New and experienced climbers over 50 #38

those shaolin  monks that smash themselves in the nuts should hook up with the self flagellating European monks and have a hot wesson oil party....  children the world over would be safer.... 

It's all about absorbing and harnessing the energy grasshopper. 

Jim Uwrote:

Mah dude…. Tone your sh*t back to zero.

it’s a basic test of balance and coordination, just like standing on one leg, getting up from the floor without using your hands, or what % of your body weight to can carry in your hands for a set amount of time.  All established tests that have insight into your longevity.

do it, don’t do it, all your choice. Don’t care either way….. exactly what I tell my mother in law

Yes I know. It was a joke. 

M Mwrote:

It's another excellent poem for sure but I think Carl is a bit dramatic as he has it better than most of us as his average daily temperature is 54.

Yes of course I’m being dramatic I’m always dramatic. You should hear me climb! Wailing and moaning and complaining!

Carl Schneiderwrote:

Yes I know. It was a joke. 

If you are gonna video it make sure you oil up first…..  ;)

got 5 laps in today after my photo gig. 450ft of easy climbing.

 Anyone else annoyed by dry pine needles on the top out's this time of year. Cathedral ledge in NH has some terrifying pine needle exits...

today's work. the ride starts at 6:30am so good light.  have to do it again tomorrow.

M Mwrote:

I know Oak Flat bouldering and the surrounding climbing areas are not world class destinations but for the middle of BF AZ it's an oasis of a huge proportion , government officials were paid well by a foreign mining company to sell it. Even Obama accepted their money.

For what it’s worth, it was John McCain who added/snuck the land swap for Oak Flat into the massive appropriations bill that was (basically had to be) approved and put a big nail in the OF coffin.

A little more history from your elders. Here, about 1912, Rich and I tackle another challenging boulder problem, with a lot of company we picked up along the way. I am standing on the ground bracing the rock which is in danger of tipping with so many on it. Rich is climbing between two lovely women that Rich convinced bouldering was great fun. He was a bit of a dandy in those days.  

John Gillwrote:

A little more history from your elders. Here, about 1912, Rich and I tackle another challenging boulder problem, with a lot of company we picked up along the way. I am standing on the ground bracing the rock which is in danger of tipping with so many on it. Rich is climbing between two lovely women that Rich convinced bouldering was great fun. He was a bit of a dandy in those days.  

5 star post, right here.

fossilwrote:

Um, did you guys watch M Sprague's video?I think I will be skipping any training of this sort.

You have to start small from flicks to slaps to eventual unexpected kicks from your partners on approaches. After 10 years of it, Master Yaobin does seem quite sprightly. The battering ram is a little  over the top and theatrical and not practical for most.. 

Rgold, John… I hope you take this question in the spirit of which it’s intended: how’s your brain? You’ve done such a beautiful job of documenting where you’re at physically and with training, my guess would be that you are as sharp as ever. Have you done any cognitive tests or do you have any means of assessing where you’re at today relative to earlier decades? Do you do anything special to keep all cylinders firing? 

I ask this in part because that stereotype that as we get older we get not only feeble , but forgetful and slow. So a shocker for me – – I started to take the.AARP Staying Sharp battery of cognitive tests annually just for the heck of it and have been totally surprised that over the last five years my scores have radically improved. They were already fine but now way to the right on that bell curve.  I don’t know if I could learn a language as quickly or do math since I haven’t been practicing. But give me a list of 20 words and ask me to recall them a half hour later and I’m on it, or find my way through a maze, or connect random shapes or dots or words quickly.  

My only explanation is climbing. Might be something else but climbing engages so many parts of the brain.For me, the memory skills have taken time to develop – – remembering a sequence of moves precisely and quickly. Being able to make “executive decisions” on the fly. This is another one that I doubt it matters whether you’re climbing in a gym or on the rock – – you still have to use your brain.  So maybe it’s the ultimate “use it or lose it”.

—

Just a personal gripe: I’ve been having the time of my life this summer out every day playing in the sunshine, exploring and working out, listening to Van Halen – – the ultimate “toes in the sand” band – –and suddenly I am seeing fall clothing ads, back to school stuff, stuff that looks like winter. I’m not ready. I’m in the middle of summer vacation and I don’t wanna see it.   But every year they gotta hit you with winter and Christmas right in the middle of summer.

Lori!

I've had the pleasure to interact and climb with Rich a few times lately and I can honestly say that he seems, in my humble medical opinion, to be 100% (maybe more???) "there" without any signs of cognitive decline. Of note, if I thought differently, I would not have posted anything in regards to this subject.

I'm also curious if they've done anything to stay so sharp?

