New and experienced climbers over 50 #30

Carl Schneider wrote:

BTW, the example above (Katie at Halloween with candy) also provides relevance; a reason for doing the sum.

Talking about relevance, to make this relevant to this forum, my spreadsheet tells me there are 37 days left until I go climbing in the Blue Mountains. I'm feeling slightly trepidatious.  

You made a lot of great points, Carl.  One thing the teacher in first grade did to make it even more relevant was to use the names of all the kids in the class in the math word problems. This seems brilliant. I'm sure everyone both looked forward to seeing if they would be in the math problems today, and it also helped them visualize the problem, since it involved a person they could easily imagine. 

Good luck on your trip, I'm excited for you! 

GO

Carl Schneider wrote:

I bet there’s a lot of young gym climbers that would not consider using the hand jams. 

I get a lot of stares. And not just from younger folks.  Very little of the climbing in this part of the country requires much skill at jamming, so it's a bit of a niche that many people never learn. Then again I hear that some climbers, even in a place like California (even some older climbers if you can believe it) think that the face climbing solution is always the better one, especially if the crack is not perfect hands. 

But after the stare, everyone wants to try it, because it looks so cool. So hopefully it sparks an awakening about new techniques for a few people. 

GO

GabeO wrote:

I get a lot of stares. And not just from younger folks.  Very little of the climbing in this part of the country requires much skill at jamming, so it's a bit of a niche that many people never learn. Then again I hear that some climbers, even in a place like California (even some older climbers if you can believe it) think that the face climbing solution is always the better one, especially if the crack is not perfect hands. 

But after the stare, everyone wants to try it, because it looks so cool. So hopefully it sparks an awakening about new techniques for a few people. 

GO

Gabe, I don’t know if you have ever been to Joshua Tree but there is a well-known climb here called double cross which is one long crack bottom to top. You can get into that crack up to your shoulder if you’re not careful. I once watched a young gym climber work her way up double cross without ever putting a hand or foot in that crack. She somehow managed to do this strictly as a face climb.

Me making a humble attempt…

as an aside, I learned an important lesson on this route. The crux is down low, but I didn’t know it. So when I got to those couple of hard moves, they felt exhausting and all I could see was a long route ahead and I sort of mentally gave up. in fact, once you are through that crux, the rest is really fun. I think it’s worth a letter grade to learn how to focus on exactly what is in front of you, ie the next move and the next move and don’t think about anything else.   Sometimes, if you just determine to hold on through difficult junctures, it passes and soon life gets good again.

I love hearing about your life as a dad and your daughter’s great school. That everyone should be so fortunate!

1. Todd Berlier wrote:

What's really fun Gabe is reading the counter history from Leonard Zinn when the kids come home talking about what they learned in school history.

I believe you meant Howard Zinn, not Leonard... or maybe you meant Lennard Zinn, the bicycle frame builder, former tech editor at Velo News and author of Zinn and the Art of Bicycle Maintenance... whose brother Kai is an accomplished climber (to round out the conversation back to climbing).

GabeO wrote:

Actually I should have mentioned that our school district may be an outlier, as it is ranked as one of the best in MA, which in turn is one of the best in the country.  So maybe the only point to take from my post is that (at least some) better performing school districts do recognize the importance of learning fundamentals, and even take it a step further to teach the simplest conceptual mathematics in conjunction with the arithmetic itself.

GO

I think where people disagree is not so much the basics, but more about the ability to think critically?

Students capable of drawing proper conclusions based upon facts, and determine which “facts” are real and those that are not are more difficult to control.

Many less educated parents aren’t happy when their kids can point out when things are wrong and why it’s wrong.

Going back to climbing, it’s probably time to drop one of my climbing partners. Figuratively, of course.

Got dropped on a top rope to the ground from 8 feet flat on my back. Was told that “if you want me to pull you up the climb” rather than a simple “oops sorry”. Same session, was short toped, told I was at fault for his back clip… All in all, wasn’t a fun experience. So, going to climb with my other partners earlier in the day.

Lori Milas wrote:

Gabe, I don’t know if you have ever been to Joshua Tree but there is a well-known climb here called double cross which is one long crack bottom to top. You can get into that crack up to your shoulder if you’re not careful. I once watched a young gym climber work her way up double cross without ever putting a hand or foot in that crack. She somehow managed to do this strictly as a face climb.

Me making a humble attempt…

Yes!  In fact my first ever climbing trip out west was to Joshua Tree, in 2003.  I had been climbing outside for a few years, and lead climbing for maybe two years.  Double Cross was, I think, either my first or second climb at JT.  I remember being intimidated by how high I had to go to get into the crack (no gear) but once I had some gear, I found the climbing easy and enjoyable.  But by that point, I already knew I liked crack climbing, and had spent some effort in learning a few basic techniques.  

