New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #40

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Speaking of snow and skiing, I just dug out my Nordic skis last night and I am heading to Minnewaska on Monday for the first time ever!

Their site says that they are open and groomed, even for skate skiing (my favorite)!

Anyone of the Gunkophiles around here into Nordic skiing?  Anyone ski there???

Lori Milas wrote:

And this is why I’m moving to Boulder, Colorado to meet this exceptional group of adults and hang out with Wendy.  

Sorry to disappoint you, Lori, but my circle of friends is limited. I don't know anyone here who could afford one of these memberships.   

dragonswrote:

But what is the problem, could you expand on that? I could understand it being a problem if the baby boomer cohort were huge and poor.

Absolutely, my student debt was much lower than the average of today. But the point I was trying to make was "young and poor" is to be expected. Old and poor is way more of a problem - for the individuals and also for society. The kind of problem that social security was designed to address.

(FWIW I have never wanted lower taxes, they are already too low.)

Leaving wealth aside a big problem with a disproportionately large older cohort is who does the work? There are a lot of jobs older people just can't do. Immigration is an obvious answer but combine that with racism and nativism and you get the situation we have today. It's not unique to the US, many 1st world countries are experiencing the same issues and China is rapidly getting there.

As for young and poor being less of a problem than old and poor I disagree. The decline in class mobility in the US means they're flip sides of the same coin. Kids who start in poverty tend to die that way. Sure some people break out of it but the biggest predictor of where you end up economically is where you started. That's not to say we should expect 25 year olds to have the same wealth as a 65 year old. But when the latter group has 10 times the median net worth it seems odd to me to give them a lot of special discounts, even if I personally benefit.

I dunno. I sure as hell didn't start with any inherited wealth, and though I'm doing reasonably fine at this point (a bit better than where my parents were at when they passed), any kind of discounts that come my way are greatly appreciated. I realize that this comes at a cost (there is no such thing as 'free' in economics), and I don't seek out such discounts aggressively, but they are helpful.

wendy weisswrote:

Lori, apropos your concerns about aging, be reassured that in Boulder healthy aging is taken very seriously, with many good options available.  Here's an ad from "Boulder Lifestyle" magazine (I hope it's readable):

This is VERY Boulder 😂 

Jan Mcwrote:

Lori, don't believe all you hear/read.  Nvidia has been a good GPU supplier for a long time.  They have recently pinned their future on AI.  At this point they are close to a big bounce from the high they are at.  AI is failing badly in most business applications and there is going to be a correction soon.  Hopefully it isn't as big as the dot com bubble of 2000/2001 but all the signs are heading in that direction.

Yeah. Nvidias market cap is greater than the GDP of all but 3 countries in the world.

Novel Idea. Gift your senior benefits that you don't need to some youngster who does need them and kindly stay the fck away from the rest of our seniors benefits they we do need. 

Alex Smith wrote:

Back in my day, Boulder was a scrappy little college town where you could rent a whole house for the price of a Netflix subscription and a handshake. Now? Now you need a tech salary, a trust fund, and probably a small ceremonial sacrifice just to get a studio apartment with a view of a dumpster.

I mean, good grief — $3,000 a month for 500 square feet? For that price I better be getting a handcrafted bathtub made of reclaimed Himalayan glacier ice. And don’t even get me started on the “amenities.” A yoga room? Really? You know what my amenity was? A porch. And it came with free chairs we found on the curb.

And every time I look at Zillow in Boulder, I swear the houses are auditioning for NASA because they’re priced like they’re trying to escape Earth’s gravitational pull. $1.5 million for a house built during Nixon’s first term, with a kitchen last updated when disco was still cool. And the listing still says, “Needs love.” Buddy, for that price it needs perfect credit, a miracle, and a hug from the Dalai Lama, not love.

But I guess that’s Boulder now — where the kombucha flows like water, everyone’s a “creative strategist,” and apparently nobody blinks at paying more in rent than I paid for my first house, two cars, and a honeymoon in Maui combined.

Alex, I agree with you that Boulder is insanely expensive, but when we moved here in 1976 it was already pricey. We were lucky that Bruce was able to get three years of affordable student housing in WWII barracks on the east edge of town. 

Nick Goldsmithwrote:

Novel Idea. Gift your senior benefits that you don't need to some youngster who does need them and kindly stay the fck away from the rest of our seniors benefits they we do need. 

Um what? Looking back over all my posts on this topic and I don't see where I ever suggested taking benefits away from seniors who need them. Can you point out where I did? If not then here's a novel idea -- don't assert I said something I didn't. What I did do is point out that a lot of seniors don't need them which is manifestly true. And also agreed with dragons that means testing is an administrative nightmare.

