New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #40

Who recalls gas pumps like this?  

Out in the middle of nowhere Nevada. About 200 miles from the next gas.

That 99 Corolla was put together from 2 cars….
One was a Manual 5 speed with all the bells and whistles- auto locking doors, power windows, ski boot everything- the 1999 model was the last Japanese designed one.
The other…. A plane Jane Corolla that had perfect fenders, manual everything. And that crappy automatic that was so unresponsive it was scary to make left turns in traffic. But the motor was blown due to running without oil!
My friend “Joe” owned the manual and his sister owned the plane Jane one. The manual had complete maintenance records going back to day one and the oil was changed religiously between 3k - 4k miles.
My trusty 2004 Honda Civic had its motor fail- spectacularly on the 118 freeway. At 410000k miles so I had been searching for a replacement. I drive long distances to go Racing, Climbing and Fishing. LA is a great place to find old, no rust cars. After looking at tons of vehicles I wasn’t happy with the huge prices people were asking. So what to do?

So I bought both cars for $350 and promised Joe they would be gone from the backyard in 30 days.
I made my dream car. I put the good fenders, doors, trunk and hood on to the beat up manual!
No power anything. I can sleep in it by sticking my legs through the ski-hole.
I feel the pinnacle of automotive design happened around 1999. The tech is in the fuel/air/exhaust mix all connected together with a few sensors and one electric brain.
Simple, Reliable and Cheap. Right now I have about $5,000 sunk into this baby. Brand new suspension, frame bushings, mounts, transmission rebuild. I use Toyota OEM parts (they still make components due to the 40 million Corollas produced worldwide) only, no Ebay cheap parts.
And it’s about the easiest car I have ever owned to work on, I do have a mechanic to do the heavy lifting stuff and he tells me his “guys” like working on it because it’s simple and straightforward.

I will end this here with this. I hope everyone has good luck with thier vehicles, repairs are not cheap- in fact some people will find out your 2023 XX will cost you more than you paid if you wish to keep the bells and whistles working.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

Edit to add: Dragons- Outstanding! 

dragonswrote:

Lori, I'm very close to my hitting my goal for the year. In 2012, I did 257 pitches (if we include my one regrettable boulder problem, which I'm not sure I want to count). This year, I've got 256 pitches in, due to a recent road trip to our friend Tim at Safe Harbor.

Here's Tim following Steve's lead of The Hanging Garden (5.9):

Tim leading Ellie's Belly (5.6):

Here's Bill following Tim's lead of Tonga (5.9):

Tim leading Black Doves (5.8-):

Me following Tim on our last climb of the trip, There Goes the Hood (5.7):

Great going dragons. Safe Harbor is a great place to get in a bunch of pitches in a short time span and it is often warmer and drier in that part of PA than in NY or New England. With about 6 weeks until the end of the year, it looks highly likely that you will achieve your goal!!!

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!!

dragonswrote:

Lori, I'm very close to my hitting my goal for the year. In 2012, I did 257 pitches (if we include my one regrettable boulder problem, which I'm not sure I want to count). This year, I've got 256 pitches in, due to a recent road trip to our friend Tim at Safe Harbor.

Here's Tim following Steve's lead of The Hanging Garden (5.9):

Tim leading Ellie's Belly (5.6):

Here's Bill following Tim's lead of Tonga (5.9):

Tim leading Black Doves (5.8-):

Me following Tim on our last climb of the trip, There Goes the Hood (5.7):

wow... look at you!  What was your goal again?  How did you pick the number 257--are you just trying to top 2012?  Looks wonderful, and congratulations for your effort!  I love all your pictures and your enthusiasm!  

Nice, Dragons!

I've been trying to make lemonade out of lemons, and not pout about being sidelined for so long.  I still get SO winded on hikes, and am in a state of disbelief that I got set back so far.  

But staying with gratitude, it could be so much worse.  This year, somehow, I have met up with or gotten to know young folks with bad diseases.  A surprising number of kids with glioblastomas... inoperable, terminal brain cancers.  It's anyone's guess how all the known diseases have increased so dramatically, so fast.  What I got ain't nothing... AND I've had many years of a great life.  So, I am just being patient.  

