New and experienced climbers over 50 #38

arthritis in the hands from climbing, martial arts and carpentry. arthritis in my feet from ???? . One of my frriends wife is an arthritis doctor. About a decade ago she asked me out of the blue what do I do about the arthritis in my hands. My answer was I do not acknowledge it.   She thought that was as good a strategy as any. 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

arthritis in my feet from ???? 

Ice climbing?

Shoulders, wrists, feet...I don't think my ice climbing daze have been gentle on my situation.

Arthritis made me impotent 

Ken Tubbswrote:

In 1992 my sister called me and said some friends of her's were friends with "a famous climber from Europe" was coming to Eugene and was willing to show from slides. I had no idea who it was but I gathered up a couple of my climbing friends and we headed to Eugene. Turns out it was Kurt Diemberger. He didn't show any climbing slides but instead showed slides of his early years working as a rigger for various movies and various other adventures. What a fascinating man. I came away with a couple of autographed books.

That looks familiar!

;)

the thing in the feet first showed up after hiking Franconia ridge in winter conditions. Thanksgiving weekend.. 

Believe me Phillip all was said quite in jest in reference to me burning off Gabe on the cracks but stranger things have happened. Since I don’t have the money to go over to the passive margin, perhaps we can meet up at trout creek which is about as cracky as you can get. Sure, you’ll say “dude that's still only an hour away from your house” and of course you would be right. 

However, the truth is I have not been there since like 2017, at a time where I was not in a strong space climbing wise and it brutalized me. Maybe that would be neutral enough since I’d be approaching with my tail held low and ears slightly flattened.

 Why hell, maybe we could make a big senior party of it and a bunch of us show up and have a grand time of it, just like in the old days. We will have the youngsters like Gabe and Buck carry in all the heavy shit and then those who can will lead a bunch of stuff while the rest of us get a bunch of free topropes on some pretty classic and testy stuff, sounds kind of sweet.

Lori,

You have done well in life and it seems like at the minimum you have achieved the goal of “Please God, just let me come out of this alive, and without a terrible disease.” and here you are healthy enough to climb as a seventy something noob and eager to learn, your enthusiasm is palatable and has a youthful vigor that I appreciate.

You want to know my secret? 

It’s pretty simple actually…

I climb at a minimum 4 days a week whenever I can, sometimes even climbing as much 20 days in a row.

Compared to some I do not set the bar particularly high numbers wise preferring instead to go for distance at a reasonable difficulty and seldom get in less than 500 feet a day.

Since 5.10 was pretty close to cutting edge when I was a youngin, I feel I’m doing pretty good if I can easily do laps on it at near 70.

I do a ton of toprope solo climbing. 

I treat all climbing the same, falling or hanging is to be avoided.

I train my mind for runouts on lead (or I like to think so).

This part is not part of the training but the result of it… 

 I like to dispense of the material rope and climb things that are probably three grades below my onsight ability, and long by Smith standards (200 to 400’) where I focus on perfection of movement at an unhurried relaxing pace. 

Being a desert rat like you are I am sure that you have wondered what it would be like to be free as a lizard on the rocks.

Finally, 

Guy I found your joke pretty funny, but I am worried about what that might say about my moral character.

Fossil I live your post. I agree with a lot of what you say. I also try and climb four days a week and also like laps of medium grades (18 to 21) bearing in mind I’ve never cleanly climbed anything harder than 23 and never really tried anything harder either.

Are you saying you free solo three grades below your onsight capability? That’s still quite significant IMMHO 😀

I also boulder 3 grades below my onsight but since my onsight is rather pathetic at the moment that makes my bouldering grade rather tame ;)

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

I also boulder 3 grades below my onsight but since my onsight is rather pathetic at the moment that makes my bouldering grade rather tame ;)

Yeah, in my case, I didn't realize that there was a boulder grade of VB minus minus.

;)

Keesee actually takes his fishing trips literally.  

But seriously Guy, glad you got out and didn't break something. 

How was the fishing?

Owen's river maybe?

Carry on all...

Tad 

I never climbed with Dean Potter but we did share a bit of Mary Jane a few times as we had mutual friends around Utah back when it was a fairly small community. Good dude he was, always a good vibe around him.

Spent my first whole day of the summer climbing yesterday, going for a 10 mile hike on the Bold Coast today for the big 56. Should be some massive surf from the offshore hurricane hitting the cliffs. Stay tuned for pics.

Guy, about this falling thing. I understand that our single biggest concern as time marches on is falls.  And the falls are usually on solid ground just tripping over something small and doing a face fall and breaking something. I also understand, if the statistics are right, that we don’t fall more, we just aren’t fast enough to break the fall.  So we hit the ground more often than younger folks. And then if your bones are at all weak something breaks and never heals.  

