New and experienced climbers over 50 #37

Buck Rogerswrote:

Dear God!!! Currently Onsighting .12's??? Are you sure that you're in the correct forum?

Well done!

And yes! We should try to organize a Gunks Meet Up like the one in the CoR!

Sounds amazing!!!

Thanks, Buck!

At only 55, I am one of the youngsters in here, but hey, I still have my entrance card!  That said, there are a number of older folks here who climb way harder than I do.  They just don't crow about it.  And anyway, the vast majority of the folks here are far more accomplished than I will ever be.  That said, I can still be pleased by my own little personal accomplishments, however humble they are in comparison.  As can we all.  Climbing accomplishments and failures are really a personal matter.  It just happens to be fun to chat about them too with others who can empathize.

Plus Ward will probably be along any minute to remind me that for shorties like myself, those climbs are at least two number grades easier.  LOL

GO

apogeewrote:

It is bothersome to me that a special interest group has ballooned itself up enough to expect an entire month of recognition. A day’s recognition for any reasonable group is quite acceptable…even a week. But an entire month? What other special interest group has that much recognition? 

At least do a little research. For instance these are other nationally recognized months:

 Black History Month (February), Women's History Month (March), Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (May), Breast Cancer Awareness Month (October), Native American Heritage Month (November)

Ok, you got me, Ship T. Those are pretty obvious examples I should have been aware of.

Has anyone seen any of these special interest groups have an overwhelming presence at a No Kings event? Or at the Hands Off event?

apogeewrote:

Has anyone seen any of these special interest groups have an overwhelming presence at a No Kings event? Or at the Hands Off event?

Probably saw some Men's Health advocates roaming around since June is also National Men's Health Month. Lol

Ship Twrote:

Probably saw some Men's Health advocates roaming around since June is also National Men's Health Month. Lol

Don't forget the unofficial months devoted to special interest groups. You know like Christmas where the holiday season traditionally starts on Black Friday.

GabeOwrote:

Thanks, Buck!

At only 55, I am one of the youngsters in here, but hey, I still have my entrance card!  That said, there are a number of older folks here who climb way harder than I do.  They just don't crow about it.  And anyway, the vast majority of the folks here are far more accomplished than I will ever be.  That said, I can still be pleased by my own little personal accomplishments, however humble they are in comparison.  As can we all.  Climbing accomplishments and failures are really a personal matter.  It just happens to be fun to chat about them too with others who can empathize.

Plus Ward will probably be along any minute to remind me that for shorties like myself, those climbs are at least two number grades easier.  LOL

GO

Congrats GabeO, no shade from me. My last 12 onsights were in my 50's (not counting the post 60 ones in the gym).  I had a trip to the red in my early 50's and climbed barefoot the whole time and onsighted one overhanging 5.12a, but the hardest thing I did on that trip was the sandbag 11b Amarillo Sunset that had some techy slabby footwork up high with big fall potential.  Yikes!   

 I mostly put up new routes, but I do love onsighting and I need to travel and get after it more while I still can. 

Fresno had simultaneous rallies with each having 2000 attendees.  It was very festive with many young people and families. No counter demonstrations and the police weren’t needed and stayed on the sidelines.  All in all my wife and I left the event with more hope than we arrived with.  

Ward Smithwrote:

Congrats GabeO, no shade from me. My last 12 onsights were in my 50's (not counting the post 60 ones in the gym).  I had a trip to the red in my early 50's and climbed barefoot the whole time and onsighted one overhanging 5.12a, but the hardest thing I did on that trip was the sandbag 11b Amarillo Sunset that had some techy slabby footwork up high with big fall potential.  Yikes!   

 I mostly put up new routes, but I do love onsighting and I need to travel and get after it more while I still can. 

Ha!  I was just pulling your chain - I didn't expect you to really comment on the routes.  I climbed Amarillo Sunset in 2008.  Loved it!  Though I don't remember anything slabby on it.  Did you try Samurai when you were at that crag?  Super cool tech-fest.  I did not send that one, and need to go back someday to give it a another shot.

Yeah, if you haven't been to Hanging Mountain you should check it out sometime.  Lots of fun stuff, and I bet if you were there midweek there wouldn't be too much in the way of crowds.  You could probably hit it for a day on your way to the Gunks.

And I'm grateful to you for all the great routes you've put up over the years (not to mention your guidebook to Rumney!)

GO

No on Samurai although I was interested.  Maybe “slabby” is the wrong term but the top section barefoot was really hard.  We should hook up, we have a house eight minutes from Rumney and you would love the Fight Club crag.

