New and experienced climbers over 50 #30

Idaho Bobwrote:

I lived in New Jersey, 85 to 95.  Once tried to visit Alpine, home to many Mafia members.  A closed community.  Sopranos was a fairly accurate representation of that segment of the Italian community. Diners that were really laundries (not clothing).  Expensive restaurants that were cash only, but if you were short on cash you just left your business card.  Well understood that if you left a card, you returned with cash. 

Don’t forget the paper thin veal! 

GabeOwrote:

Okay, I have booked a site at the AAC campground for October 11 - 14.  I'll be there with my family, and would love to meet folks from this thread.  Would be great to share a rope, trade beers, trade stories, and put some faces with names.

Oh, and FYI, campsites are going fast.

Cheers,

GO

I might show up at least for a day or 2, but being increasingly decadent in my old age would most likely opt not to camp. 

Hey Phylp… are you ok there?  We have thick air here, gray skies.  5% containment… wow.  I hope your neighborhood is safe.  

Re: Gunks in October.  I hope to make it over on Friday for the day.

Lori Milaswrote:

Hey Phylp… are you ok there?  We have thick air here, gray skies.  5% containment… wow.  I hope your neighborhood is safe.  

Thanks for asking.  We should be fine, but we have fires on three sides - the Bridge Fire which has caused evacs in Baldy, we can see the smoke billowing from that from our house.  That's the closest physically.  The Line Fire out in Highland is just horrific - those poor communities out there.  We're getting lots of smoke and white ash from that one.  And now the Airport Fire east of Irvine is south of us.  It's just fire season in the West.  So many communities are suffering. Pray for rain.

Some things have conspired to put me in a bad funk this week.  "It's just fire season" is one of them.     Our skies are gray with smoke pouring in from the West.  Ashes are falling on Palm Desert as we speak.  I am bringing the inhalers with me when I dare go outside, because my wheezing started up again.  But that's nothing.  2 of my kids live in the Sierra, and fires came within 1/2 mile of my daughter's house last year. My son lives deep in the forest surrounded by trees. They have no easy way out if fires get close.,  How long can the Sierra be habitable?  

Phylp is in the midst of 3 fires, I'm sure that's awful.  Homes are in close proximity, the fire is 5% contained.  28,000 acres.  And huge respect to our fire personnel... and we have Blackhawk helicopters, C-130 aircraft in the air, and I don't see a number of soldiers on the ground, but it was in the thousands with the fire up north.  (at what cost to taxpayers, I wonder?) 

This has been the longest, hottest summer in my memory--I'll be willing to bet on record.  Water and electricity are at a premium.  Home Insurers have pulled from the area... I finally found house insurance with one of two remaining companies  No one insures forests anymore... the State has to step in and offer that coverage.  And we are not, technically, in a 'fire area'.  

But we were warned.  20+ years ago, when virtually every scientist involved with global warming aka climate change warned us that our planet has a 'tipping point', some thought that it was already too late to reverse the progress of global climate events, hurricanes, droughts, fires, etc.  The planet had already become so hot, trapping heat beneath our atmosphere, that we had already 'tipped'.  Kind of like being told you have lung cancer, and finally saying 'OK, I'll quit now'.  We were told that greenhouse gasses were the biggest contributors, and that fossil fuel emissions were heating up our planet beyond any expectation.  And yet, I'm hearing 'Drill, baby, Drill."  One party pulled out of the Paris Agreement.  (one party put us back). We refused to ratify the Kyoto Agreement.  

This has never been 2nd or 3rd on my list of priorities.  It's always been First, not as a 'liberal' or 'Democrat' but as a human being who can see which way the wind blows.  Way above all other issues, because without a planet, there are no other issues.  

"The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences."  Winston Churchill, my man. 

I'll be watching the debates tonight. (It has EVERYTHING to do with climbing,)

And I'm looking for one small thing I can personally do to try to help.  I've been thinking about volunteering with a group locally who advises on water management in the high desert.  

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On a bright side. (Ok, there is no bright side.) 

I just want to report in... with a HUGE thank you to Kris Solem, that Pilates is a great thing.  I highly recommend it.  I think it will be a tremendous assist in climbing.

My teacher is a "Classical Pilates" instructor... and we are working on my core strength... and on NOT using my quads for everything.  We are working on developing 3 different levels of abdominal control, without a single crunch or sit up.  No exercise is done more than 5 times.  Nothing hurts.  We are not 'going to failure'.  We are moving slowly, redesigning how I move my body.  And yet, I'm feeling sore. 

