New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #31

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

I watched Goldfinger last night. Entertaining in a silly way but OMG have attitudes changed.. The main Female character is named Pussy Galor. Heck I am probably in trouble just for stating that fact. Sean Connery acts like the character in Carly Simons song Your so vain and actually slaps women on the butt and gets away with it.. 

My favourite character was Q. I replicated a bunch of things including a shooting pen activated by a .22 cartridge. Sort of lucky that I still have a hand.

As I was only 8, I never really paid much attention to the sex scenes, just waited for the “good scenes” using the gadgets.

Lori, that shoe looks good.

I just got back from a week in Bishop. I did some good climbs, but due to partner issues, not nearly as much as I had hoped. Still, it was nice relaxing with the wife, dog, and a good book.

My thoughts on the many pages of posts that I missed during my time away:

Although he climbs 6 or 8 grades harder than me, GabeO's general approach and philosophy toward training is what has worked for me.

Daniel J. - Absolutely true that doing a route smoothly is the most satisfying thing I experience in climbing! Just clawing my way up some route leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's well worth it to me to stay on it till it feels right.

Phyl - There must be as many recipes for breaded meatballs as there are grandmothers in Italy. 

           I need to check out sliderlocks. Who makes them?

Tim S. - I have only climbed a couple of days in the Gunks (many years ago) but your photos make me want to buy a plane ticket to New York.

Regarding all the Mythos comments: They are the most comfy shoes I've ever worn and climb better than one might think. I have a stretched-out pair I wear for long routes and with socks on cold days. The Eco models sound interesting for less stretching.

Nick G. - Wow! Lots of good photos!

Regarding Physivantage Supercharged Collagen: I've been drinking this cool-aid (and doing PT exercises) for quite some time now and shoulder, elbow, and fingers have all improved. Ward's comments about the timing seems to be very important.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for my future training post "How to climb 13d in two minutes a Day."

Isa's pond is down to 52f at least that's what it was two nights ago.. That's cold enough for cold therapy so we did a sauna plunge. Seems to helps with the arthritis in my feet. 

Brandt Allenwrote:

That's all for now. Stay tuned for my future training post "How to climb 13d in two minutes a Day."

So, how about 5.13b in one minute per day?   

I took two days off but 6 climbing days per week works for me and my latest climbing buddy climbs 7 days per week.

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Isa's pond is down to 52f at least that's what it was two nights ago.. That's cold enough for cold therapy so we did a sauna plunge. Seems to helps with the arthritis in my feet.

Your sauna looks great! Isa’s pond?

Ward Smithwrote:

We have a lot of crap weather, but when it is good it’s good!

Well, despite him not even being there, Ward did a fine job of summarizing the weekend meetup of the codgers in the Gunks this last weekend. 

I'll fill in a bit more detail as I have time, and hopefully RG, Alan, and Dragons can chime in as well. 

Oh, one thing to get off my chest before I go any further:  It was stupid of me to plan meeting up on the weekend of Yom Kippur. Actually I had planned to go to temple, and while I'm a bad Jew and went climbing instead, it created a conflict for the weekend that was unintended. So my apologies.

Day 0: My wife, my daughter, and I drove down on Friday evening, getting in to the campsite pretty late. Normally it's 3.5 hours from Boston, but we weren't able to get on the road until around 4 pm, and with horrible traffic and a stop for dinner, it was more like 5.5 hours.

Day 1:  Saturday morning the weather was glorious. We went to Peterskill, where I led an easy route for my daughter. Here she is getting ready to climb it (assisted by my wife and surrounded by glorious fall foliage):

https://youtu.be/YKa46tH4b-o?si=L0dH_Ob2tomoWzZF

She really enjoyed it.  She happily did a second, slightly harder route, and then on route number 3 (harder yet) she ran out of juice and wanted to come down. So then it was mom and Dad's turn to challenge ourselves.  I led a really nice route called East LA (5.8). I was firmly reminded that Gunks climbing is hard for me (especially with how out of practice I am), so it put me through my paces quite nicely. We were also able to toprope a nice 5.10 from that anchor. Then we went to the next crag where my wife and I each led another route, while my daughter had good fun with sticks and dirt and boulders and such. In all we got in 7 pitches, and then decided to head back to the CG. 

