New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #42

Dan to answer you, yes I do know where those ski shots of yours are taken. Enough said about that. It certainly doesn’t look like that this year. What a strange messed up winter, warm and dry in the west nuking in the east.

Your remembrance of Fred on CP is classic. 

Here’s a shot on one of the last pitches of the W face/ cucumbers. Such a nice convenient chunk of Sierra finest granite.
Picture above is a cool uncrowded place to climb on the east side. Wonder if you have climbed there? 

Edit: Correct Phylp! I really like that place. Such a wild feel.

Red Pillar has a great crux all the way at the top of P3 and still seems to be rated 5.5.  Don't recall if it is height dependent, though.

Norm Larsonwrote:

Picture above is a cool uncrowded place to climb on the east side. Wonder if you have climbed there? 

Granite Basin! Some nice stuff there...

Norm Larsonwrote:

Dan to answer you, yes I do know where those ski shots of yours are taken. Enough said about that. It certainly doesn’t look like that this year. What a strange messed up winter, warm and dry in the west nuking in the east.

Your remembrance of Fred on CP is classic. 

Here’s a shot on one of the last pitches of the W face/ cucumbers. Such a nice convenient chunk of Sierra finest granite.
Picture above is a cool uncrowded place to climb on the east side. Wonder if you have climbed there? 

I knew that you would recognize that spot. It was a great year to visit, the vertical snowbanks were nearly 10’ to get above the road to start skinning. Our winter started great then a high pressure set up and our snowpack has degraded to the point that we’re not inspired to ski at all. 

That looks like a hair raising buttress in your photo, but despite my best intentions, I have not climbed there-yet. 

It really feels like winter may be over,  and with daytime highs at 70, our daffodils seem to be about a month ahead of schedule. Lately winters are always a feast or a famine. 

Norm Larsonwrote:

...
Picture above is a cool uncrowded place to climb on the east side. Wonder if you have climbed there? 

Hair Raiser Buttress is a fun classic, and not quite so "hair raising" since more bolts have been added. 

I recall that we scraped up the sides of our Prius on the high desert brush on the drive to the base. 

Unseasonably warm today with Santa Ana winds. Got in a nice gravel ride in this morning before it got too hot on the local trails among the green landscape here. 

Ward Smithwrote:

We smoked a bunch of pot and did Moonlight in the 70’s as an “easy” climb at the end of the day.  My friend lead the roof, and did not place a single piece of gear on the leftward traverse after the crux in order to protect the second (me).

I hate when leaders do that. Luckily for me, most of the leaders I've climbed with have been very knowledgeable about protecting the second.

I went snowshoeing today. It was so warm, I regretted not seeking a climbing partner.

PTR, I checked the MP page for Red Pillar. It could work, though I see comments about runout and ledge fall potential (OTOH what doesn't have ledge fall potential at these grades). Gail, a shortie, says there's a "fun, puzzling exit".

Nick, I understand the desire to burn the past. In contrast to things like physical slides, the problem with digital photos is that it is so easy to take lots of them, but who wants to sort through them after the fact? What exactly am I going to do with all these pics? Only once in a while do they come in handy. More recently, I'm trying to be more proactive about reviewing and deleting within a day of taking them.

I’ve been visiting obscure crags around big creek California (central sierra west side) with my friend Kenny.  Highlight so far was Kenny’s Crack, FA : Kenny and friend 1977.  2nd ascent me and Kenny this morning 

That looks pretty darn Good!

Buck Rogerswrote:

Ah, two things strike me about this one!

I bet part of it is that they started later in life.  I think that has a protective factor.

I started running long distances in my 30's and maxed out with the Vermont 100 Miler run in 2013 and then after that I would only go up to 50 miles, and then down to only 50 k's and so on until now I only run up to ten milers at max.  For me, and a lot of my friends, it seems that there is a finite time interval with running where most mortals can go long and hard for a few decades but then it catches up to you.

I can still ride my bike on 100+ milers but no longer can I do the long runs or it just wrecks my body.  But that is an "N" of fewer than 10 people so take it as you will!

The second thing about this that struck me was how it reminded my of Reinhold Messner and the studies that they did on him after his oxygen-less ascents in the Himilayas.  For a while a lot of scientists thought that he must have some superhuman trait/gene that allowed him to do it and they tested the hell out of him and in the end they concluded that he was just super mentally tough and motivataed and in great areobic shape but it was nothing inherently genetically special.

