New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #33

Gary Thomaswrote:

 Until voters and politicians want to make tough decisions, nothing is going to change. 

I’m sincerely curious: what are the tough decisions that need to be made that will create change?

Tim Schafstallwrote:

I was wondering the same thing.  Maybe posing as a gym employee cutting off abandoned locks (I know our gym has to do this occasionally) ?  Or maybe a 24-hour facility late at night ?

Phylp - Sorry to hear about your awful week.

Phyl, thinking about this and wondering if it might actually have been a gym employee. But I don't anything about your gym or (obviously) the people who work there in various capacities.

Karen Bass had to fire the old head of DWP- 40 years experience starting at the bottomand make a new hire at 2x the salary. The new head of that important department knows nothing about water… at her press conference this morning all she could say was…. “We ran out of water” 

you all can hate on Trump all you want, just shows how blind and foolish you all are to the truth. 

We shall see what transpires in the next 4 years.

Later all. 

Colden Darkwrote:

I’m sincerely curious: what are the tough decisions that need to be made that will create change?

Change the zoning and construction laws for where and how people are allowed to build. Developers have deep pockets and politicians are in those pockets. Good luck changing that. People also want to live where they want to live. Tough to change that.

Managing fuel reduction and defensible space. This requires huge monetary investment, something politicians are loathe to do because it hurts their re-election chances. And people refuse to vote for such initiatives because it affects their pocket book even though these disasters end up costing us much more. 

“The (proposed) new head of (health and human services) knows nothing about (medicine and science)…”

And so it goes…

Alan Rubinwrote:

John, I climbed in the Snowy Range two times,the first with rgold and his then girlfriend, Barbara. Both times I did fairly easy routes on a formation that was known as the Medicine Bow Diamond. My recollection is that it was a very pleasant, pretty much climb anywhere at the same grade slabby face.

Yes, I've been on that. While in grad school I enjoyed getting out on weekends and just roaming by myself over nice rock, experiencing a sense of freedom and flow. There was a smaller buttress off to the right of the Diamond that had that gorgeous solid Quartzite in abundance, and I loved repeating that. I also went all over Greyrock in Poudre Canyon - another nice flow formation.

I think it's a mistake and unjust to look at this simply as a fire event. It was a wind event. A HUGE wind event. No way any amount of firefighting can stand a chance, with that sort of winds. 

And?

Get that sort of wind going elsewhere, even away from wildland interfaces? You're going to be burning up a whole lot of structures. Yeah, people should consider where they are building houses, but geez, burning out when you have hwy 1 on one side and the Pacific ocean on the other? Losing many many blocks of residential? Losing totally urban areas, including downtowns?  

Just my .02, but this has happened before, just not as dramatically.

H.

The thing is, we were told. We were told 30 years ago that this planet was heating up. We were told more emphatically 25 years ago that there was a tipping point which we may already have passed, with the accumulation of CO2. We were told exactly what would happen. We were instructed that as the planet heated by tenths of a degree there would be droughts and floods, famine, and disease. We were shown what was causing it and we were told what to do about it.

We’ve been shown films and videos of the ice melting at both poles and Greenland basically turning into ocean. There may be slight differences in nuance, but there is no disagreement about the big picture.  Scientists at climate universities around the world are desperate to get the word out – – but I have friends who love to post comedy acts of eye rolling about climate change.

When this information first became available,Some people didn’t like the messenger. Some people didnt like the words “global warming” so we changed them to climate change. Some people didn’t like any of it because it made them feel guilty. Project 2025 laid out that it was all bullshit and we had a right to pillage the Earth however we wanted and for our own comfort. (anyone want that chapter transcribed?)

I do grant that initially the outpouring from scientists was not unanimous—close, but still some skepticism. But it soon became unanimous around the world , (unless there is a religious nut job somewhere who still thinks we need to build an ark).  I remember the National Geographic article about four years ago that Chronicled the rate of depression and suicide among climate scientists. They have a terrible sense of hopelessness and defeat.

Drill baby drill and give the middle finger to anyone who gets in your way. Unbelievable that this is still happening today and those of us who have paid attention are watching this play out exactly as foretold.

It is worse than painful to watch an uneducated. Congress vote on delaying critical measures to stem climate change by 20, 30 or 50 years. We were told we don’t have that long but we continue to laugh it off.

If the argument is what to do about a parched fire torn state now that it is upon us– – like did we not rake enough leaves, did we not urban plan properly, it all seems like a bad patch up job after the fact.  None of these events is a mystery. It may have been an avoidable tragedy. The science is all there. I have been feeling for quite a while that I will be sending my grandchildren into an inferno, there will be no living planet here. But Drill baby drill!  

I feel sorry for those being effected by the fires. And I agree with Helen it is a tragic confluence of conditions.

And I won't even argue about climate change but history shows it has happened before and given todays population will happen again.

https://www.weather.gov/dlh/MooseLake_Cloquet_1918Fires 

1. Guy, I love your sense of irony. The idea that truth ever emanates from that vile, pathologic liar is rich. 

Apparently, according to the Maga-sphere, climate change, no rain and horrendous winds didn't cause this tragedy. They now claim it was DEI. 