I had had a trip to Yosemite Valley with my girlfriend for a hiking and camping trip not long before, where I got to spend one day toproping with a guide, where he talked a lot about crack technique, and then I climbed for a half a day with a random person I met off a bulletin board.  I got totally hooked on crack climbing from that experience.  In retrospect, I think Yosemite Valley is a fantastic place to be introduced to crack climbing because:

• The granite on the most popular climbs is just the right texture - slightly grippy, while still being being smooth enough to be very comfortable.
• The pods from pin scars help a lot in making jams secure
• The angle of the rock on many of the climbs is just short of vertical, making the footwork and balance more intuitive, but still requiring decent jamming of hands
• The soaring long cracks on huge formations provide a lot of enticement/incentive to learn the techniques!

When I got home from the Yosemite trip, I thought crack climbing was super-cool, and I sought out places to train.  That's a big part of the reason Double Cross felt so easy and fun when I got there.

as an aside, I learned an important lesson on this route. The crux is down low, but I didn’t know it. So when I got to those couple of hard moves, they felt exhausting and all I could see was a long route ahead and I sort of mentally gave up. in fact, once you are through that crux, the rest is really fun. I think it’s worth a letter grade to learn how to focus on exactly what is in front of you, ie the next move and the next move and don’t think about anything else.   Sometimes, if you just determine to hold on through difficult junctures, it passes and soon life gets good again.

I did a lot of my early climbing at the Gunks, where sometimes the moves to get off the ground are a grade harder than the rest of the route, and "don't count" toward the grade.  So yeah, I learned not to be discouraged by hard moves near the ground early!  

I love hearing about your life as a dad and your daughter’s great school. That everyone should be so fortunate!

Oh, I am definitely fortunate, and I am grateful.  And it's nice to be reminded of how lucky I am, so thank you for that.  I do worry that I give the impression that everything is "puppies and rainbows".  It's not, and I do have my fair share of fears and difficulties around my daughter.  I suppose it's natural to share those less, mostly to protect her privacy, but it does create somewhat of a false impression, and I apologize for that.

GO

Bobby scored a OZ, on a front, from Dallas. For $325.00

Bobby and those 2 girls he met at 7-11, whilst grabbing a cherry slurpee, went back to Bobby’s crib to party.

They partied a bit too much and shrunk the OZ by 6 grams. 

Q: How much “cut” will Bobby need and what should he charge per gram if he is to recoup his investment, buy two tickets to the concert @$32.50 each and repay Dallas so he doesn’t get a cap in his ass?

Taken from the California GED exam.

I’m sure TAD knows the answer. 

Hey - have I missed any further news on a potential meet-up at the Gunks this fall?

Lol Guy, 

28 grams in an Oz.

So Bobby needs 6 grams of cut.

325.00

+65.00

=390.00

÷ 28

= 13.93 per grams.

Hope I passed the audition.   

Guy Keesee wrote:

Bobby scored a OZ, on a front, from Dallas. For $325.00

Bobby and those 2 girls he met at 7-11, whilst grabbing a cherry slurpee, went back to Bobby’s crib to party.

They partied a bit too much and shrunk the OZ by 6 grams. 

Q: How much “cut” will Bobby need and what should he charge per gram if he is to recoup his investment, buy two tickets to the concert @$32.50 each and repay Dallas so he doesn’t get a cap in his ass?

Taken from the California GED exam.

I’m sure TAD knows the answer. 

He’ll get 40 years cause both girls are underage police informants.

 

 

Todd Berlier wrote:

LOL! This is not from the CA GED. But nice try, Guy!

Li has the best answer.

Yes, but Todd, you didn't answer the question!  

I'll bet that they don't have kids this smart in Gabe's neck of the woods.     I'm still working on this thought problem.  

Upon Guy's recommend, I looked up and read an interview with Rick Accomazzo about his just published book "Tobin, The Stonemasters and Me.".  

https://gripped.com/profiles/author-rick-accomazzo-tobin-the-stonemasters-and-me/

I'm not sure whether I will be buying the book... it's $46, but I am so happy someone has written this, so I can put to rest the idea that I should try to write some kind of history.  It was never mine to write, but I just haven't wanted to see the great legacies lost.  But I DO want to somehow put together my private little journey with Dave Houser... I really stalked him over 4 years, and finally had a wonderful meeting.  Not being a Stonemaster, his story might not be bothered with.  But for whatever reason, I wanted to know what he was all about,    