Moby Grape is definitely the best 5.8 in New Hampshire, but we have a 15 bolt sport climb that my brother Chris put up that I think is the best 5.8 pitch in the state.

Buck Rogerswrote:

Dear God!!! Currently Onsighting .12's??? Are you sure that you're in the correct forum?

Well done!

And yes! We should try to organize a Gunks Meet Up like the one in the CoR!

Sounds amazing!!!

Yes, just don’t pick the busiest weekend of the year this time.

Meanwhile, back in the east, Bill and I climbed Gelsa today (just in time - I can hear the rain starting now, so who knows when it will be dry again).

Buck had led Bill up Gelsa (5.4) yesterday, which was a nice reminder of how it goes. Bill wanted to lead it today, and I volunteered to lead P1 to the optional belay. I should've read the instruction manual since I wound up making that a little more difficult than it should be. Bill gave me some beta, which helped.

Here's Bill leading P3, staying away from the choss-infested corner:

Nice view from the top of P2:

Rich Rosswrote:

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

You were there too? Small world! Those costumes (?) were good, but these were the ones that I liked:

GabeOwrote:

Thanks, Buck!

At only 55, I am one of the youngsters in here, but hey, I still have my entrance card!  That said, there are a number of older folks here who climb way harder than I do.  They just don't crow about it.  And anyway, the vast majority of the folks here are far more accomplished than I will ever be.  That said, I can still be pleased by my own little personal accomplishments, however humble they are in comparison.  As can we all.  Climbing accomplishments and failures are really a personal matter.  It just happens to be fun to chat about them too with others who can empathize.

Plus Ward will probably be along any minute to remind me that for shorties like myself, those climbs are at least two number grades easier.  LOL

GO

Pretty impressive I reckon. I've NEVER climbed a 5.12 (grade 25) in my 13 years of climbing... Hardest was a 23 (5.11c) back in 2020. The hardest I've done recently is a 'hard' 22 in May this year...

At the barber shop the other day I was asked by the barber what I was doing on the weekend. I replied 'climbing'. That started the whole discussion we've all had about, what it is, what bouldering is, what indoor bouldering is, what trad climbing and sports are 'are you one of those weirdos who solo?' (yes, at times) etc etc.  

Then he asked, 'what is the most difficult thing about climbing?'. I sat and thought for a while. Then said:

'That's a difficult question. For me, at my age (63), the most difficult thing is being content to NOT be moving up the grades, to be happy with staying at the same grades or indeed going backwards a little.'

Dragons, that was a joke about them being in costume. I think that's their normal look.

Yes I was there. 

I live here near Kingston.

Looking south from Skytop.

Carl Schneiderwrote:

Pretty impressive I reckon. I've NEVER climbed a 5.12 (grade 25) in my 13 years of climbing... Hardest was a 23 (5.11c) back in 2020. The hardest I've done recently is a 'hard' 22 in May this year...

At the barber shop the other day I was asked by the barber what I was doing on the weekend. I replied 'climbing'. That started the whole discussion we've all had about, what it is, what bouldering is, what indoor bouldering is, what trad climbing and sports are 'are you one of those weirdos who solo?' (yes, at times) etc etc.  

Then he asked, 'what is the most difficult thing about climbing?'. I sat and thought for a while. Then said:

'That's a difficult question. For me, at my age (63), the most difficult thing is being content to NOT be moving up the grades, to be happy with staying at the same grades or indeed going backwards a little.'

I very much identify with your answer to that difficult question, Carl. At 67, I’m trying to hit the gym a lot and climb outside a couple times a week—so I feel like that amount of climbing has me getting stronger and improving. Unfortunately, at the same time, the aging thing seems to have me declining ever so slowly as the months and years pass. The net result is that I seem to be simply staying at the same grades (somewhere in the 5.10 range depending on the route/rock/style). Frustrating…. but “acceptance is the answer to all my problems.” 

At some point that downward curve will steepen and the upward curve will no longer exist. I’m just trying to hold that off as long as I can! (As I think we all are.)

You dudes are all posting beautiful pictures of outdoor spaces and I’m stuck climbing indoors due to damp, grey weather. Winter in Adelaide can be depressing. “Anyhoo”,as the delightful Colonel Potter used to say, here’s my trip report for the week. Miss Lori can grade it.