The "truth" has become so divorced from fact it is mind boggling and dispiriting and dangerous at the same time.

Guy Keeseewrote:

Karen Bass had to fire the old head of DWP- 40 years experience starting at the bottomand make a new hire at 2x the salary. The new head of that important department knows nothing about water… at her press conference this morning all she could say was…. “We ran out of water” 

you all can hate on Trump all you want, just shows how blind and foolish you all are to the truth. 

We shall see what transpires in the next 4 years.

Later all. 

Martin Adams was not fired, he retired from the DWP.  Janisse Quinones was picked after a nationwide search and was unanimously approved to lead the DWP. Her resume shows plenty of experience including San Diego Gas and Power and PG&E. I guess the only thing lacking is her being a Fox TV Host.

Reservoirs and water tanks were filled to capacity before the fires. High winds prevented aircraft from dumping water which stressed an already over-stressed antiquated water delivery system. So yes, they did "run out of water".  The result would have been the same no matter who was in charge. 

In the future, infrastructure measures to update our water systems  will be voted down. Another massive fire will devastate communities and the blame game will start all over again. Ad infinitum.

This time around, I’ve decided to try and maintain a thicker buffer against the firehose of bloviating blathering bullshit. Much (most) of Trump’s rants are aimed at setting the hair on fire of anyone anywhere close to the Left, and it usually works because people let it work. 

He won, and a slight majority of voters believed he will do a better job of solving these massive problems. This time around, I say ‘go for it’. Do your mass deportations. Put tariffs on everything coming into the country. Put a wacko in charge of health services. And on and on. The impacts of this whacknuttery will quickly become self evident. Fighting this wind-driven wildfire of stupidity with logic and facts is exhausting and evidently pointless.

The President elect is a con man and a large portion of the population fell for it.

Nick's shots of the Needles and John's remarks had me sorting through pictures of the Needles of Custer SP.  Here's some from my last visit in 2019.  

This is Rich Gottlieb starting up the Conn Route on the Outer Outlet.  Three short pitches; arguably among the best 5.7's in the country.

Claudia Zimmerman bearding the overhanging entrance to the final bombay chimney on p3 of the Conn Route

Here are two of Claudia on the start of Cerberus.  Rich Gottlieb belaying.

Me repeating an FA I did on the Riddle sixty years ago.  It isn't particularly hard but was x-rated the way I did it with no bolts.  Now it has three bolts and so I could still do it fifty-five years later!

Rich Gottlieb on the Fin

Khayyam Spire

Black Hills Prairie---Lakota sacred land

We've sunk $11B of Fed and State money into a high speed rail program that has a projected (and always growing) cost of $135B to completion. With $11B spent, we have a 1,600 foot track over a bridge. On the books, this section cost $2B. I want to know where the other $9B went. They say "development," but there's no audit. Those dollars would have gone a long way towards better water infrastructure, underground power lines, and general fire prep. 

Nice pictures RG, Kahyyam is I think the only one in the Cathedrals that we haven't done.. hopefully someday before it's too late. 

rgold beautiful pictures. We were climbing in the needles of Rushmore and ran into fellow New Hampshire climber George Hurley. He was looking for a climbing partner for a day of his trip , of course we said we were available. He has a wealth of knowledge of the area and showed us some really great routes. Anyone who doesn’t know George he’s now in his late 80s and still climbing 5.9. Great memory.
Lori I’m glad that Tony is home and trying.
 Anyone near the fires I hope you get missed and stay safe. 

J Westgatewrote:

rgold beautiful pictures. We were climbing in the needles of Rushmore and ran into fellow New Hampshire climber George Hurley. He was looking for a climbing partner for a day of his trip , of course we said we were available. He has a wealth of knowledge of the area and showed us some really great routes. Anyone who doesn’t know George he’s now in his late 80s and still climbing 5.9. Great memory.
Lori I’m glad that Tony is home and trying.
 Anyone near the fires I hope you get missed and stay safe. 

George is turning 90 this month ( next week I believe). I also want to mention that Boston climber, Bill Atkinson, who has been chairman of both the Boston AMC Mountaineering Committee and the AAC New England Section is turning 100 this coming Monday!!!! He is still living on his own and very active on the internet ( though not MP) posting about many topics. He is an inspiration to many of us.

Great pictures Rich, as always.

Apogee, I agree with you, though we still must keep up the legal and political fight. I worry very much that the damage that will occur ( as well as that which has already happened) will be irreparable.

Needles 1978 , 1st place I ever climbed via a summer camp based in the gunks called Wilderness Bound, kind of like a degenerate outward bound;

I think Kahyyam  is the prominent needle in the center of this shot. Isa and I have climbed spire 1,2,3 and 4 in this formation. I think that leaves  east and west Gruesome and Kahyyam as the  major features in this group we haven't done???  so I just thought this was a variation of spire 2 but now I see that its called Balcony point.  5.9 hand crack in one book, 5.8 in another ;) 

Now I wonder which summit that is below Isa's right foot? 

and the summit of Balcony Point. We have done this every time we have been lucky enough to be here.