New and experienced climbers over 50 #30

Lori Milaswrote:

Oh my, Li Hu… these routes are for manly men and manly women, of which I am not one but maybe you are.

I had to go back and take a closer look today. These are beautiful roofs. I am heartbroken because it became clear that (unless I am a mistaken) there’s no way to rig a top rope for me.  It could be quite an exciting swing. But I could see every move up the 5.9 and it looks so fun. Damn!

On a positive, but disagreeing note, I think Comfortably Numb can be top roped?

You can also protect the crack and traverse with a single cam then remove it as if you were following a climb.

I’m up for climbing at Joshua Tree after November, as I’m training to climb reasonably in Tokyo at this point.

You’re in Tokyo? I’m so confused.  

I would not presume to climb comfortably numb. But this other adjacent route, Super Roof, 5.9, looks great.  I’m not getting my hopes up. 

I was hoping my camera would pick up the bolts on the face of this rock.  They’re right there – – not in plain sight.   

Lori Milaswrote:

I would not presume to climb comfortably numb. But this other adjacent route, Super Roof, 5.9, looks great.  I’m not getting my hopes up. 

By Josh standards, super roof is a totally "gimme" 5.9. Short, and good fun, it'll be over almost before you get started.

This is a fairly easy 5.9 route with a nice roof that's easy as far as roofs go.  For sure topropable.  The Harder they Fall on Jimmy Cliff.  Easy flat approach.

Memorable day for me. It was the first day of a week-long trip at Thanksgiving 1986.  I led this route and coiled the rope and slung it over one shoulder for the downclimb off the backside (well before rope bags).  On the down climb, which was probably on class 2 or 3, I leaned forward and my foot caught on a loop of the rope.  Down I tumbled and caught myself with my left hand, which then hurt like a MF.  Said to my partner, "oh I'm sure it's just a little sprain, we'll be climbing tomorrow".  By 2 AM, I was in such screaming pain, I knew the trip was over.  Rather than go to the local ER, we packed up and started the drive home in the middle of the night.  Ten hours back to Mountain View.  We took turns driving, somehow I managed my stick shift with one right hand.

Next day I was let right in to see my ortho doc at SOAR, and it was confirmed a navicular fracture.  They put me in a cast up to my shoulder.  My doc warned me "this bone has a high % nonhealing, it's poorly vascularized".  You'll be a minimum of three month in the cast and then if it's not healed, we do a bone graft surgery".

Well, I'm not even remotely an aerobic athlete, but I was determined to force blood into that wrist.  Every day after work, I'd go to my gym, Golds Mtn View, and push on the treadmill or bike.  On weekends, I forced Michael to go on fast hikes with me, from which came his description of the "forced march".

At two months when they x-rayed it, my doc said to me, "this is very unusual but it's healed enough to remove from the cast - Just don't fall down for a while." 

phylp phylpwrote:

At two months when they x-rayed it, my doc said to me, "this is very unusual but it's healed enough to remove from the cast - Just don't fall down for a while." 

Phyl I have almost exactly the same story. I broke that navicular (sometimes called "scaphoid' I think), right at the base of your thumb. I did it falling off the top of that "Streetcar" boulder out by Gunsmoke, in Josh. I literally fell of the top. I did the thing, stood up, turned around, lost my balance, and dove. Same deal: cast up to my neck. The doc said to to a lot of aerobics, so I went crazy, and bagged everything in the Whitney area and on north to Kearsarge. On one occasion I was charging down the scree slope between Russel and Carillon heading down to Boy Scout Lake there, when I took a header and scooped a bunch of gravel into the cast from the top end by my shoulder. At my next follow up the cast stank so bad the doc decided to give me a new one, and all this gravel fell out when he cut it off. That was eight or nine weeks in, and he decided to do an x-ray. 

I'll never forget, he said exactly what your doc said. "This is most unusual but..."

Kristian Solemwrote:

Phyl I have almost exactly the same story. I broke that navicular (sometimes called "scaphoid' I think), right at the base of your thumb. I did it falling off the top of that "Streetcar" boulder out by Gunsmoke, in Josh. I literally fell of the top. I did the thing, stood up, turned around, lost my balance, and dove. Same deal: cast up to my neck. The doc said to to a lot of aerobics, so I went crazy, and bagged everything in the Whitney area and on north to Kearsarge. On one occasion I was charging down the scree slope between Russel and Carillon heading down to Boy Scout Lake there, when I took a header and scooped a bunch of gravel into the cast from the top end by my shoulder. At my next follow up the cast stank so bad the doc decided to give me a new one, and all this gravel fell out when he cut it off. That was eight or nine weeks in, and he decided to do an x-ray. 