————

Trip report Tuesday VR sesh:

We led a new ungraded route to start. Was quite easy. Zibo felt brave so skipped clipping a draw or two. Then we led the overhanging 16 and I felt brave and skipped a draw. Being brave was starting to become the theme. Then I felt brave and decided I DID want to lead the overhanging black 18 on the back wall and therefore did so with only some growling and grunting and quite nicely I did it thank you very much. The grunting and groaning isn’t featured in the video as the music in the background created copyright issues. I see two solutions to this: (a) VR are required to play only royalty free (public domain) music, or, (b) I grunt and groan louder to drown out said copyright infringement notice inducing music. But I digress…

Then we did this and that and I was required to be the living embodiment of a 2:1 ratio which was tiring, esp when I tried the hard overhanging 22, but on the wrong rope, so had to do a ‘take two’. Fucked up the first crux (which went easier last week) due to wrong feet. We then did I think a cool blue 19, a nice yellow 19, the green 16 I think then blue 17? Something like that. Cool sesh, lots of good, honest work. I felt sehr stark. 

https://youtube.com/shorts/gDOWzZ3W9wE?si=lKxDntgrnY0AdWP-

(The 2:1 ratio thing is me doing two routes to Zibo my mate doing one.)

(And VR is ‘Vertical Reality’ South Australia’s one and only roped climbing gym. It’s tiny by your standards. ANY standards really…)

(And the ‘being brave and skipping clipping’ wasn’t actually being brave but actually forgetting to clip. Whoops! Silly us!)

Carl Schneiderwrote:

Pretty impressive I reckon. I've NEVER climbed a 5.12 (grade 25) in my 13 years of climbing... Hardest was a 23 (5.11c) back in 2020. The hardest I've done recently is a 'hard' 22 in May this year...

At the barber shop the other day I was asked by the barber what I was doing on the weekend. I replied 'climbing'. That started the whole discussion we've all had about, what it is, what bouldering is, what indoor bouldering is, what trad climbing and sports are 'are you one of those weirdos who solo?' (yes, at times) etc etc.  

Then he asked, 'what is the most difficult thing about climbing?'. I sat and thought for a while. Then said:

'That's a difficult question. For me, at my age (63), the most difficult thing is being content to NOT be moving up the grades, to be happy with staying at the same grades or indeed going backwards a little.'

Agreed.  At 64, I'm not likely to match my top grades from my 30's, so I am trying to do my hardest in each decade.  I feel like I can still improve over my post-60 top grades.

I know that some on here much prefer that we don't discuss politics on 'our' thread, but sometimes there is a very direct connection. Without repeating it, I refer you all to the current thread entitled 'Public Lands Eligible for Sale'. A few weeks ago on here I asked our Trump-supporting 'Over 50s' how they would feel if the current Administration was threatening to destroy one of their favorite climbing areas, the response was overwhelmingly non-existent!!!! So, now that that potential is a very big step closer to happening ( most of the Federally-administered, non-Wilderness or National Park protected climbing areas in the country--especially the west, are included), I am once again asking for their current thoughts or justifications? This was totally predictable. For the rest of us, at least, it is extremely important for us to try to be heard, even better still if those Trump supporters join with us.

dragonswrote:

Meanwhile, back in the east, Bill and I climbed Gelsa today (just in time - I can hear the rain starting now, so who knows when it will be dry again).

Buck had led Bill up Gelsa (5.4) yesterday, which was a nice reminder of how it goes. Bill wanted to lead it today, and I volunteered to lead P1 to the optional belay. I should've read the instruction manual since I wound up making that a little more difficult than it should be. Bill gave me some beta, which helped.

Here's Bill leading P3, staying away from the choss-infested corner:

Nice view from the top of P2:

Ah BRILLIANT!!!  Well done, Dragons!

Such a great climb!  

I might catch some flack here amongst the Gunkophiles but I actually loved YYYY way more than Gelsa.  Gelsa seemed too short and the first pitch (or the first 2 pitches if you roll them together like I did) were not that amazing.

Still a no-doubt 4 star climb, in my opinion, but I'd lead YYYY 5 times to every Gelsa, given the choice.

Tim!  Definitely!  I would vote for a TUE/WED/THU sort of deal in the fall when kids/college students are back in class for the "Over 50 Thread Gunks Meet Up"!

As for getting stronger or whatnot, my mightiest climbs have been easy .11 on top-rope so I was never in the league of most of you and I'm still in my "young" 50's but I am more than happy to keep hammering on those .4's through 8.'s multipitch trad climbs for the rest of my life!

Pushing grades was never a priority for me (good thing!) it has always been the moving over rock and more importantly the seilschaft.

But to each their own and whatever gets them out there and getting after "it" and off the couch!