New and experienced climbers over 50 #37

Big turn out in tiny Joshua Tree as well with all ages represented. Best sign, IMO, was the elementary age boy's that read, "I'm smarter than the president"

Mark E Dixon wrote:

Big turnout in Boulder today.
Plenty of greyheads, but young people sprinkled in too.
Lots of American flags :-)

Our smallish town had a great turnout, probably 3,000 plus. Some incredibly good signs. 

On another note, checked out the fearsome Black Star Boulders the other day -- 4 mile MTB ride. 30 feet tall with a great traversing dike problem. Reference your copy of The Hunk Guide.

That's a great looking boulder. Did some solo retro work on a route today. Put it up w/o climbing it a couple of years ago. over time the better line emerged (I hope). We'll check it out manana.

Ironically called The King's Taster. It was exciting but hard to call fun. May need to sanitize the name now too. Happy Meal?

Randy wrote:

Our smallish town had a great turnout, probably 3,000 plus. Some incredibly good signs. 

On another note, checked out the fearsome Black Star Boulders the other day -- 4 mile MTB ride. 30 feet tall with a great traversing dike problem. Reference your copy of The Hunk Guide.

That's one of the best signs yet!!!!! Cool looking boulder, too.

Lori Milas wrote:

Question out of left field, but I hope someone can answer.  Has anyone ever climbed Tonic Boom (on Tumbling Rainbow) other than Russ Walling?  I could swear some stories were told earlier on this thread, but cannot find them now.  Anyone? 

If that is the one just right of the corner, then Mike Waugh and I have both done it.  At 5'3" I ended up taping the crap out of my right hand and doing a full dyno to a hand jam to make the reach.  Waugh just did the full hydrolic move like he did all routes.

Jan Mc wrote:

If that is the one just right of the corner, then Mike Waugh and I have both done it.  At 5'3" I ended up taping the crap out of my right hand and doing a full dyno to a hand jam to make the reach.  Waugh just did the full hydrolic move like he did all routes.

That’s the one. Thank you Jan. I wish I could have witnessed that.  

Watched the Trooping of the Colours today. It’s the first time I have understood the love of a royal family. Decency, decorum, style.  A country could look up to and be proud of such leaders.

I’d like to know more about the hats and uniforms. My favorite is this one.  But even these have various ribbons and emblems on them. 

I tried inserting as a video and it kept rejecting, so here's a link to a 30 second pano of the crowd at the Bend no kings protest

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MAKE89BI4lA

dragons wrote:

We lived close to the Whites for several years and the weather was definitely hit or miss. We did have a couple brilliant summers with great climbing weather. But I also recall an unreasonable number of very wet summers. When it rained, the slab could stay wet for a week. Maybe Acadia dries off faster.

There is this weather pattern thing on most of the coastline where the ocean temps force the storm clouds onto the warmer mainland. We have tons more sunny dry days than the mainland , especially the mountains hundreds of miles away. 

An interesting micro climate thing here is that the southern end of the island is frequently fogged in while the northern end is bluebird sunny. Makes for some great views when hiking!

Of course it is Mt Desert island, not named for our legendary blueberry pies.

North looking South on a sunny day 

M M wrote:

There is this weather pattern thing on most of the coastline where the ocean temps force the storm clouds onto the warmer mainland. We have tons more sunny dry days than the mainland , especially the mountains hundreds of miles away. 

An interesting micro climate thing here is that the southern end of the island is frequently fogged in while the northern end is bluebird sunny. Makes for some great views when hiking!

Of course it is Mt Desert island, not named for our legendary blueberry pies.

North looking South on a sunny day 

If you are looking to 'catch' one of those sunny days on Mt. Desert, check with me to find out when I will be there, then go the other days!!!!

Casey following Adair by the Sea 5.10+, Otter Cliff, Acadia 1985.

I saw on FB yesterday that there was a No Kings banner hanging from Deer Leap in Killington.  I cruised over there after work to solo past the banner but it was no longer there..

on the way home I stopped in Stockbridge @ The Wild fern.  These are my two guitar mentors. The guy on the right I see  fairly often and occasionally even get to jam with him but the fellow on the left I had not seen in 20 years and he was my first guitar teacher in 1993.  On the exceptionally rare occasions that they play together they are Called the Heavily Brothers. BINTD they did the duo weekly while both also had their own bands.  It was really special seeing them together again and seeing Duane. 

Rick has been known to smoke a colossal amount of weed. Notice how the smoke cloud hangs on his side of the stage

A few recent sunsets at the lake that is 5 miles from my house. 

So it begins. With a lot of work and in a few years, these logs will be a house, standing on the land whence came its lumber.  The trepidation is real, but I’m hoping that, like a hard lead when my heads in it (or like writing my dissertation), starting is the hardest part…

Emil Briggs wrote:

On an unrelated topic you looks sort of familiar from that pic that Buck posted. I wonder if we've met on one of my Gunks trips.