I'll never forget, he said exactly what your doc said. "This is most unusual but..."

Kris, so funny. Yes they call it the scafoid bone  now. They put me in a short cast after the first month. But yeah, they sure did stink. 

In Jr high I had a cast from my foot up to my hip from a broken shin playing soccer.  I was very active . Out ran the vice principal on crutches in the woods accross the street from the school where we were having an extra kind smoke break. it sucks going through the woods with a full cast on your leg because you have to swing it way out to the side to go up any kind of hill. I went hunting that fall by myself and once my dad got a neighbor to help look for me. I found them on my way out of the woods after dark. No headlamps in the 70s for farm kids. I was fine, just stayed out till last light and moving slow lugging that cast. Needless to say that cast got pretty disgusting and decrepit so they cut it off to replace it. Took some xrays and declared me fully healed. They figured that me wearing out that cast had something to do with it.   The atrophy and rehab was the roughest part of that gig. 

M Mwrote:

Are those a bunch of bear boxes wrapped in plastic Mark? 

I suspect newly delivered for the campground renovation in Tuolumne.

worked a photo gig in my old stomping grounds the last few days. got to do some bouldering

and swim in a real river, And play music with old friends.

Phylp, what a story! Curious why you decided to make the long drive home rather than go to our local ER. Maybe you just wanted to get back on familiar turf? There is a lot of controversy about our local hospital, some people say they would not go for any reason.

Kris. You got yourself in all kinds of trouble in your day. I suspect we haven’t heard the beginning of it.  

Maybe the value of starting something kind of extreme at 65 is there has not been time to accumulate war injuries.  

Nick… I had to really laugh at your story about the vice principal because I had JUST told Tony a similar story. In 10th grade when we wanted to leave campus for an hour or two, we had to contend with the vice principal standing out on the corner,  so we would send a decoy. We’d get some kid to dash across the street so the VP would chase him and then a group of us could leave unnoticed.   It was mean of us, looking back, but it always worked.

That was part of my explaining to him the power of the first Led Zeppelin album. I played communication breakdown for Tony and told him how that album required us all to ditch school for a day in someone’s garage listening front to cover.  Tony likes music but in the background. He said he had never thought of sitting with his pals somewhere and discovering a new album.

——

 I am still jealous of all your trips and travels and know I have missed so much. But I remain grateful. There is not a day when I don’t think “I could be sitting at a desk.“.

And then I bumped into this picture of Jeremy Schoenborn Climbing here a few years ago. If I was fussing over Super Roof maybe I should have tried this. Tioga Pass, maybe?  Can the rock really be this beautiful?  

Beautiful river, Nick!  Reminds me very much of the North Fork of the American River.  

Yes, new better bear boxes. 

Lori Milaswrote:

You’re in Tokyo? I’m so confused.  

Sorry, I wasn't clear, I’m preparing myself to climb in Tokyo when I visit with relatives this fall.

Yeah, I’ve postponed two trips to the Sierras just so I can train properly in the gym for a gym in Tokyo.

One of my partners asked if I can do the East Buttress of Whitney in the gym, and I replied “absolutely!” 6 hours with a 40 pound backpack on the treadmill at maximum setting, breathing through a snorkel, then 20 5.11/12 gym climbs with a paper bag over my head.  

Lori Milaswrote:

Phylp, what a story! Curious why you decided to make the long drive home rather than go to our local ER. Maybe you just wanted to get back on familiar turf? There is a lot of controversy about our local hospital, some people say they would not go for any reason.

Kris. You got yourself in all kinds of trouble in your day. I suspect we haven’t heard the beginning of it.  

Phylp made the right call. No one should touch that fracture other than a specialist. When I got down to Eisenhower Hospital in Palm Springs the orthopedist on duty in the ER told me that my injury was "out of his league," that all he could do was package it for me - a temporary cast - and that I should see the best sports ortho I could find right away. He set me up with a bunch of Percodan, and off I went.

There’s a backstory to my wrist-breaker fall:

That boulder problem, A streetcar Named Desire, gets a V-6/7 grade here on MP. Back in those pre-pad days it was thought to be in the upper 5.12 range. It wasn’t the hardest or most dangerous thing around by any means, but it was considered stout. There was a time when I had it ruthlessly wired.

So, late one afternoon I was hanging out at Gunsmoke with friends (I know Jan McCollum was there because he drove me down to the hospital in Palm Springs after the fall). Conditions were perfect, so I walked over to Streetcar and laid out my little bouldering carpet at the base, climbed it, and descended uneventfully. I was tired, and it was a perfect end to a good day. This is when things took a turn.

While I was sitting at the base, a striking young woman came strolling down the trail on her way to play on Gunsmoke. She stopped, studied the rock, and asked me “Can you do this thing?”