James Harvey wrote:

Waterfall coming down the face of Windy Peak..

Probably 600+’ of flow.

From a snowy February day in 2015.
Descent off Windy Peak after a lovely and wet hike.

I love when the snow levels drop, great days to explore without seeing a soul. And I love the contrast of snow and red rock.

Been enjoying the input of everyone as of late.

Especially Cherokee, Daniel, Alan, Guy, Buck and Mr. Gill.

Dragons-congratulations on setting personal records this year!

Yeah, I’ve encountered that waterfall on Windy Pk before. Brad Young and I attempted a harder route toward the right side, got flooded out, and crossed the rock leftward to do Hot Fudge Thursday. Ended up fantastic! Great rock and place to climb. The classic Jubilant Song was Brad’s first line in Red Rocks, I believe.

Lake Minnewaska brochure from I'm guessing the 1920's or 30's.

Rich Rosswrote:

Lake Minnewaska brochure from I'm guessing the 1920's or 30's.

Ooh love this!  Did a bit of retouching to bring out some detail...

I am sorry Emil but it sure seems like several times you argued that young people need help more than seniors because apparently we have accumulated wealth and don't need the help. that is how it read and it was rather disturbing. it goes back to the park pass conversation but obviously it pushed my buttons considering my own senior situation where I will be somehow paying a mortgage until I am 80 years old and the frame of my work truck just rusted through. 

ErikaNWwrote:

This is VERY Boulder 😂 

Tells me that there must be at least a few residents with more money than brains.\!

Idaho Bobwrote:

Tells me that there must be at least a few residents with more money than brains.\!

Or maybe more money than time?  

Thanks rgold for the improved image.

Some other Minnewaska brochures. The only one with a date is the upper right one dated from 1922. The more modern ones I'm guessing are from the 60's or 70's.

There are some great black and white images in the older ones.

Bill Lundeenwrote:

Yeah, I’ve encountered that waterfall on Windy Pk before. Brad Young and I attempted a harder route toward the right side, got flooded out, and crossed the rock leftward to do Hot Fudge Thursday. Ended up fantastic! Great rock and place to climb. The classic Jubilant Song was Brad’s first line in Red Rocks, I believe.

Yep, for my first trip to Red Rocks Bill suggested that we climb Jubilant Song. It was one of the early routes established at Red Rocks and who wouldn't love the name? I was sold on it instantly.

It turned out to be an adventurous and really nice route. The first of many relatively unknown climbs that you (Bill) suggested we climb. Almost all of those suggestions turned into great days.

And oh wow, do I EVER remember Hot Fudge Thursday. Were we five pitches up when we realized that we were gonna have to climb straight left, across flowing water? I expected slime and pulling on gear and was blown away that the rock still had friction. We both kept the ascent clean in spite of the water!

We had lots of great days on better known routes too.

Hard to say Bill if I loved (love) our Joshua Tree climbing or Red Rocks climbing better? Actually, I think back on all of it as some of my best-ever climbing trips.

(I still occasionally miss the sound of coffee beans being ground by hand.)

Yeah, I’ve encountered that waterfall on Windy Pk before. Brad Young and I attempted a harder route toward the right side, got flooded out, and crossed the rock leftward to do Hot Fudge Thursday. Ended up fantastic! Great rock and place to climb. The classic Jubilant Song was Brad’s first line in Red Rocks, I believe.

And what a great summit plateau.

Thought it was very cool up there.

Rich Rosswrote:

Thanks rgold for the improved image.

Some other Minnewaska brochures. The only one with a date is the upper right one dated from 1922. The more modern ones I'm guessing are from the 60's or 70's.

There are some great black and white images in the older ones.

Since folks are posting some old minnewaska stuff and I can’t find my old postcards, here is an extremely rare copy of a poster that a maintenance worker drew for when the Empire State games xc ski races was going to be there in 1988, unfortunately it didn’t snow and they were moved north, I set alll the courses that would have been used.

Jan Mcwrote:

Lori, don't believe all you hear/read.  Nvidia has been a good GPU supplier for a long time.  They have recently pinned their future on AI.  At this point they are close to a big bounce from the high they are at.  AI is failing badly in most business applications and there is going to be a correction soon.  Hopefully it isn't as big as the dot com bubble of 2000/2001 but all the signs are heading in that direction.

Many people are feeling this way about A.I., but there are many embedded applications where AI is extremely useful.

The large companies have been laying off many engineers, AI included.

But, smaller embedded applications have only just started to blossom.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all pans out.