New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #31

Carl, I’ve had this set of refrigerator magnets for years. I am happy to hear that you have a soft tender side. This makes you all the more manly.  

It’s so wonderful to see so many here working on their bouldering projects. I’m kind of thinking of my cave project as a vertical boulder. 

 But here’s something I don’t think you guys deal with and that is the humiliation factor. I feel ridiculous trying to climb “at this age”, awkwardly, and poorly. There is seldom anything graceful that I do. It would be easier on my ego to quit and go do something else – – as Tony constantly says “there’s always bowling“. It’s humiliating to learn that some kid climbed 10c on his first day out and it’s taking me five years to get there.

But I also feel like the universe handed me this route. Not only do I get to learn completely different kind of Climbing, but there is a gorgeous steep slab included. And the best part really is that I have such a strong calling to this spot that now I’m going to do some research.  

“Serrano, Cahuilla, Chemehuevi and Mohave (Mojave) communities call Joshua Tree National Park part of their traditional ancestral homelands. These groups settled around springs, harvested from the land, created thriving communities, and developed deep connections to and knowledge of the desert environment.”

So who lived here, how many were there, and where did they go? I thought maybe while I’m down visiting Tony I’ll drive over to the reservation and see where I can start learning.

Here’s another “not slab“ route I would really like to keep working on.

Update: I received a call from the attending physician at the hospital yesterday. He confirmed that Tony has quite an infection and they changed out the antibiotic. But he also had such an accumulation of blood from his hemorrhage, and that is what made his leg so swollen They got what they could on the second surgery, but it’s difficult to do that without causing more damage. So bottom line he will be staying in the hospital another three or four days and then transferring to a rehab facility for possibly up to three weeks.  He’s been on this machine called a woundVAC and will continue to need that for sometime.

This is the first time in Tony’s life that he is admitting defeat and just going with the program— too sick to pack up his stuff and walk out AMA. I can’t interest him in any food, not even his favorite plate of gnocchi from Sammy G’s.  

I can’t help but ask how we got here. I walk into his hospital room and all I see are plastic IV bags dripping whatever. I just listened to a long podcast on endocrine disruptors and phthalates, hospitals being saturated in those chemicals.  The scoop of “chicken salad” on Tony’s tray for lunch, From the nutritionist direction for “heart healthy” diet. It feels like if you weren’t sick when you went in, you will surely be sick when you leave. I stand helplessly by.

Guy… I clipped your last post and sent it to him.  Thank you!  

we took a hike yesterday with our 77 year old friend John.  Always a bit risky after his tripple bypass. 

we got to the top of a ski mountain

Bernie was not tall enough to get in the summit selfie... 

the upper part of the hiking trail was a lot of slippery icy rocks so we went down the ski trail for a bit

Lori, I think we're living in a parallel universe right now. Bruce is back in the hospital for his foot infection. They cut off his little toe. He has a wound vac on his foot and the infectious disease doc is trying to identify the bacteria to find a new antibiotic for him. I'm hoping he can come home in a few days, probably with a portable wound vac and possibly with a picc line for intravenous antibiotics. But the hospital food is quite good.

I hope Tony gets out soon and that the rehab facilities where you are are better than the ones here. 

Tim Brattenwrote:

Dude, Adam Ondra fell on a V3!. If you're 66 years old sending V3s with your daughter-in-law, that's a pretty cool accomplishment. Cheers!

@ Jim- congratulations! What's the name of the problem? It looks great.

@ Tim- yes, but it was Marie Rose at Font that Ondra fell off of. Hope to fall off it myself next year  :-)

@ Lori- on a more serious note, I wouldn't worry about phthalates, but I would really emphasize getting enough protein into Tony. Whatever that takes, philly cheese steaks, protein powder, ensure, whatever. Don't worry about the little stuff. But find something he will eat, even if it's only to stop you pestering him. 

@ Wendy- kind of similar advice for Bruce. We still remember seeing you and Bruce in the gym- miss those BRC days, but pretty much climb exclusively at the Spot now. 

hope Tony and Bruce get well quickly!

Isa's pond is now 45f no pictures yet because they just don't do it justice without ice and snow but the cold plunge therapy continues.. 

Thanks Mark, it's called "Carrot Top"  ( I used to be one) and it's purported to be the softest v3 in the area.  Heading home today patting myself on the back and glad to be driving home not sitting in the backseat with my lower leg elevated and externally fixated like the last time I went home from the happy boulders, although the Norco nap I took that day was not entirely unpleasant.

Mark E Dixonwrote:

@ Wendy- kind of similar advice for Bruce. We still remember seeing you and Bruce in the gym- miss those BRC days, but pretty much climb exclusively at the Spot now. 

I'm still climbing at the BRC. Wish I could put a face with your name, Mark.