So, yesterday I suddenly got Bilabong 10c on my mind, and took Tony over to have a closer look. I drive by it every day, but haven't been interested in years.  Yesterday it looked majestic.  I just stood beneath it and gazed,.  What I conveniently overlooked when I finally got to climb that thing, was that I never climbed it to the top.  

I remember Brandt asking me why THIS route meant so much to me.  I said "The heart wants what the heart wants.  "  So, when I did climb it, we made a big day of it.  Tony even came (he never does) to watch.  I felt on top of the world, and VERY challenged.  As I recall Charles Cole was on this rock (Shovling-Cole), and John Long/Bill Antel and Rick Accomazzo did the FFA of Bilabong... routes are 10b and 10c.  

I remember looking up from this spot and wondering how the HELL I was going to climb this.  No 'holds", and it felt so vertical.  It's pretty much friction all the way.  

Tony and Alex Honnold's mother, Dierdre, were there.  

I climbed it to the first horizontal... that's all I was interested in, so I still have work to do.  Top to bottom is a 1 pitch climb--maybe 100 feet?  I'll bet if I asked nicely Bob would set me up for the full thing one day.  

So this morning I decided to finally go take a look at Coarse and Buggy.  Just such a beautiful rock... sadly, one I will probably never climb.  Although I am, sort of, on my way to becoming a stemming master.    

Directly across the street is my favorite climb, Trix, which Bob has ASSURED me I will never make to the top. He does not usually say "You CANNOT CLIMB THIS."  But for this route he did.  That would not stop me from trying.    I believe it's all about getting up to and over the top horizontal.  

I imagine this will interest no one, but lately to keep me company on my longer hikes I am listening to great podcasts. Now I am absorbed into ACQUIRED,,, the stories and roadmaps around successful companies.  I'm into the 3rd episode of NVIDIA (total 6 hours in its history from start to current)... and the phenomenal story of its CEO, Jensen Huang.  It has revived in me a deep sense of hope in this world.  (And I think it might be a great stock investment.) 

A beautiful day at the Buttermilk boulders, the Thanksgiving crowds were out but everyone was psyched and the conditions were great. 

Way to go dragons, keep sending those pitches! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Lori Milaswrote:

So this morning I decided to finally go take a look at Coarse and Buggy.  Just such a beautiful rock... sadly, one I will probably never climb.  Although I am, sort of, on my way to becoming a stemming master.    

 

This is on my tick list.

Planning OKelly’s on 6th then this one later? We can setup a top rope. 

Daniel Shivelywrote:

A beautiful day at the Buttermilk boulders, the Thanksgiving crowds were out but everyone was psyched and the conditions were great. 

Way to go dragons, keep sending those pitches! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Holy HighBall Batman!

What does that top out at?  30+ feet?

Lori Milaswrote:

wow... look at you!  What was your goal again?  How did you pick the number 257--are you just trying to top 2012?  Looks wonderful, and congratulations for your effort!  I love all your pictures and your enthusiasm!  

Thanks! That's correct, Lori. MP says I recorded 257 pitches in 2012, which was my previous max pitches in one year. For this year, I've got 256.

Way to get after it Dragons!

Buck Rogerswrote:

Holy HighBall Batman!

What does that top out at?  30+ feet?

Probably about 25 feet, but great holds up high and I’ve been climbing that problem for 25 years. I like to warm up with some tall problems that I know well to get my head in the game for the rest of the day. Many of the boulders at the Buttermilks are on the tall side and most have pretty legitimate downclimbs. I really love climbing there. 

Great boulders! When I was there I did the Southwest Arete of Grandma Peabody. Mick Ryan’s guide had it listed as “VB.”  I told Mick that he needed to call it V0 or he was going to get someone killed.

I see that it is now listed as 5.9 in Mountain Project, which makes sense as the crux felt that hard at what would have been the third bolt at my local sport areas. 

rainy day. went huntin this morning.. didnt see nothin again... 

The Buttermilks terrify me. I've never gotten up anything there. Beautiful place though.

