New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #34

phylp phylp wrote:

I really like it. I don’t know why people think it’s chossy....

oh another nice thing - that road is in terrific condition. Barb thought she would even be comfortable taking her “ not off- road” car in there.
I’ve been to Kelly’s and Black and Tan before too. Like those as well. 

Interesting.  Have always passed it by for Kelly's and B&T.  Although...not a huge fan of chert.  Have warmed to it in recent years though (some of the crags around Vegas).

Good to hear about the road.  If you happen by the Grail...please update on that road too if you would.

Cheers!

Sunset Alley is my personal favorite crag for routes.

Sue has been agitating to go to the Solstice, so maybe next time. 

I always opt for the shade at B/T.

But headed to Font in two days!!

Spring is fighting hard this year..    did a 2hr tour after work up on the mountain. 

it was a bit tricky getting through the beaver swamps  

the weather was wild. 

snow squalls one min , sunshine the next..

I managed without resorting to taking off the skis.

It was 30f when I started the tour. 21f when I got back to the truck. 

sauna and cold plunges were gud

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

Spring is fighting hard this year..     

Nice photos, as always, Nick. 

This Spring was a lousy sugaring season for me.  First half of February bitterly cold. Then way too warm (60s several days and a week that never dropped below freezing), back to normal for a week, then warm again. And only now that sugaring is over in Southern New England does it get cool again. One of my worst seasons in a while. Still made a few gallons, so I did okay.  And, honestly, I have a big stash built up from two very good years in a row, so it's not bad to work through most of that older syrup and start fresh again next year. 

Also, for the first year ever, a couple farmstands want to sell my syrup. Never sold any before. So that should help work through the backlog. Yay Canadian tariffs!  (Kidding!!!)

GO

A friend texted this meme related to last weekend’s events:

While I certainly support the sentiment here, the method leaves me cold. Sure would have been nice to see this kind of enthusiasm in the lead up to the election, so we didn’t have to deal with all the bullshit of these hundred days, and all that is to come.

So.
I'm going to get back to basics.
Basics alluded to in Lori's title for this thread.

For an old guy (63 on Monday) I'm new to climbing relative to many of you (13 years). I also have a weak head.
I know a guy. Let's call him 'Bill'.
He's been climbing for decades. And he's good. He's got a strong head.
And a strong body. And he's almost 70. He tries to push me a little.
To lead more and top rope less.
But did I say,
Did I say I have a weak,
A very weak head?

Anyway.
So I finally TR'd clean,
This hard (for me) local route named Sardine.

Bill does it always and he always does it so clean.
And so he offered me advice,
On a messenger chat,
And I suddenly realised,
I realised that,
I'd wasted my summer,
(you could say that),
I'd wasted my summer growing a little bit fat,
Bouldering indoors,
Can you imagine that!

The relationship Bill and I have,
It's a fact,
Is one that's important,
A mentoring act,
And so now I want to share,
So we see all the facts,
A poem I wrote,
About the thought I'd wasted my summer,
And the resolve I do lack.

(of course the soft linen bed and the ravishing has NOTHING to do with Bill, it's just a poem about a wasted summer with a tenuous link to climbing)

Carl Schneider wrote:

So.
I'm going to get back to basics.
Basics alluded to in Lori's title for this thread.

For an old guy (63 on Monday) I'm new to climbing relative to many of you (13 years). I also have a weak head.

I’m effectively new to climbing (2 years and 23 years of climbing with a 30 year hiatus in between).

I know a guy. Let's call him 'Bill'.
He's been climbing for decades. And he's good. He's got a strong head.
And a strong body. And he's almost 70. He tries to push me a little.
To lead more and top rope less.
But did I say,
Did I say I have a weak,
A very weak head?

The strong body part will improve your “head”.

At this point, I’m doing Yoga (Both Vinyasa and Yin) 3 times per week and Campus board one session per week. Both are helping.

The main thing about leading is you need to get a flow going and that heavily depends upon your belay. If the belayer does squirrelly shit, that can break your flow and concentration.

Mentality is different these days, when I climbed in my youth, “Leader must not fall.” Was the credo. Nowadays, it’s like “if you don’t fall, you don’t learn.”.

Fall more in the gym, climb stuff that pushes you to the limits.

I’d still try not to fall on real rock, but in the gym, definitely.

Old lady H, your artwork is wonderful. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Mark E Dixon wrote:

But headed to Font in two days!!

AHHHHH!

Fontainebleau is probably my favourite place on earth.

Just heaven.

I haven't been since 2021.

I lived in western Germany for 5 years and it was only 4 hours away.  Went multiple times and every time just loved it.

Kiddos and my wife also love it, even the non-climbers.