Someone at BCH didn't think Bruce was getting enough protein and added an ensure to his breakfast.

Lori Milaswrote:

Carl, I’ve had this set of refrigerator magnets for years. I am happy to hear that you have a soft tender side. This makes you all the more manly.  

It’s so wonderful to see so many here working on their bouldering projects. I’m kind of thinking of my cave project as a vertical boulder. 

 But here’s something I don’t think you guys deal with and that is the humiliation factor. I feel ridiculous trying to climb “at this age”, awkwardly, and poorly. There is seldom anything graceful that I do. It would be easier on my ego to quit and go do something else – – as Tony constantly says “there’s always bowling“. It’s humiliating to learn that some kid climbed 10c on his first day out and it’s taking me five years to get there.

But I also feel like the universe handed me this route. Not only do I get to learn completely different kind of Climbing, but there is a gorgeous steep slab included. And the best part really is that I have such a strong calling to this spot that now I’m going to do some research.  

“Serrano, Cahuilla, Chemehuevi and Mohave (Mojave) communities call Joshua Tree National Park part of their traditional ancestral homelands. These groups settled around springs, harvested from the land, created thriving communities, and developed deep connections to and knowledge of the desert environment.”

So who lived here, how many were there, and where did they go? I thought maybe while I’m down visiting Tony I’ll drive over to the reservation and see where I can start learning.

Here’s another “not slab“ route I would really like to keep working on.

Thanks Lori. The thing about climbing when you get older, in my experience, is that you get so much praise! People say ‘well, you made THAT look easy’ and ‘’You climbed that nicely’. Of course, I’m missing out the not stated but inferred ‘[for an old person]’ bit but I take my compliments any way they come thank you very much.  

This is about the climbing bans at Araps. The Pines is the camp site climbers have been going to for decades.

With Love to Another

By Carl

I sat in The Pines on a lovely day,

An insignificant dot on time’s infinite way,

As I waited for friends to climb and to play,

To climb and to play in a respectful way.

I looked at the majesty,

And felt weak and small,

Everything was big,

Big, mighty and tall.

I worried about falling,

My spirt would wane,

I worried about falling,

Depressed; sad I became.

But I looked at the sky,

And I spoke to my god,

And I looked at the majesty,

Of beautiful rock.

And I said,

You don’t need to be bold,

You’re old, you’re not young,

If you connect you’ll find wisdom,

And the answers be told.

So I went for a walk,

I stepped barefoot on land,

Told the birds that I loved them,

I was nature boy,

I was grand.

And back at camp I looked again at the sky,

And the grass and the trees for a very long while,

and they said connect,

If you connect you’ll be high.

And I saw a flat stone,

It spoke in my hand,

It said connect and you’ll be free,

Connect and you’ll feel grand.

And I took up another stone to scribe,

The lesson I’d been given,

On that flat stone I’d found,

I felt very more than alive.

And I wrote ‘connect’,

And it came out like written in ink,

With a double fine line,

As if written in ink.

Later at the washpoint,

While washing my dishes,

I left my ‘connect’ message stone for another,

With love from me,

With love to another.

Carl, I have fond memories of Arapalies in the 80’s.  My favorite routes were Orestes, Kachoong, and Taste of Honey.   So sad that this is happening.

Ward Smithwrote:

Carl, I have fond memories of Arapalies in the 80’s.  My favorite routes were Orestes, Kachoong, and Taste of Honey.   So sad that this is happening.

I haven’t done those routes. It’s a sad situation. So many climbers are posting how Araps is so spiritually healing for them. So grounding. Thinking about it makes me cry. There really is no where like it in Australia that I know of that’s so good for learning to trad climb and also for moderate to very hard grades.

They will commercialise what’s left and make it dull and sterile. 

Gonna be in JT for a few days with a bunch of climbing buddies. Need some beta on not-so-well known cragging sites with stuff in the 5.7 - 5.11 range. I know the Park quite well, but have lost touch with a lot of it in recent years as the crowds have swelled. PM me if you prefer to keep the suggestions on the DL. Much appreciated.

Hidden Dome has some nice routes on it.  

My wife and I recently spent a day and a half at the Highway 62 Crags. Nothing particularly stand-out, but we avoided going into the park on two very busy days, saw parts of it we’d never seen and I climbed several routes that were new to me. 

apogeewrote:

Gonna be in JT for a few days with a bunch of climbing buddies. Need some beta on not-so-well known cragging sites with stuff in the 5.7 - 5.11 range. I know the Park quite well, but have lost touch with a lot of it in recent years as the crowds have swelled. PM me if you prefer to keep the suggestions on the DL. Much appreciated.

Apogee, not sure what you are looking for, but its not very hard to get away from people honestly.  Especially this time of year almost anywhere  a bit off the road won't see a crowd.