I can remember in ballet, always being instructed to turn out only to the extent the hips turnout.  That means, the butt and inner thighs control that.  So, that much needed turnout in slab climbing, in particular, really doesn't involve knees.  It involves inner thighs.  (Zach on Runaway 11a) 

Future Games  (That's gotta be Kris, not sure, though)

I watched Detroil vs LA football game the other night... from a totally different perspective.  Those players are BRUTAL on their knees, cutting and dodging on a dime... torqueing their knees in killer positions.  OUCH, OUCH, OUCH.  May we NOT do that!  

https://www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/sitreprt.pdf

A lot of fires not just in California.

If you understand the concept of “beyond the tipping point” (which I personally think is where we are) you won’t get your shorts in a knot over “drill baby drill” vs “ we need to do something”.  It’s time for eat drink and make merry…. A 100 years from now Mother Earth will have sorted it out.  Few of our descendants will benefit 

phylp phylpwrote:

I have partly emerged from my annual climbing lull.

When I first started climbing in Northern CA, there were no gyms and it was cold and rainy often, so I climbed outside as much as possible.  The high season went from April to October and I was typically motivated to climb as much as I could year round.

Then the first indoor gym accessible to me (City Rock) opened, so I was able to climb more frequently year round.  I began to notice that a time would come every year when I just lost interest in climbing for a month.  The lull usually happened about the end of October, which was good timing as the weather began to deteriorate then and the outdoor season slowed down.

Now I've been in SoCal for 10 years and I see my pattern has shifted again.  Because I climb more outside in winter and because the season starts earlier, it hits me by about the end of August that I'm done for a while. I've just gone 16 days without climbing and with no interest in climbing.  Today the urge arose, and since it's 110 outside we went to the gym.  Got a great workout and I don't seem to have lost any strength. But now I have some family travel to do, so I won't touch real rock until the end of September.  By then I will have fully emerged from the lull and be ready to road trip again!

Photo taken while sitting in the car outside the grocery store waiting for my husband.

Time to feed the rat… 

1. Eric Engbergwrote:

If you understand the concept of “beyond the tipping point” (which I personally think is where we are) you won’t get your shorts in a knot over “drill baby drill” vs “ we need to do something”.  It’s time for eat drink and make merry…. A 100 years from now Mother Earth will have sorted it out.  Few of our descendants will benefit 

Wow, that is the most pathetic excuse for not doing anything.

GabeOwrote:

Okay, I have booked a site at the AAC campground for October 11 - 14.  I'll be there with my family, and would love to meet folks from this thread.  Would be great to share a rope, trade beers, trade stories, and put some faces with names.

Oh, and FYI, campsites are going fast.

Cheers,

GO

Alan Rubin wrote:

I might show up at least for a day or 2, but being increasingly decadent in my old age would most likely opt not to camp.

I'll try to show up.  The past two years have been tough as my wife has had serious health issues and I've felt the need to be close to home.  I've only done a handful of climbs outside while managing to hit the gym once or twice a week. If things are going ok I'd love to putter up some easy climbs, i.e. things that we lead and that go to the top.  I'm not interested in top-roping anything; I get more than enough of that in the gym.

Maybe this could be the time Al and I have a reunion after a mere 60-year interlude?

GabeOwrote:

Okay, I have booked a site at the AAC campground for October 11 - 14.  I'll be there with my family, and would love to meet folks from this thread.  Would be great to share a rope, trade beers, trade stories, and put some faces with names.

Oh, and FYI, campsites are going fast.

Cheers,

GO

I kinda started this thread a couple months ago and would love to come, but I just can't bring myself to be at the Gunks on the busiest weekend of the year. I'd steel myself for the crowds almost any other weekend.  I'll be up a lot in October, but during the week when the crowds are smaller.  Y'all have fun !

rgoldwrote:

Alan Rubin wrote:

I'll try to show up.  The past two years have been tough as my wife has had serious health issues and I've felt the need to be close to home.  I've only done a handful of climbs outside while managing to hit the gym once or twice a week. If things are going ok I'd love to putter up some easy climbs, i.e. things that we lead and that go to the top.  I'm not interested in top-roping anything; I get more than enough of that in the gym.

Maybe this could be the time Al and I have a reunion after a mere 60-year interlude?