I have received the disappointing news that the rock formation that I worked so hard to get to, and to claim as my own, has been previously visited and there are routes.  I just don't see how that could be. The route that first caught my eye is called Female Mud Massacre, 5.10a.  Once I was right up on it, it looked MUCH harder than 10a.  The rock itself is called Mud Wrestling Wall.  I would have given it a much nicer name. :-(

   . 

we were gutting and restoring an 1807 brick house in S. Woodstock vt. It came out beautiful BTW with a copper roof and all the landscaping to go with it. just one of many crazy over the top rich peoples homes but I digress.  The house had 3 chimneys and the homeowner determined that the 3rd chimney was not original. That style house would not have 3 chimneys but just two. One on each end of the building. The solution naturally was to remove the chimney in the middle of the house. I walk in on the masons and they have just found 16 bags of yellowish white powder inside the old defunct chimney. One of them is melting the shit in a spoon to test it and the other guy knew way too much about weights and values. The chick looked like she just wanted to get high... 

Lori, I'm reading it right now. I know Rick a little and he's a very nice guy so I just had to get it. It's a good read, but wow, it's hard for me to imagine him as a daring young kid pulling off the feats that he and his friends did.   

Li Hu wrote:

I think where people disagree is not so much the basics, but more about the ability to think critically?

Students capable of drawing proper conclusions based upon facts, and determine which “facts” are real and those that are not are more difficult to control.

Many less educated parents aren’t happy when their kids can point out when things are wrong and why it’s wrong.

Going back to climbing, it’s probably time to drop one of my climbing partners. Figuratively, of course.

Got dropped on a top rope to the ground from 8 feet flat on my back. Was told that “if you want me to pull you up the climb” rather than a simple “oops sorry”. Same session, was short toped, told I was at fault for his back clip… All in all, wasn’t a fun experience. So, going to climb with my other partners earlier in the day.

That's unfair. On TR there's no reason to drop a climber in a gym; are your TR rigs setup so the belayer is anchored to the ground? 

I know last sesh I self identified that I wasn't communicative enough with someone I was quite new to climbing with. I should have said 'clipping' each time I went to clip. I think that's good practice. As a belayer I'm quite talkative. Each time I see them going to clip I say 'You got it' meaning 'you have slack' or 'you have rope'. The once I see or hear the clip I say 'cool' and take in a little. I'm also always moving; away from the wall, to the wall, side to side so I can see, where possible. I think a communicative belayer lets the climber know you are actually looking at them, and not either having a conversating with someone nearby or watch someone else climb, which sometimes happens.  

Guy Keesee wrote:

Bobby scored a OZ, on a front, from Dallas. For $325.00

Bobby and those 2 girls he met at 7-11, whilst grabbing a cherry slurpee, went back to Bobby’s crib to party.

They partied a bit too much and shrunk the OZ by 6 grams. 

Q: How much “cut” will Bobby need and what should he charge per gram if he is to recoup his investment, buy two tickets to the concert @$32.50 each and repay Dallas so he doesn’t get a cap in his ass?

Taken from the California GED exam.

I’m sure TAD knows the answer. 

Yep, the teaching staff I work with in our prisons often make jokes like this.  Doesn't Bobby also need to buy a bottle of vodka to put in a lemonade bottle to take to the concert?

Guy Keesee wrote:

Bobby scored a OZ, on a front, from Dallas. For $325.00

Bobby and those 2 girls he met at 7-11, whilst grabbing a cherry slurpee, went back to Bobby’s crib to party.

They partied a bit too much and shrunk the OZ by 6 grams. 

Q: How much “cut” will Bobby need and what should he charge per gram if he is to recoup his investment, buy two tickets to the concert @$32.50 each and repay Dallas so he doesn’t get a cap in his ass?

Taken from the California GED exam.

I’m sure TAD knows the answer. 

"Taken from the California GED exam."
Yer gonna have to give a reference for that claim!

Truth Social, dude! Of course

Back to climbing and late season travels. We are enjoying several days of beautiful weather ( so far), in Val David, Quebec in the Laurentians north of Montreal---about 100 miles west of where Nick and Isa were earlier this summer. It is an area of wooded hills, lakes, many small ski areas, weekend homes and numerous small ( mostly 1-2 pitch) cliffs of excellent rock with a climbing history that goes back to at least the early 1930s---and saw a solid and bold 5.9 put up by Fritz Weissner in 1948 and some of the first 5.10s in North America put up by folks such as John Turner in the early 1950s!!! Suitable for our 'demographic'--our climbs this trip have been more modest but still very good quality. Hopefully I'll be successful in attaching a photo or 2.

Alan. that looks cool. Is it busy? so that looks quite a bit west of where we were?