“Yeah, I just did. Do you want to try it?” The thought of showing her crossed my mind, but I was tired and decided that a failed attempt would be far worse than simply stating the fact and leaving it at that. This is when things got bad. Two guys came walking down the trail, also heading for Gunsmoke, carrying a bunch of high-end pro video gear. They stopped and asked if I could do it. I told them that yes, I’d done it many times.

They homed in on me like I was prey. “Can we get you doing it on video?” That was more than I could bear; a beautiful young woman to impress, and a video crew. On went the shoes, and up I went.

Here's the thing, when you top out on that rig, when you finish the exit move, it’s best to take another step or two back from the edge as you stand up. It’s kind of rounded. And that is normally what I would have done. But instead, I stood up right away and turned around to look down at the camera and my admirers. Somehow I lost my balance, and a spectacular dirt dive ensued. I rolled through the landing like a pro, and I didn’t realize I was injured until I went to untie my shoe. When I pinched the lace between my thumb and index finger the pain was searing.

Years later I was bouldering at Stoney Point. Some guys were talking about stemming problems in general, and Streetcar came up. I overheard one guy say “Dude, I saw this rad video of some guy falling off that thing after he topped out!” I snuck off to the next boulder.

Pride goeth before the fall. Indeed!

Brandt Allenwrote:

Pride goeth before the fall. Indeed!

Yep! 

Kristian Solemwrote:

Yep! 

 

Well, I was hoping to get you to come demo the Decompensator for me on video but I guess it’s ruined now.   But just think how great you’d look up there and the thrill of having an anniversary climb.  Think of the accolades.

Tracking your story in my mind your lucky break was probably having Jan as your driver.  I mean, I’d probably rather just endure the pain than get into a car with him, but I could see where having him get you to Eisenhower was probably the best move. For a mortal, it would take two hours all in from gunsmoke. I’ll bet Jan had you there in an hour flat.

Now after yours and Phylps stories I’m not feeling so good about any climb or descent higher than a couple feet.  

——

I am halfway through a four hour podcast this morning and it was stated that the biggest risk factor for dying for people over 65 is falling. Actually falling on descent, like walking down a flight of stairs or stepping off a curb (or falling off the top of Gunsmoke).  Old people fall and when they fall, they break things.  I wonder how we stack up as climbers. I’ve probably walked 400 miles this summer and have not tripped or stumbled. I feel like if I did, I’d be fine but statistics say otherwise.

Nice share Kris,

TFPU +1

Lori Milaswrote:

Lori, cool photo of the formation.  It looks like two hands clasped in prayer. 

Nick, nice find!  Sweet looking line, and even sweeter birthday present for your friend. 

Last week was the end of summer camp, and next week is the start of second grade for my daughter. So my wife and I had a week where we couldn't work.  We spent several days camping and climbing at Rumney. My wife ticked a project she had from the last time we were there.  I onsighted two 11a routes and an 11c, and got an 11d on my second try (really nice climbs, too - mostly at Apocalypse Wall). So we both climbed well.

But best of all, my daughter, who just turned seven, topped out on two climbs, and even wanted to do one of them a second time. This is a first for her, as she has really struggled in the past with outdoor climbing.  In the past there have been many climbs where she got part way up, and that was enough. But sometimes things would not end well. Sometimes she got frustrated, and then scared, and then completely freaked out on moves outside on a rope. But this week something shifted. She just never retreated, she just kept pushing when things got tricky. I'm sure she'll still have her moments, and that's fine. But I'm proud of her, and more important, she's proud of herself. 

GO

Lori Milaswrote:

I am halfway through a four hour podcast this morning and it was stated that the biggest risk factor for dying for people over 65 is falling. Actually falling on descent, like walking down a flight of stairs or stepping off a curb (or falling off the top of Gunsmoke).  Old people fall and when they fall, they break things.  I wonder how we stack up as climbers. I’ve probably walked 400 miles this summer and have not tripped or stumbled. I feel like if I did, I’d be fine but statistics say otherwise.

My aunt is 96 years old and fell three times when I was there. Caught her two of the three.

Trying to build up a robotic helper now, I can only hope it’s in time.  

Finally got out on a hike today with the family. it was a steep 1 mile 1000 feet up, then we looped back  an 1.8 extra miles back.

All the while, I kept thinking if I slip, I could get seriously injured. There’s no features to slow down your fall near the top. So, falling during a “walk” was definitely on my mind.

Our bones aren’t as strong as when we were young, but since you get enough protein, maybe still strong? Just try not to fall! Especially when climbing.

I keep thinking there must be ways to make this sport safer?

new route 11+ Photo: Reggie W.

view from camp