One more photo from the day - still life with Gunks conglomerate, autumn leaves, and climbing gear: 

Oh, and the walk back to the car:

As it turns out, my climbing day was not over!  The campground has several little bouldering walls under an enclosure, and my daughter wanted to play on them. So while mom made dinner we played several long games of "add on" on the 45 degree overhanging walls until both of us has no skin left. Dinner, s'mores over the fire, and finally into the tent for bed. 

I'll write up day 2 tomorrow. 

GO

Brandt Allenwrote:

I just got back from a week in Bishop. I did some good climbs, but due to partner issues, not nearly as much as I had hoped. Still, it was nice relaxing with the wife, dog, and a good book.

My thoughts on the many pages of posts that I missed during my time away:

Although he climbs 6 or 8 grades harder than me, GabeO's general approach and philosophy toward training is what has worked for me.

Daniel J. - Absolutely true that doing a route smoothly is the most satisfying thing I experience in climbing! Just clawing my way up some route leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It's well worth it to me to stay on it till it feels right.

Phyl - There must be as many recipes for breaded meatballs as there are grandmothers in Italy. 

           I need to check out sliderlocks. Who makes them?

Tim S. - I have only climbed a couple of days in the Gunks (many years ago) but your photos make me want to buy a plane ticket to New York.

Regarding all the Mythos comments: They are the most comfy shoes I've ever worn and climb better than one might think. I have a stretched-out pair I wear for long routes and with socks on cold days. The Eco models sound interesting for less stretching.

Nick G. - Wow! Lots of good photos!

Regarding Physivantage Supercharged Collagen: I've been drinking this cool-aid (and doing PT exercises) for quite some time now and shoulder, elbow, and fingers have all improved. Ward's comments about the timing seems to be very important.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for my future training post "How to climb 13d in two minutes a Day."

You definitely should.  Rides could be enabled from BWI, PHL, or EWR.  Late Sep to late Oct is usually ideal weather.  Spring can be OK, or it can be cold and/or wet.  Crap shoot.

Mythos were the shoe of the day on Pingora  (Wind River Range).  Keith was the only rebel.  

That's  Isa,s sauna next to her pond. 

Couple fun cracks at my gym. Second video cut off the overhanging section.

My partner sails up the without wincing then says “it hurts”  

Finger cracks are next. There’s a 5.12c (gym grading) crack that looks doable.

Edited title of the second climb per Gabe O.

Can we agree to leave the gym videos in the gym or FB? Just asking 

GabeOwrote:

I'll fill in a bit more detail as I have time, and hopefully RG, Alan, and Dragons can chime in as well. 

I completely missed out on those plans, but I did get to climb on Monday and today with friends from MA, and that was awesome!

How was Peterskill wrt crowding on Saturday? I just couldn't bring myself to go, expecting it to be far too crowded.

dragonswrote:

I completely missed out on those plans, but I did get to climb on Monday and today with friends from MA, and that was awesome!

How was Peterskill wrt crowding on Saturday? I just couldn't bring myself to go, expecting it to be far too crowded.

Peterskill was fine. We never had to wait for a route. Sorry you didn't join us, would've been nice to meet you. 

GO

Li Hu, those cracks look fun. I wish my gym had some cracks. I know I must seem like the crack police, so I'm sorry about this, but if a crack is tighter than good hands you would not call it "off hands", you'd call it either tight hands or thin hands. 

Just thought you might want to know. 

Cheers, 

GO

Todd Berlier wrote:

For me it's all climbing. I love it all.keep it coming Li!

(Granted I love all outside climbing more!)

Same, this is my first step outside this coming season.

I think I'll post a video of me campusing the underside of some stairs...

That would be cool!

Just in case: I'm being snarky for fun. No intended offense!

Time for a bevvy  

GabeOwrote:

Li Hu, those cracks look fun. I wish my gym had some cracks. I know I must seem like the crack police, so I'm sorry about this, but if a crack is tighter than good hands you would not call it "off hands", you'd call it either tight hands or thin hands. 

Just thought you might want to know. 

Cheers, 

GO

Thanks, changed it.

Todd Berlier wrote:

Do you mean to make the gym video put it on some sort of drive and leave the drive in the gym?

Surely this isn't an attempt to censor Li?

jk!

For me it's all climbing. I love it all.keep it coming Li!

(Granted I love all outside climbing more!)

I think I'll post a video of me campusing the underside of some stairs...

Just in case: I'm being snarky for fun. No intended offense!

For me it's like people on FB posting pics of their dinner every time they go out, I'd much rather see a conversation on how that food was prepared. 

I don't need to see the pink one over in the corner, I already know what it looks like! 