Enjoy that elephant skinned rock and have a glass of Sauternes for me, if you would!!!

And take lots of photos and share them!

Edit to add:  And the first time I went I hired a local French Guide (Ivan--he's in the second photo below with me--I actually still have his # if you want it?) and he chastised me, as only the French could do, for calling it "Font".  He said, "Only foreigners call it Font.  She is Bleau to the locals and the ones that come often and love her."  Ha!  Don't you just love the French!  But, he was just an amazing guy and we actually randomly crossed paths there on two of my return trips and hugged and laughed and had the best time.  

Brandt Allen wrote:

Rothko/Ponte 

L. B. Allen, Jr. private collection

I like that.  Not sure I really "get" Rothko paintings...but...saw this one a couple of weeks ago in Zurich:

Rothko 1963 Kunstmuseum Zurich

Kinda subtle, I guess.  The museum had a couple of Jackson Pollock paintings.  Here's one pre "drip" (?) that I hadn't seen before:

Jackson Pollock 1944

Interesting.  

I think Greg still has my Ponte original in J Tree...good stuff!

Gabe,you guy’s didn’t even have a sugaring season. Just a couple hours north it’s been decent. We boiled Tuesday and hoping this bit of cold will get us another couple of days. At 2300 gallons of syrup so far. Way too much time and cuts into my climbing time. Really only missed 2 good days of rock climbing. Weather is looking good next week.
I’m staying away from the politics. Not that I don’t care but I’m a centrist and I feel both parties are corrupted.
  Lori. Thanks for starting this thread so many years ago. It’s very educational and civil for the most part. 

J Westgate wrote:

Gabe,you guy’s didn’t even have a sugaring season. Just a couple hours north it’s been decent. We boiled Tuesday and hoping this bit of cold will get us another couple of days. At 2300 gallons of syrup so far. Way too much time and cuts into my climbing time. Really only missed 2 good days of rock climbing. Weather is looking good next week.
I’m staying away from the politics. Not that I don’t care but I’m a centrist and I feel both parties are corrupted.
  Lori. Thanks for starting this thread so many years ago. It’s very educational and civil for the most part. 

It’s funny you should say this, it certainly feels sort of like the Democratic Party looks for flaws in the Republican Party and tell people “See what he did? Vote for us” whereas when in office they also start wars and do stupid shit.

Although, what’s happened exactly at the moment appears to be disturbing everyone. If Trump is doing these things for his own benefit as some pundits believe, he’s doing a crappy job at that as well. What I believe, is that he’s got a new word in his limited vocabulary. “Election Fraud” and now “Tariffs”

We all saw what he did with “Election Fraud”, I’m really curious what “Tariffs”  will bring about? Meanwhile, invest in BRICS currency.  

Of course, if things continue on, it’ll be BRICCEUMUUKS.   

J Westgate wrote:

Gabe,you guy’s didn’t even have a sugaring season. Just a couple hours north it’s been decent. We boiled Tuesday and hoping this bit of cold will get us another couple of days. At 2300 gallons of syrup so far. Way too much time and cuts into my climbing time. Really only missed 2 good days of rock climbing. Weather is looking good next week.
I’m staying away from the politics. Not that I don’t care but I’m a centrist and I feel both parties are corrupted.
  Lori. Thanks for starting this thread so many years ago. It’s very educational and civil for the most part. 

Wow!  That's a huge amount!  How many thousand taps do you have?  Do you have suction on your lines?  Using RO?

Yeah we are currently running 4900 taps. Reverse osmosis is a life saver. The guy I work for keeps expanding. We have a couple of high vacuum pump’s. 

J Westgate wrote:

Yeah we are currently running 4900 taps. Reverse osmosis is a life saver. The guy I work for keeps expanding. We have a couple of high vacuum pump’s. 

I wish I were there to take a tour. Maple syrup is my go to sugar. I keep a pint bedside in case I should need it in the middle of the night. I love extra dark maple syrup. It would be so cool to see the whole process.

If I had a fantasy making this move to Joshua Tree it was that I could experience something of the campfire life here with early climbers. But really this is so much better. This is an incredible network from all parts of the United States and Australia and parts of EU. And we’ve talked about everything under the sun. It’s been a real blessing.

—-

I feel I have come to a new fork in the road climbing-wise. I know I keep asking the same thing – – what do I need to do in order to keep climbing? Did I think I was just going to step onto a rock and go forever without really focused strength training? I now have a chronically painful meniscus and it could be marginally torn. I’m seeing an ortho next week because I don’t know how to handle it.  I’m also feeling that my autoimmune stuff, especially celiac, is working hard against me.  