I'm sure you've been to the White Cliffs of Dover, but its great if its a hotter day.  There has been a handful of routes added in the last 10 years or so.  Of course you walk right past Baskerville Rock as well.  BITD these would be crowded, but I an earlyish start gets you out ahead of 98% of the people.

Lori has posted pictures at Brownie Girl Dome.  It also has had route activity and the new ones are quite good.  There are a couple of heady leads on the wall so heads up!  The Seitch was quite popular when the routes went up, but not so much anymore.  All the routes are mixed, and a few are quite hard (IMO). Patch Dome is also a short walk and Date with Destiny Jones is one of a few routes there worth doing.

An area you can play by ear is Echo.. If you get there early you can tick off the popular Echo proper routes.  You can move around the corner ( avoiding Popes Crack, still overcrowded ) and head to North Face of Snickers, Little Hunk SW Face, and Physical Graffiti ( just the one route ).  These are all visible from the same place and have various sun/shade.

The last 4-5 times I went anywhere in Comic Book I didn't see anyone.  Not sure what you've done there, but Herman is a little shorty that's good on the way in.Black Hill Gold is also just on the way in (or out ) and you can look at Bob's Texas Tea and just shake your head.  Watergate is great and there are a couple of new ones including Midday Lightning.   

From Barker Dam, Oregon Trail has a 1/2 day of shortish bolted routes.   Once there you could also do Lubricated Goat, which is good, and Bish which is just goofy funess.  Plus you walk right by stuff like X Rated Tits, as well as the old school class ( and Lori favorite ) Eye for an Eye Route for a Route

Beak Boulder has a great mix of old and new, mostly sport like:

you also get stuff like Totally Tubular 

Most of these are newer bolted stuff, but obviously that's most of the new stuff.   Plus, my eye for quality is obvious quite bad as I've climbed here way too long.

Jan Mcwrote:

Hidden Dome has some nice routes on it.  

Hidden Dome is awesome, but can be freakishly chilly on a cold day.  Plus it is oddly strenuous to get to.

Murfwrote:

Plus you walk right by stuff like X Rated Tits, as well as the old school class ( and Lori favorite ) Eye for an Eye Route for a Route...

Hey!  Thanks for gettin' the rope up there for us...(March 2006...seems like awhile ago...ha ha).

Ran into our mutual friend Jeff a few months back at the gym.  Still looking good and hasn't aged a bit...

Brian in SLCwrote:

Hey!  Thanks for gettin' the rope up there for us...(March 2006...seems like awhile ago...ha ha).

Ran into our mutual friend Jeff a few months back at the gym.  Still looking good and hasn't aged a bit...

There it is, that easy step up, which for me turned out to be a fiasco.  

There was a line getting into the park at 10 this morning as I was leaving, but as a rule, I never see anyone here. Earlier is better as far as having the whole place to yourself.  I was at Cave Corridor this morning on my way to hike up that miserable Ryan mountain.  There are some moderate routes on those very pretty rocks and I doubt you would find a single person Climbing there.

—-

Wendy, I hit my three post limit yesterday and I am so sorry about Bruce. He’s been having problems for a long time right? Will you keep us posted please?  

I’ve been at the hospital with Tony every day and it’s a long drive so today I thought I’d take a day off, and of course I got a text from him that he was “profusely bleeding” and he was pretty sure he was going to lose his leg. Half hour later I got another text that his hematoma had burst and all that bleeding was coming from there and the wound care people thought it was a good thing. They will be adding another woundVAC and transporting him off to rehab Meanwhile, I had my keys in my hand – – do I stay or do I go?

I’ve really been thinking about a dog.  I miss my border collie who was my best friend, but I really didn’t understand how much he needed a job. Toward the end of his life, I took him to a border collie trainer who turned him loose in a field with some sheep and he lost his mind running after them. She said he was wonderfully fast and perfect as a herding dog, but that at this point in his life, his hips had a little arthritis and it wouldn’t be good for him.  So it wouldn’t be fair to bring a new little border buddy here, right? I am probably not up for the serious training and workouts border collies love. I also had two Pomeranians who I was totally in love with so that’s a thought. But it seems like every day some neighbor reports that some coyotes got after their little fluffy and all that’s left are a few of wisps fur.  Likewise, cats don’t do so well around here either. I’ve never had 100% indoor cat. They always want to go outside.

So while Tony has been in the hospital, I turned on a series on Netflix called “this is us “. Somehow, I watched and slept my way through 17 episodes.  I still don’t know how I feel about it. Is anybody watching this?

Gidget.  Not only was she a surprisingly good swimmer, but she loved swimming underwater at our lake.  She would do a swan dive off of a rock and not resurface for 15 or 20 feet.

Riley