Glad you didn’t fall and break something, and I totally understand the surprise of coming so close. I REALLY got a taste of this on Ryan Trail where I was continually stubbing my toe on the way down and I started to do a mantra out loud “pick up your feet, pick up your feet”.

I really love that you guys fish and hope you had a wonderful time.  I still think about Jan’s 14 1/2 pound backpack.

—-

Fossil, picturing you out there at Smith as one of the native inhabitants rope soloing around your favorite places, I wonder if you ever glance over at an adjacent rock and lock eyes with Jane (you, Tarzan). I could see it.    Off to the wild… 

—-

It was no joke my concern about getting a terrible disease. My best friend was married to a radiologist, and they had spent their lives full speed in medicine and looking forward to a big life upon retirement. He retired at 60, healthy and strong and full of life, but within months was riddled with bone cancer and dead in no time. She mourned the next 20 years until she also died.  But she kept saying “we had so many plans and he was so young. “.

My life experiences have all told me that things can change in a heartbeat.  So my gratitude runs deep for this gift of playtime. Something we said at the very outset of this thread is that there’s no real purpose for climbing. It doesn’t solve any world problems. But I really enjoy the innocence of unfettered freedom.

And something Rich said that still echoes is how much more we enjoy the journey now. Even if I had lived here when I was 30, I doubt I would’ve seen the bugs, the changing shadows, the blue flowers, the particular shapes of stones.  

I believe I saw a tarantula wasp out yesterday – – supposedly the second most painful sting in the world. This guy was on my patio not too long ago. He better watch his back.

One L. No jello.
Petrified

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

arthritis in the hands from climbing, martial arts and carpentry. arthritis in my feet from ???? . One of my fiends wife is an arthritis doctor. About a decade ago she asked me out of the blue what do I do about the arthritis in my hands. My answer was I do not acknowledge it.   She thought that was as good a strategy as any. 

Regular running and walking up and down stairs alleviated my knee pain.
I am not sure about a better way to deal with my palms. :(

fossilwrote:

Since I don’t have the money to go over to the passive margin, perhaps we can meet up at trout creek which is about as cracky as you can get. Sure, you’ll say “dude that's still only an hour away from your house” and of course you would be right. 

I've always wanted to get to Trout Creek.  It looks stunning.  Unfortunately, play time for me is extremely limited, so it likely won't happen before the kiddo goes off to college in ten years.  I can't even make it to the finals for this bouldering comp I'm participating in, as I have family obligations.  But I did come in fourth out of eighteen in the advanced division.  Not too shabby as I'm more "advanced" in age by like 20 years than the next youngest competitor.

GO

Gabe, you have to put your foot down

Every now and then I stop to admire the routes on Watergate Wall.  I know this kind of climbing is where my heart is, and I keep thinking of Jan telling me 'you have to believe'.  This  is not like other kinds of routes where enough muscle will get you to the top.  

The rock is smooth as a baby's butt.  It's steep.  There are no hand holds, and barely any tiny edges for feet.  The only way I can see to ascend is levitation... or magic.  I persuaded Chris to drop a rope for me and let me at least experience this wonder.  I do not have the Jedi Magic, yet.  But Jan did, and others. Maybe some Carlos Castaneda magic would do the trick.

Watching the video that came after Dean Potter's, an older climber (can't remember his name) was struggling on the Teflon Corner on his attempt on Freerider.  Has anyone climbed this? 

I used to run laps on Freerider, Lori. I can't remember much though so I can't give you any beta ;) Where is the Pinocchio emot?

Columnar basalt in Maine!

Those are the hurricane clouds over the ocean, big wave day!

Lori Milaswrote:

Every now and then I stop to admire the routes on Watergate Wall.  I know this kind of climbing is where my heart is, and I keep thinking of Jan telling me 'you have to believe'.  This  is not like other kinds of routes where enough muscle will get you to the top.  

The rock is smooth as a baby's butt.  It's steep.  There are no hand holds, and barely any tiny edges for feet.  The only way I can see to ascend is levitation... or magic.  I persuaded Chris to drop a rope for me and let me at least experience this wonder.  I do not have the Jedi Magic, yet.  But Jan did, and others. Maybe some Carlos Castaneda magic would do the trick.

Lori, honestly there is no amount of believing will get you up Dirty Tricks if you don't have the finger strength to climb that little seam.  Footwork is also required but that route is all about fingers.

It's 106 here in LA today so I can't wait to get to Tuolumne for 5 days next weekend.  Gonna be in the high 60s there!

Tomatoes are almost done, the spider mites are moving in and everything is getting baked with these temps.  What I do have is way too many habanero and scotch bonnet chilies.  I think I am gonna buy some cheap tequila to soak them in to get their heat level down to something that is usable in food.  Never tried that before but sounds like it should work.  Then I can make spicy margies from the tequila.