But I’m still totally inspired and SO curious about what’s possible. I ran into some pictures of incredible female Climbers this morning and it just lit me up. But why  did the pictures stop at 40?  I believe everyone here has something still to say in their climbing.  

I’m not sure who this woman is, but I got kind of sidetracked with her one finger pocket hold. Looks pretty painful!  But she looks incredibly strong.  

Carl, our bard!  Thank you for the poetry.  

Josune Bereziartzu.  8b onsight.

Brandt Allen wrote:

Rothko/Ponte 

L. B. Allen, Jr. private collection

Seeing a photo of a Rothko, or a Pollard, or a Turner, or a Whistler, (or any other piece of art...) doesn't convey the visceral feel of seeing the actual art in person, with your own eyes.   

I never appreciated Pollard until I saw a couple of his bigger "drip and splash" works.  Until then, from the photos I'd seen, what he was doing looked like my 10 year old painting drop cloths.  Viewed up close: it was a "holy $hit, that's incredible. It's all based on fractals!!!"

I had the same experience with "Whistler's Mother."  Art History 101 tells you it's great painting, but if you get to see it in person: it's another "holy $hit" moment.

There's a great documentary called "Made You Look." (probably on Netflix, etc...) about a Chinese forger, and a New York art dealer who sold 50+ fake Rothko's for $80 million... (I found it extremely fascinating and recommend it highly.)

We live in a world of illusion.

All I will say is the fake Rothko's were pretty "holy $hit..." that's incredible.  It begs the question:why is the real Rothko actually better(ie. worth more) than equally amazing stuff from a very talented forger?

Ed "Caravaggio once punched a waiter and broke his nose for bringing him a plate of artichokes smothered in butter..." E 

J Westgate wrote:

Gabe,you guy’s didn’t even have a sugaring season. Just a couple hours north it’s been decent. We boiled Tuesday and hoping this bit of cold will get us another couple of days. At 2300 gallons of syrup so far. Way too much time and cuts into my climbing time. Really only missed 2 good days of rock climbing. Weather is looking good next week.
I’m staying away from the politics. Not that I don’t care but I’m a centrist and I feel both parties are corrupted.
  Lori. Thanks for starting this thread so many years ago. It’s very educational and civil for the most part. 

You're right, it really was a crap season for us. Funny how just a couple hours north it's night and day. You're closing in on a half a gallon per tap. Nice!  

I don't run vacuum (not even natural vacuum, i Don't do tubing, just buckets) but two years ago all the stars aligned and we had a perfect season. I called it quits at .58 gallons per tap. I was out of firewood (burning green wood, burning wood from the grocery store, etc), out of time, and my wife was out of patience!

So you deal with whatever Mother Nature doles out each year. Can be frustrating or exciting, but it's one of the things i enjoy about sugaring. 

Here's my little rig. It's a two by three Mason divided flat pan. What are you guys running? 

GO

Lori Milas wrote:

I wish I were there to take a tour. Maple syrup is my go to sugar. I keep a pint bedside in case I should need it in the middle of the night. I love extra dark maple syrup. It would be so cool to see the whole process.

If I had a fantasy making this move to Joshua Tree it was that I could experience something of the campfire life here with early climbers. But really this is so much better. This is an incredible network from all parts of the United States and Australia and parts of EU. And we’ve talked about everything under the sun. It’s been a real blessing.

—-

I feel I have come to a new fork in the road climbing-wise. I know I keep asking the same thing – – what do I need to do in order to keep climbing? Did I think I was just going to step onto a rock and go forever without really focused strength training? I now have a chronically painful meniscus and it could be marginally torn. I’m seeing an ortho next week because I don’t know how to handle it.  I’m also feeling that my autoimmune stuff, especially celiac, is working hard against me.  

But I’m still totally inspired and SO curious about what’s possible. I ran into some pictures of incredible female Climbers this morning and it just lit me up. But why  did the pictures stop at 40?  I believe everyone here has something still to say in their climbing.  

I’m not sure who this woman is, but I got kind of sidetracked with her one finger pocket hold. Looks pretty painful!  But she looks incredibly strong.  

Carl, our bard!  Thank you for the poetry.  

Ha ha cheers Lori. I’m so glad I found your thread here, it’s always great company.
Always keep climbing, even if it’s just a little bit. Do you actually have a PINT of maple syrup next to your bed? I didn’t even know it came in pints. Most maple syrup sold here is fake, but you can get real maple syrup. I had a thing for saffron in my coffee fur a while, I acquired 12 restaurant sized boxes that fell off the back of a truck. A pinch in one’s mocha coffee in the morning (put it in with the coffee and brew it with the coffee) was nice. Allegedly it helps with mental health. I’m off to Araps Monday and may go to The Gramps for some bouldering too. I haven’t bouldered outside for yonks.