I loved that study as it took away a lot of excuses for myself in not limiting myself out the gate!

I've trained hard almost continuously since the age of 12. And still doing quite well for my age. But I never ran more than 30-40 miles a week and also did tons of weight training. For long term health I think you need both and it's hard to do that if you're doing super high volume endurance work.

As for high altitude performance I don't know about Messner specifically but there are definite genetic differences between populations that have lived at high altitudes for thousands of years like Sherpas or some South American groups. 

Emil Briggswrote:

I've trained hard almost continuously since the age of 12. And still doing quite well for my age. But I never ran more than 30-40 miles a week and also did tons of weight training. For long term health I think you need both and it's hard to do that if you're doing super high volume endurance work.

As for high altitude performance I don't know about Messner specifically but there are definite genetic differences between populations that have lived at high altitudes for thousands of years like Sherpas or some South American groups. 

Absolutely.  

They've done studies. like you say, on long term (1,000s of years) high altitude populations and found genetic differences compared to us "low landers" but for Messner, when he was studied, there were none of those changes found.

I always found that encouraging in my endeavors throughout life so far.

As my old, now deceased, Korean Grandmaster in Taekwondo would always yell at us in class, 

"No maka you LAZY!!!"  

Words to live by right there!

I read an article in the WaPo the other day that said climbing a lot of stairs may be linked to longer life. We chose well when we bought our present house. Lucky me. 

wendy weisswrote:

I read an article in the WaPo the other day that said climbing a lot of stairs may be linked to longer life. We chose well when we bought our present house. Lucky me. 

It isn't exactly "a lot", but, I chose to build my new house as 2 story. Bedroom and (more crucially) the bathroom, are upstairs. It helps, I'm sure. With arthritic knees, up is fine, down though....hmmm, always is more of a sequence of thuds, lurching side to side, lol! But hey, works good enough.

It's almost but not quite t shirt weather here. STILL no moisture. 

Helen

I got tired of our solar panels being covered in two feet of snow. Here's our last week of production: 

Normally I would not think twice about just clambering up onto the roof to do whatever up there. But i was worried about the snow and ice sliding out from under me. So i tossed a line over, used it to pull a rope over, and self belayed myself up. Then i used the panel anchors as running protection points, and cleared off the snow.

Here's the work in progress: 

Climbing is a life skill!

GO

Old lady Hwrote:

It isn't exactly "a lot", but, I chose to build my new house as 2 story. Bedroom and (more crucially) the bathroom, are upstairs. It helps, I'm sure. With arthritic knees, up is fine, down though....hmmm, always is more of a sequence of thuds, lurching side to side, lol! But hey, works good enough.

It's almost but not quite t shirt weather here. STILL no moisture. 

Helen

Same here. New house is two stories. Gotta have stairs.

GabeOwrote:

I got tired of our solar panels being covered in two feet of snow. Here's our last week of production: 

Normally I would not think twice about just clambering up onto the roof to do whatever up there. But i was worried about the snow and ice sliding out from under me. So i tossed a line over, used it to pull a rope over, and self belayed myself up. Then i used the panel anchors as running protection points, and cleared off the snow.

Here's the work in progress: 

Climbing is a life skill!

GO

Hi Gabe, We have fixed lines on our roof for that purpose --moderately steep roof!!!!

Hope to see you this spring--presuming the snow melts at some point!!!

Anecdotally....My PT guy says he sees it a lot - older people move from a house with stairs to ranch and soon thereafter begin to lose mobility.

I ain't got no stairs, but you kin bump start your truck bout anywhere in the county. My dogs is most plumb wore out from a little passear today.

Kristian Solemwrote:

Same here. New house is two stories. Gotta have stairs.

Is it done then, all moved in?? 

H.

Interesting comments about stairs. So what is the tread surface of your stairs?

apogeewrote:

Interesting comments about stairs. So what is the tread surface of your stairs?

Just the same hardwood as the floors. One of the places I chose to spend some $$$$. I told my builder I wanted the 100 year option, not the 30 year fake stuff. 

The whole house is only about 900 s.ft., and really only 3 rooms. Downstairs, one single room (living, kitchen in the corner), a closet with stacked washer dryer, a coat closet, understairs storage where climbing/camping stuff lives, and the upstairs. Generous bedroom, modest bathroom, and a clothes closet. 

A one person house, and that one person be me. :-)