Edit to add:  Also no insult intended!  In fact, I probably have cognitive decline that Rich noted with all of my TBI incidents in my life (7 full loss of consciousness events from head trauma!  Yikes!!!).

My second daughter (third child) flew into NY on Friday night from her Dublin internship and insisted that I take her climbing at the Gunks yesterday!

She'd only climbed outside once in Dalkey Quarry in Ireland a few weeks ago.  She's been climbing in the gym for a year now but after her one time outside in Ireland, she absolutely loves outdoor climbing and says that gym climbing will never be the same!

She did so well and loved it! I took her up Casa Emilio to see how she'd handle the easy climbing and exposure and the "spooky" second rappel off that climb and she had no problem!

Looking forward to climbing a little more exposed and harder climbs on Tuesday with her!

Another generation begins their life in the Gunks!

Now off to Boston for the Lord Huron show there tonight!

Climb On!

I was fully unconscious when I fell at work 4 years ago. I am not certain that my balance has been the same since. 

There are numerous elements at play, but I find the single most ongoing factor in my daily cognitive function is sleep. The more quality sleep that is happening, the better the cylinders fire.

Lori Milaswrote:

Rgold, John… I hope you take this question in the spirit of which it’s intended: how’s your brain? You’ve done such a beautiful job of documenting where you’re at physically and with training, my guess would be that you are as sharp as ever. Have you done any cognitive tests or do you have any means of assessing where you’re at today relative to earlier decades? Do you do anything special to keep all cylinders firing? 

i'd say my brain isn't bad for 81 but, like those pullups I've caught shade for, it ain't what it used to be.  I seriously doubt I could remember more than a few of twenty random words hours later.  I have occasional trouble with word retrieval--occasional meaning some kind of episode most days.  My ability for sustained concentration--the kind of thing you need for math--has certainly declined. There was a time when I could think about something intensely for about five hours.  Now it's more like an hour.

As with the pullups, I'm declining from a pretty high level of function, so am still in reasonably good cognitive shape.  I don't think the deficits show up much in everyday interactions.  I'm pretty good at covering up the anomic aphasia with synonyms--I have the best words!

These assessments are all anecdotal.  I'm not taking any tests.

As for keeping the cylinders firing, I still spend several hours a day on mathematics, and of course I interact with all you good people, which keeps me on my toes.

apogeewrote:

There are numerous elements at play, but I find the single most ongoing factor in my daily cognitive function is sleep. The more quality sleep that is happening, the better the cylinders fire.

As an undergrad I used to be irresponsible and put off studying until the night before a test. And then pull an all nighter and ace it. Now a bad nights sleep, much less an all nighter, leaves me semi functional. I can still go through the motions but productivity takes a big hit.

rgoldwrote:

As for keeping the cylinders firing, I still spend several hours a day on mathematics, and of course I interact with all you good people, which keeps me on my toes.

I guess this is one of the reasons I haven't retired yet. While more time to travel and climb would be nice it would be hard to get the same mental exercise I get doing physics. And realistically if I had unlimited time to climb I would probably just give myself an overuse injury.

Oh, I’m so glad you didn’t take offense at that question. And I hope you forget the shade. That was so out of line.

I knew you would give an accurate self assessment so thank you for that. I would suppose John Gill’s brain is also top-notch since he seems to be able to recall specific events from hundreds of years ago.

I just returned from a long hike this morning and was thinking about all of the physical and cognitive events in just getting from point A to point B. Snakes are out now and everything looks like a snake. It takes constant discernment – – snake or no snake, jump, or don’t jump, and if you jump don’t fall. There are a lot of loose rocks, boulders and sand, so test everything and be sure of footing and length of potential fall. Even gauging the rising heat, angle of the sun, distance back to my car, water level in my bottle. That’s while also keeping a constant vigilance on my blood sugar and connectivity and all the newfangled gadgets that now monitor everything.  

So there are a lot of skill sets in just taking a walk relative to sitting on the couch and watching TV all day.

I’m very interested in some of the studies I have read lately that suggest skeletal muscle acts as a separate endocrine gland and directly supports brain function. So once again, resistance training is leading the way.

—-

My goal today was to see if I could definitively sort out all the various routes on this beautiful wall. I can feel a stoke beginning to return for those days in September when it all starts again. When I look at some of these lines, all I can think is those boys were cookin’.  I do think at least one woman also participated in the FAs here.

Greg Oplandwrote:

For what it’s worth, it was John McCain who added/snuck the land swap for Oak Flat into the massive appropriations bill that was (basically had to be) approved and put a big nail in the OF coffin.

And the entire senate signed off on it while almost all of them took donations from the foreign mining company. The only sneaky moves were the entire senate trying to sneak it past the citizens of this country in a defense bill. One would actually expect McCain to want it in his state, the other senators completely sold out.