FYI I will never ever complain about pics or videos of real rock, even if it's a pebble wrestler on TR ;)

Posting anything climbing related, even training videos is showing a path towards the goal. Climbing.

We all have different methods to this madness, and all have one thing in common. We’re older climbers whom can’t really afford to make big mistakes in their training.

Hopefully, by posting things here we can help each other prevent serious injuries and gain some support from one another.

It’s all about being positive!

Thanks Todd and Gabe! Your support is very much appreciated!  

Todd Berlier wrote:

Here are the 3 FAs I got to do yesterday. This mini crag in Tahoe (on the ridge high above Sugarloaf) has really produced some gems!

..and an obligatory photo of me working the moves...on a boulder...on TR! Just for M M ;)

Cool! I think you’ve had enough FA in a week to last a lifetime!   

I had an afternoon with Bob yesterday on cap rock. It was a perfect choice because it’s close and it’s familiar and I was feeling “low energy “.   . It is taking some time to get my groove back – –NOT like riding a bicycle.

But that old familiar astonishment returned, that you can climb something almost vertical that has NO holds for hands or feet.  I love the challenge of staring at that blank wall and figuring it out.  But I am slow. I realized that I spent far more time deciding upon and testing my next step than trusting it.  Most of the time I don’t believe what I’m doing.

It also requires enormous calf, foot and toe strength, and pretty much everything was seizing up by the time we were done.   

Also, it really does require strong reading glasses to distinguish those tiny divots and crystals from regular discoloration on the rock. 

 
I cringe with every step, waiting to peel off and take a huge whipper— regardless of the fact that I am on a top rope. I can feel my shins banging up against the rock and a belly scraper all the way down. So that’s the part that needs a little work I guess because I seldom fall. I have to learn how to block out the noise.

The new Scarpa generator works great. No pain anywhere, great rubber and good Precision. I was joking that the shoes are better than me.  A really good climber deserves these shoes.

The longer this goes on and the more difficult the Climbing I have entrusted myself to Bob and rely on him for honest feedback because this is really foreign territory for me. I was waiting for him to say “maybe this has passed you by.“  But before the day was over, Bob suggested I go back and purchase a half size smaller Scarpa for working on those 10c/d routes on my list this year, and that changed my whole attitude. You mean this is still possible? I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and have been quietly asking myself has it dropped yet?  

—-

It seems in Italian heritage there are lots of grandmothers. Sounds like Phylp has some too.   Tony’s grandmother Julia spent her life in the kitchen cooking up wonders for the family. Tony’s mom was right there cooking side-by-side so they have elevated stature in his life. I would love to have been there to cook with them, but I think something has happened to quality along the way. Everyone in Tony’s family is pretty overweight and most of them are not well. But they sure are happy. That’s the long way of saying that I want to make my own Giardiniera with fresh vegetables, and no one has a clue. Vegetables have taken a long backseat to meat and pasta in Tony’s family. Maybe it’s also a Chicago thing? Because the only mandatory vegetables I see on any menu is a piece of iceberg lettuce and maybe a pickle.

Tony’s family really truly believed that when he moved to California, he would become a kale eating hippie. They needn’t have worried about that.    

Li Hu, I’ve been watching and admiring your training and climbing since you first started sharing here.  You’ve come a long way!  And I love your videos. When I climbed at Pipeworks, I filmed every session and I still have a few.  

I think one of the things that distinguishes this thread from the others on mountain project is that we have made the commitment to be supportive and positive – – not because we’re any nicer but we have the greater need for encouragement and learning.  At least I know I do.  

Also,  for me, this is a whole new stage of life, and it helps to dig in here.  So I am super grateful for the friendships and every ounce of support and laughter we can give. 

Lori Milaswrote:

make my own Giardiniera with fresh vegetables, and no one has a clue. Vegetables have taken a long backseat to meat and pasta in Tony’s family. Maybe it’s also a Chicago thing? Because the only mandatory vegetables I see on any menu is a piece of iceberg lettuce and maybe a pickle.

Tomato is a vegetable, though, Lori. Don't they slather the pasta in tomato sauce? FWIW I love a good puttanesca.

GabeOwrote:

Peterskill was fine. We never had to wait for a route. Sorry you didn't join us, would've been nice to meet you. 

GO

Oh, that's great! When I was there about a week before, half the place was draped in top ropes set up by guides, so I was sure it'd be worse on a Saturday. I'm sorry to have missed you! We're both in the NE so hopefully will meet up some other time.