That's great!  Of course family comes first. Hope your wife is doing okay. 

Rgold, never roped up with you, just met you one time at one of the rec.climbing Boxers Day events. Would love to do a multi pitch climb, so hopefully we can make something work. 

Alan, it would be great to see, and climb with you, again! 

GO

I used to avoid the Gunks on weekends mostly when I  lived around there but will say as long as you can get a parking spot early enough and your hit list doesnt contain only trade routes it's not bad at all. I've done the best one star routes in the country there, that rock is just so darn good!

I had been wondering whatever happened to Chris Crowley, one of the authors of the book Younger Next Year.  I figured he was close to 90 and hoping he wasn’t dead yet. 

Last December he wrote a lengthy update of his life. Here’s a piece of it.  

I gotta pin this on my wall.    When his book was handed to me about 15 years ago, I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t into “self-help“ type reading. But I gave in and spent an afternoon under a big oak tree by the lake reading front to cover and it kind of became a Hail Mary for me. I joined the gym and decided to make some changes and stick with them.

The short video of him gracefully skiing down that slope was the first thing I saw this morning a mid these terrible fires, and it jolted me back to my own center.  Let’s step up to a great Third Act.   

there are not the crowds that used to be at Gunks on weekends. last Sunday was fine, no lines that I saw. anyway, it has been the case for more than 20 years that if you climb at the Nears there are always many routes open and if you climb 5.9 (or sometime even lower grades), even at the Trapps, there is no need to wait. if you want 5.7 or below, might be harder on weekends

GabeOwrote:

That's great!  Of course family comes first. Hope your wife is doing okay. 

Rgold, never roped up with you, just met you one time at one of the rec.climbing Boxers Day events. Would love to do a multi pitch climb, so hopefully we can make something work. 

Alan, it would be great to see, and climb with you, again! 

GO

While I am concerned about the crowd potential on the weekend, it is still a wonderful time to visit the Gunks. My wife and I will start scouting lodging options, at least for a  night or 2 during that period.

Randywrote:

Wow, that is the most pathetic excuse for not doing anything.

You are missing the point.  Nothing is going to make any difference if we are beyond the tipping point.  By definition.  

I know it makes people feel good to take action - and there can be and have been minor  victories with cleaner water and air.  But reversing climate change/global warming...  What would you actually do?  All the EVs, green energy, recycling etc won't make a difference.  Like starting a bucket brigade on the Titanic.  The only thing that is going to have an impact in the long run is a drastic reduction in the human population on earth.  

But carry on being green.

Its good to be as green as you can manage but at the same time I agree with you. Its the last dance. Party on and live it up but don't fckn litter.  You have to at least try to leave a decent planet for Kieth Richards and Willie Nelson. 

I was pretty bummed about this situation yesterday.  Still am. (Cannot go outside, cannot open any doors or windows here)  Looks like Wrightwood is about to be up in flames.  Mount Baldy.  Lake Arrowhead is in danger.  Growing up we had the occasional forest fire, not 3 months every year when California went up in flames.  The Bridge fire went from 3500 acres to 48,000 acres in a day--zero containment.. 

After watching the debate last night... I was wondering if there was any other way to have a conversation about global warming.  How about the words 'political will'?  How about being a strong advocate within your own Party...  speak up.  Let it be known that we demand action.  Make your vote count.  Whether it's my gal or your guy... insist that they pay attention to the Armageddon that's coming.  

I sure wouldn't advocate for giving up.  I continue to look to the soothsayer/scientists I respect, and no one has just crawled in a hole.  We are obligated to try. 

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It helped so much to bump into the post by Chris Crawley.  We could have 20-30 years of wonderful life left.  We could continue to be active, to care, to have a voice.  It could still be wonderful.  

"We still enjoy remarkably good health…still exercise like crazy…still entertain a lot. I have lost a step, predictably…triggered by atrial fabulation and sleep apnea which have sapped my endurance some. I am fighting back, hard…ablations, a C-PAP breathing machine at night. Tons of exercise. But the damned old tide is strong. Thus, we both have lovely, Orbea E-Bikes these days, 25-pound beauties, not the usual, 50-pound brutes. But E-bikes just the same. On the positive side, I just bought myself a beautiful new pair of Salomon downhill skis. I set them out against the wall for our caroling party…showing off what a hell of a guy I am, at near-90."

If I can say this in 20 years, it will be a total joy.