Our big Buttermilks misadventure occurred when my now wife and I, while driving around in our rental looking for a place to camp, got deeply stuck in some soft sand. All we had to try to dig ourselves out was our spoons and pots and pans!!! You can imagine how that was going, when, very fortunately, a group of local Native Americans came by and saw our predicament. They went to their nearby home and quickly returned with a large, big-wheeled pickup and pulled us out in no time. Cool guys!!!!  We stuck to the roads after that!!! 

James Harvey wrote:

MP says 38’ to the top.

Great shot James! That is a fantastic line, it‘s always a superb feeling getting to the jugs near the top of that problem. Climbing provides the perfect combination of tension and release. So cool!

Alan Rubinwrote:

The Buttermilks terrify me. I've never gotten up anything there. Beautiful place though.

Our big Buttermilks misadventure occurred when my now wife and I, while driving around in our rental looking for a place to camp, got deeply stuck in some soft sand. All we had to try to dig ourselves out was our spoons and pots and pans!!! You can imagine how that was going, when, very fortunately, a group of local Native Americans came by and saw our predicament. They went to their nearby home and quickly returned with a large, big-wheeled pickup and pull us out in no time. Cool guys!!!!  We stuck to the roads after that!!! 

Good story Alan. There‘s something about that zone that lures people in. About 10 springs ago, a friend and I set out to ski Basin Mountain (it‘s the big flat topped one above the Buttermilk country) when we got to the snowy part of the road the snow still supported the weight of our Toyota 4runner and allowed us to drive much further than we anticipated. We rationalized that even after the snow softened the slight downhill nature oof the road would allow us to power out to the clear road. We couldn‘t have been more wrong. We ended up shoveling with our small avalanche shovels about 3 miles of track to escape. Most of this shoveling took place squatting or sitting down. It took us about 6 hours of this without food and after hiking and skiing about 6000‘ of vertical gain. We were pretty wrecked. To add insult to injury, we aired our tires down to 12 psi for better traction then had to drive slowly and stop at a gas station to air up before heading home. Mountain fun!

Basin is the mountain in the center of this photo.

Ward Smithwrote:

Great boulders! When I was there I did the Southwest Arete of Grandma Peabody. Mick Ryan’s guide had it listed as “VB.”  I told Mick that he needed to call it V0 or he was going to get someone killed.

I see that it is now listed as 5.9 in Mountain Project, which makes sense as the crux felt that hard at what would have been the third bolt at my local sport areas. 

I‘ve seen some wobbly characters on that climb. Thankfully, as far as I know, nobody has whipped from high on any of the borderline solos at the Buttermilks. Is Mick‘s guide that you mentioned the pamphlet style one c. 2000 or so? 

Our visit yesterday was an interesting juxtaposition of our era and the modern era of bouldering. We were still rolling with pads, shoes, chalk, water, and food. A lot of the youngsters we met had elaborate warm-up devices, chalk for inside their shoes?, and beta videos for most of the problems they were trying. Some even carried folding chairs and self massage devices for in between attempts. lol Regardless of style, we were all just climbers in a beautiful place, trying to figure it all out. 

The Idyllwild Climbers Alliance has a new website with great historical writing of Tahquitz & Suicide Rocks by Bob Gaines, as well as imagery from Kevin Powell, Greg Epperson and Bob. Worth checking out.

www.idyllwildclimbers.org

apogeewrote:

The Idyllwild Climbers Alliance has a new website with great historical writing of Tahquitz & Suicide Rocks by Bob Gaines, as well as imagery from Kevin Powell, Greg Epperson and Bob. Worth checking out.

www.idyllwildclimbers.org

Fun!  In the Stonemasters section, "Rob Muir" should be "Robs Muir."  

The '56 guidebook:

First time the "Yosemite" decimal system in a guidebook?

Interesting that the aid climbing ratings didn't sustain...

Great history!

apogeewrote:

The Idyllwild Climbers Alliance has a new website with great historical writing of Tahquitz & Suicide Rocks by Bob Gaines, as well as imagery from Kevin Powell, Greg Epperson and Bob. Worth checking out.

www.idyllwildclimbers.org

There is a nice photo there of the long time local climber and tireless volunteer Jim Pinter-Lucke, who just passed away a few weeks ago. He was one of the ICA founding members. RIP Jim. Such a good guy.