It's possible! The Gunks is weird that way. I'm surprised at how often I've recognized people that I knew. I'm quite short ~ 5'0" and my helmet is completely tattooed over with stickers. Does that sound right? In any case, it would be nice to get together for a climb or two if you are ever in the area!

We went to the No Kings protest in Kingston (ironically), NY yesterday. It was pretty full, but I hesitate to guess how many people were there. The Daily Freeman claimed it was thousands. Could be. (That was a YouTube video link - some fun costumes in there. Party-like atmosphere, very peaceful!)

We didn't have to sacrifice a climbing day because it rained all morning, so we wouldn't have gotten out yesterday anyway.

But today, our plans proceeded apace. We are having a good time tag-teaming with Buck. Bill followed him on Gelsa (5.4) this morning, and then I took over and followed him on Black Fly (5.5) and Short Job (5.4). Here's a pic that Bill took of Buck leading P3 of Gelsa:

Yes there were some fun costumes at the Kingston No Kings protest.   

dragons wrote:

We went to the No Kings protest in Kingston (ironically), NY yesterday. It was pretty full, but I hesitate to guess how many people were there. The Daily Freeman claimed it was thousands. Could be. (That was a YouTube video link - some fun costumes in there. Party-like atmosphere, very peaceful!)

We didn't have to sacrifice a climbing day because it rained all morning, so we wouldn't have gotten out yesterday anyway.

But today, our plans proceeded apace. We are having a good time tag-teaming with Buck. Bill followed him on Gelsa (5.4) this morning, and then I took over and followed him on Black Fly (5.5) and Short Job (5.4). Here's a pic that Bill took of Buck leading P3 of Gelsa:

Yup!  That's me-fat-Arse stemming through the third pitch of Gelsa turning the corner around the roof!  

Poor Bill!  I'm not a very good partner!  I truly always offer to swap the leads but I begged and pleaded and whinged this morning so hard asking to lead the whole thing!  Bill was so kind and he let me.  But he'll be back soon with Dragons to lead it!

And then Dragons let me lead Black Fly and Short Job.  I just LOVED the second pitch on Short Job!  The ramp/corner at the start of pitch 2 was great and then turning up through the roof and getting on the second crack was super.  Not to be missed, if you're in the area and needing a shorter 2 pitch climb!

Happy Fathers' Day to all of us Dads out there!

dragons wrote:

It's possible! The Gunks is weird that way. I'm surprised at how often I've recognized people that I knew. I'm quite short ~ 5'0" and my helmet is completely tattooed over with stickers. Does that sound right? In any case, it would be nice to get together for a climb or two if you are ever in the area!

I'll be back for sure and will let you know! I was there in June of 2023 and 2024 but mostly bouldered on those trips. We stayed fairly close to the steel bridge so if you walked down the Carriage Road you probably went by us. Last time before that was 2019 which was all ropes. Did a bunch of stuff at the Uberfall and the Trapps over a couple of days. Frogs Head, Rhododendron and Laurel, City Lights, Retribution, Ken's crack, Horsemen and probably some others I forget now. I remember chatting with a short woman around your age about the weird crux on City Lights.

Emil Briggs wrote:

I'll be back for sure and will let you know! I was there in June of 2023 and 2024 but mostly bouldered on those trips. We stayed fairly close to the steel bridge so if you walked down the Carriage Road you probably went by us. Last time before that was 2019 which was all ropes. Did a bunch of stuff at the Uberfall and the Trapps over a couple of days. Frogs Head, Rhododendron and Laurel, City Lights, Retribution, Ken's crack, Horsemen and probably some others I forget now. I remember chatting with a short woman around your age about the weird crux on City Lights.

I was at the Gunks a bunch in '23-'24, so there may have been overlaps there. I followed City Lights twice, in 2014 and then 2024, so that was likely someone else you met. We were in the Gunks only for a short span in 2019, from Sep 30 to Oct 6.

While everyone was having a good time on the East Coast, I decided to hike up to tumbling rainbow and examine Tonic Boom as closely as I could. I got covered in ants, but that’s OK.

This goes in the category of “how did he do this?“ And it’s just bothered me. Back when Jan first described this a few years ago, I don’t think I understood the kind of skill and strength this route required.  I STILL don’t understand how this went down in detail.

This was my vantage point today. I wish I could see a line drawing of the route. 

Did Tonic Boom begin on the slim ledge at the bottom of this rock and leaping UP?  Or was it possibly climb to the small foothold to the left of the crack, and then reaching or leaping right to sink a hand jam?  

And what if you missed?  It’s a long way down. (Photo of my friend Tic Tic Boom, don’t know who the photographer was)  

It just looks literally impossible. 

I’ve been wondering for a long time if there is anything on this right hand formation that I could climb. I don’t think so.

On my way up I saw this formation with the long crack, but I don’t know what it is.

Happy Father’s Day to all. 

Lori, I think that crack is Semi Tough.