I have been reading the weekly newsletters by a Northern California Congressman, who is definitely far Right.  It’s been a great education for me. He represents farmers and the logging industry and they have different needs than a group in San Francisco. So I love how advocacy on whatever side is powerful and lifts us all up.  

Bob, Brandt… any idea what this is?  

Little Rock Candy Mt.

. I am seeking a friend to do some very amateur bouldering hiking and climbing in Colorado Alaska. I’d like to do Hawaii Yellowstone grand Teton. If u r beg how do u find people to climb w 

It’s nice to be back. I thought I should take a little walk about and make sure everything is still there. Trying to decide if I really want to hike up this Canyon this morning. Probably not but will I ever get to climb Welcome to Joshua Tree?  

thank you, Brandt. I figured it out too. I know you like to climb that right?  I’ve enjoyed some fun routes on that rock.

Lisa Laganellawrote:

. I am seeking a friend to do some very amateur bouldering hiking and climbing in Colorado Alaska. I’d like to do Hawaii Yellowstone grand Teton. If u r beg how do u find people to climb w 

This may not be the correct thread, there’s a partner search on MP. You should be able to find people?