New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #34

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

I felt that Abbys Road was one of his best books and have used a line from it many times over the years  that aptly describes our sitting president.. "  You snot nosed dickless offspring of a pox infested , syphilitic two dollar batton rough whore" 

(Just back from a trip (skiing in Europe) so catching up on the thread...)

Good times!  Confessions is a fav too.

I remember when I first picked up Desert Solitaire I had a hard time reading it.  After a few years exploring the Utah desert I re-read it and it really resonated.

Pic from our last day of skiing earlier this week (Vallee Blanche from the Helbronner).  Oddly uncrowded:

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

click and clack were funny as heck and not political. Jo rogan is funny as heck when he doesn't talk politics or medicine.  Sounds like you sister was just ignorant.. No cure for that shit. 

I took a car repair course from Ray, so long ago that we worked on carburetors. Pretty funny guy off the air, too.  

very cool. they sounded like fun people. 

We had an end of March dump. nothing crazy but enough to go skinning on Mt WishIcouldtellya

We got our 77yr old friend John to come along

This is what we call Bark Eating

Isa and I had a sauna with four ice plunges. The pond is silky smooth. 

Got another day of climbing in with my friends! Yay! I got to follow "Harvard" (5.4) up the "tunnel" (I've only ever done it from the outside). Here's a pic from today. Check out the rope going up the chimney.

All - I was given the opportunity to lead, but I didn't... I didn't have my rack with me. I find it intimidating leading on other people's racks. Anyone have advice on how to deal with this?

Lori, re the Calcium Paradox, yes I read that in 2016. I've also read some papers on pubmed. Last I recall, the research is not 100% solid, but it seems convincing enough to me to take supplements.

dragons wrote:

Got another day of climbing in with my friends! Yay! I got to follow "Harvard" (5.4) up the "tunnel" (I've only ever done it from the outside). Here's a pic from today. Check out the rope going up the chimney.

 

All - I was given the opportunity to lead, but I didn't... I didn't have my rack with me. I find it intimidating leading on other people's racks. Anyone have advice on how to deal with this?

Lori, re the Calcium Paradox, yes I read that in 2016. I've also read some papers on pubmed. Last I recall, the research is not 100% solid, but it seems convincing enough to me to take supplements.

Caution is why you’re still climbing.

That said, you can check the condition of the rack, if it looks very new it’s good. But if the sizes and the way they are set are widely varying from yours and holding back especially if it’s close to your leading level was wise.

That’s all mental, cause it’s not like using someone’s quick-draws.

Nick, those are awesome pictures! Wished I lived up where you are.

Good morning!

Wow!  Great pics Colden!  That looks unbelievable!!!

Also great pics Lori, Brian, and Nick!

And Dragons!  What is this?  Already two days at the Gunks this year???  Man, I need to head there ASAP!  It's only an hour away!

But for some weird reason the Gunks intimidates the HELL out of me!   I've led and climbed and stood on top of Ancient Art, Castleton, Petit Grepon, and Devil's Tower and slept on a portaledge on a cliff before but put me on lead at the Gunks and it is like the first time climbing!  Weird, weird headspace there!  I just need to head there and lead a bunch of 5.3's and get comfortable!

Also!!!  Great news!  My middle daughter who is in her second year in undergrad at St. Andrews studying Linguistics and Philosophy just received an eight week summer internship at Trinity in Dublin!  Serious question:  Does anyone have a contact in Dublin for a summer sublet on an apartment?  I know multiple people in the UK but no one living in Dublin.  We're willing to pay the going rate but there are so many scammers out there that we are worried about securing a place for her!

Lastly, I was planning on climbing outside yesterday but then it started raining here at around 2 pm so I went to Gravity Vault and just had the best time! Ended up doing a bunch on the autobelays and then hanging out with three younger punks bouldering and taking turns on some great problems and working them and figuring them out.  Finally met another person and we traded TR belaying each other to finish out the day.  Ended up developing a link with four complete Rando's that I had never met but will now great like old friends next time I see them in the gym or outside.

Isn't climbing great???

Just stick to the easier climbs at the Gunks and get some miles in. For the most part theres good gear. at least there was 25 years ago...  Ancient art is total bad assed for a tourist climb! Good job. Nothing in the Gunks is as scary as that mudsickle.. 

Another day of March sun in DNP. Mountain was out all weekend:

Mt. Deborah from the park looking east. FA by Fred Beckey in 1954 via South ridge:

Mellow rolling trees, no need to eat bark when making tele turns:

Low angle ice on frozen Antler creek in Healy. Couple kids playing on it; seemed kinda sketch but (shrug):

Highly recommend the month of March if you want to visit the greater Healy/Cantwell/DNP metropolitan area without crowds or mosquitoes or rain. Temps below freezing at night but 30s during the day. So much sunshine - March Madness AK style. Fills my spirit with joy to be back amidst the high peaks pondering the architecture of it all.

Colden Dark wrote:

Mt. Deborah from the park looking east. FA by Fred Beckey in 1954 via South ridge:

Was a heckuva pile of climbing Fred did with Heinrich Harrer and Henry Meybohm in 1954.  FA's of both Deborah and Hunter.  Not to mention Fred and his crew climbing Cook's original attempted line on Denali:  the NW Buttress.

Beckey's Alpine Journal "Climbs in Alaska, 1954"

Nice photo's!

Buck Rogers wrote:

And Dragons!  What is this?  Already two days at the Gunks this year???  Man, I need to head there ASAP!  It's only an hour away!

But for some weird reason the Gunks intimidates the HELL out of me!   I've led and climbed and stood on top of Ancient Art, Castleton, Petit Grepon, and Devil's Tower and slept on a portaledge on a cliff before but put me on lead at the Gunks and it is like the first time climbing!  Weird, weird headspace there!  I just need to head there and lead a bunch of 5.3's and get comfortable!...

Actually, I've been out 6 days this year, but who's counting?

I think if you just climb here a bit, it will cease to intimidate you. I'm happy to swap leads with you on almost any 5.3. Just give a holler. Once you experience my snail's pace, your mood will go from terror to boredom in no time.

Re your daughter, does Trinity not have an official list of rooms that can be rented? Or maybe unused dorm rooms for rent?

Li Hu wrote:

Caution is why you’re still climbing.

That said, you can check the condition of the rack, if it looks very new it’s good. But if the sizes and the way they are set are widely varying from yours and holding back especially if it’s close to your leading level was wise.

That’s all mental, cause it’s not like using someone’s quick-draws.

I'm not usually worried about the condition of the rack. It's just different types of gear. I know all the sizes of my own gear. But then I look at a handful of totem cams and wonder what the range for placing them is, and whether there are doubles in the rack. Or whatever. Yes, it's probably all mental. I'm just wondering if my hesitancy to lead on someone else's rack is common. Or is it no big deal, do it all the time?

Good shots Colden.. I want to get there someday but it keeps getting to be more of a pipe dream... 

BINTD I prided myself on being able to swap leads on anyone's rack with no drama. Obviously I preferred my own rack but the idea was any time any place lets go,  no drama. Now I probiobly would not recognize some of the gear. I have never even touched a totem...  

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

I have never even touched a totem...  

Same. Been trying to understand why people are so enamored of them...

dragons wrote:

I'm not usually worried about the condition of the rack. It's just different types of gear. I know all the sizes of my own gear. But then I look at a handful of totem cams and wonder what the range for placing them is, and whether there are doubles in the rack. Or whatever. Yes, it's probably all mental. I'm just wondering if my hesitancy to lead on someone else's rack is common. Or is it no big deal, do it all the time?

On stuff well below my limit using someone elses rack is not a big deal even if it takes a little longer to find the right piece but if I'm climbing stuff that's hard for me I absolutely prefer my own. As for Totems like anything they have their pluses and minuses but overall I think they make a great addition. I normally carry a mix of different types of cams rather than doubles of one brand since I think that gives you a better chance of finding the ideal piece. 

Once you use them, you will understand. Solid in placements where other cams are marginal

apogee wrote:

Same. Been trying to understand why people are so enamored of them...

A friend of mine had some and I tried placing them at the base of a crag and bounce testing them. After seeing they were bomber in places where nothing else would hold I was convinced and got myself a set.

dragons wrote:

I'm not usually worried about the condition of the rack. It's just different types of gear. I know all the sizes of my own gear. But then I look at a handful of totem cams and wonder what the range for placing them is, and whether there are doubles in the rack. Or whatever. Yes, it's probably all mental. I'm just wondering if my hesitancy to lead on someone else's rack is common. Or is it no big deal, do it all the time?

The easiest way I've found for this is to have each partner bring a rack of singles of cams and nuts. If you need to supplement for a pitch, I supplement using their gear according to the following:

 I rack on a gear sling and all my cams above a certain size are singly racked on their own biner and have color coded biners. Matched to the BD colors above purple, even though some of the cams are Wild Country.  Below that size I use Metolius master cams and that color scheme (yellow, blue, purple, white).  Then I have racked my ball nuts and nuts. When placing gear, my method is to look for and grab the right color biner.  So what throws me off with other people's rack is the biner color.  To solve this, I rack their gear that I want to supplement onto my biner for the corresponding size, so it's stacked, while I'm standing on the ground and can eyeball it at leisure.  

I've found this lets me use other people's racks with minimal issues.

Buck Rogers wrote:

But for some weird reason the Gunks intimidates the HELL out of me!   I've led and climbed and stood on top of Ancient Art, Castleton, Petit Grepon, and Devil's Tower and slept on a portaledge on a cliff before but put me on lead at the Gunks and it is like the first time climbing!  Weird, weird headspace there!  I just need to head there and lead a bunch of 5.3's and get comfortable!

I've spent probably well over a hundred days at the Gunks, so I'm certainly no stranger to the climbing there, but it still intimidates me. I think it's a combination of the three things: 

First, looking up, it is sometimes impossible to tell if a horizontal crack coming up will be a big positive jug, a sloper, or basically nothing at all. And more importantly, it is equally difficult to tell if there will be gear to be had in the back of the crack or not. 

Second, route finding can be quite tricky. You are following a set of weaknesses in the rock that can be difficult to judge, especially from below. Often there are vertical cracks or seams that help, but then again often there are not. 

Third, the routes are relatively steep for the grade. Combine this with the first two factors, and you can find yourself on poor holds, flaming out, unsure of whether you are on route or not, unsure if the next horizontal coming up will bring jugs or slopers, good gear or nothing, as the tension builds. You have to keep a cool head as you analyze the situation and decide whether to go up or down. It is a real test of mental fortitude for me. 

GO

A gym somewhere
This fellow’s technique isn’t terrible. He has a good sense of where to put his feet to obtain balance and does a nice dynamic move at the end, but needs to use his hips better to get more power from his legs instead of his arms.
Hope I’m doing as well in 20 years.

I haven’t climbed at the Gunks recently, but the gear beta on MP has got to be a big psychological aid.  We used to joke: “Pull the roof and hope for the best above,” and would bring everything just in case you needed it.