New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #43

philip bonewrote:

Steep Chump Grinding. Photo H. B. 

Both shots = impeccable stone!!!!!

Thx Todd. These are essentially boulders just big enough for lead climbing. 

philip bonewrote:

Thx Todd. These are essentially boulders just big enough for lead climbing. 

I'm seeing anchors to the left of the notch with the black streak below? 

So about 45 feet? 

And thank you! Fresh routes or boulders on perfect rock I could look at all day.

I've posted photos for you Todd of some of the untouched boulders in that same canyon. They are waiting.

It's a bit farther than the Tahoe stuff, but we'll give you your own bedroom here at our house (or give you good advice about where to camp), and we'll show you around. You find the time....

Randywrote:

Lori,

Those pages are from an old American Alpine Journal; a report submitted by Ken Stichter, who climbed frequently with John Wolfe.

For what it’s worth, I’d say from the look of it, it’s from one of the very early issues of Climbing Magazine.

Brad Youngwrote:

I've posted photos for you Todd of some of the untouched boulders in that same canyon. They are waiting.

It's a bit farther than the Tahoe stuff, but we'll give you your own bedroom here at our house (or give you good advice about where to camp), and we'll show you around. You find the time....

Brad, part of the reason to come back to MP was keep in contact with you in the hope I can make it down there.

Greg Oplandwrote:

For what it’s worth, I’d say from the look of it, it’s from one of the very early issues of Climbing Magazine.

Good eye.  Routes and Rocks was a Climbing magazine feature.  Paid 5 bucks if your article was printed.  

Todd. 45’ is a good estimate. There are very many superb boulders as BY points out.  
A very different BY is referred to (as it inevitably will be) in the discussions regarding added bolts on other threads. I’m curious how the surviving member of that FA team feels about his inherited role. 

I've been wandering around  a bunch and bouldering a bit.  I'm looking for new to me boulders that I can get within a few tries and that don't scare the shit out of me, even if they involve a bit of groveling.

Looks like everyone has kicked off a wonderful summer, out there bouldering. Love these stories and pictures!  

It's officially wandering season for me.  Temps are HOT.  No one is here.  I can roam and jot down things of interest to my heart's content.  I haven't seen a snake yet but I'm not pushing it. 

This is my "wish list" of climbs I wish I could climb this year, but may not get that opportunity.   

White Room  5.9

If it never happens it's not my fault.    This beautiful granite seems not to be of interest to anyone but me.  There might be a little problem getting TO it.  But I'm its biggest fan.

Deja Vu  5.10

My photo doesn't quite capture the rise on this thing. It's a beautiful arete. It gets pretty vertical and really SOARS.  Gosh I'd like to climb it. 

The longer I have looked at this, the more I think I can climb it, maybe easily.  It's by the Sphinx.  Cannot find the name of it.  The crack looks reasonable all the way. 

This must be on Little Hunk, but I'm not sure. I think Bob took this picture, maybe he'll recognize the route.,  I'd like to do it again! 

I wound up listening to most of the Cream concert at the Royal Albert.... and they held it just in time.  Jack Bruce died in 2014.  

Meanwhile, while doing an incredible amount of hiking and traipsing, I've been learning.  After discovering Spotify podcasts I dug in to Acquired tech episodes... and couldn't stop.  Probably a hundred hours on companies like Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, TSMC... and each one triggers more questions.  What's a CPU? What's a GPU?  What's a token, stacking, ARM etc? I come home, get busy studying those. I am at a total mindblowing standstill on ASML and its UltraViolet Lithography... a machine that literally is the bottleneck for all tech products.  If something happens to ASML, the tech world will be toast. That com\any has no rival.  No one can duplicate that machine, that costs $400,000,000 per machine.  No matter how many times I watch a video on ultraviolet lithography, I get stuck on "50,000 drops of tin per second, blasted twice each..."  I mean, impossible!  

"The entire AI race--from Nvidia to SK Hynix's memory towers, to Elon Musks upcoming Terafab--ultimately runs through a single town in the Netherlands where ASML builds its machines. Every single player in the game is writing multi-billion dollar checks to the exact same toolmaker." 

I'm so curious now about Elon, who has just announced he is going to break away from the group of tech giants and create his own 'terafab' in Texas.  He is trying to reverse engineer that ASML machine, but it will take decades. .  

But you know... learning.  It's as close as possible to those college classes I've been missing.  This has been a wonderful new thing in my life.

----

Health update.  I believe I have mostly solved my health issues... with lemon meringue pie.  No joke.  I got to thinking about the dietetic/nutrition I have studied in school, and specifically of bioflavonoids, and particularly that of lemon bioflavonoids.  So I decided to experiment with pie... after eating my half of 4 (pretty strong) lemon meringue pies over several weeks all bleeding stopped.  I'm on no meds atm.  Slowly putting back what I lost.  Got my last ultrasound yesterday, with a trip to Sherman's Deli.  Tony wants to see the new Eisenhower movie, Pressure.  They have great popcorn so it all sounds good.   

Photolith has always been fascinating.  How do you get to the next smallest etch size?  There are alternatives to ASML in the works so they need that monopoly to recoup their investment now.  Here is where that technology is heading next.

• Free-Electron X-Ray Lasers (FEL): U.S.-backed startups (like xLight) are developing lithography tools driven by compact particle accelerators to produce wavelengths as short as 2nm. This aims to replace the laser-produced plasma used in standard EUV systems.
• Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL): Instead of projecting light, this mechanical process stamps the circuit pattern directly onto the wafer (similar to a printing press). Companies like Canon are scaling this technology to print 5nm and 2nm processes, offering a cheaper, power-efficient alternative to EUV.

Jan Mcwrote:

Photolith has always been fascinating.  How do you get to the next smallest etch size?  There are alternatives to ASML in the works so they need that monopoly to recoup their investment now.  Here is where that technology is heading next.

• Free-Electron X-Ray Lasers (FEL): U.S.-backed startups (like xLight) are developing lithography tools driven by compact particle accelerators to produce wavelengths as short as 2nm. This aims to replace the laser-produced plasma used in standard EUV systems.
• Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL): Instead of projecting light, this mechanical process stamps the circuit pattern directly onto the wafer (similar to a printing press). Companies like Canon are scaling this technology to print 5nm and 2nm processes, offering a cheaper, power-efficient alternative to EUV.

It is truly fascinating and what I wouldn’t give to visit the plant in the Netherlands!  The machine is enormous and just seeing the mirrors that are so impossibly polished and the ultraviolet light is unbelievable. I watched a video just of the process of loading the machine onto four jumbo jets and the team that has to go with just to reassemble the machine and train staff.  

There are so many pieces left out of my current understanding, and I just ask the next question as it arises. The cool thing about AI is it will teach me as I go and wherever I find interest. For instance, I have followed the journey of TSMC from 28 nm to four. I know everyone is waiting for two but what does that mean practically?

it makes sense that Cannon would be trying to get in the game.  I would be very interested to hear more about these alternative methods and how far along they are.  

Watching the stock market with these tech companies is also quite a learning experience.  The question I have been asking myself is when/if this explosive market growth will crash.  The thing is, unlike other past crashes, these are products we will only need more of over time. The only thing I could think of that would disrupt the flow would be a serious war or espionage.

Lori Milaswrote:

It is truly fascinating and what I wouldn’t give to visit the plant in the Netherlands!  The machine is enormous and just seeing the mirrors that are so impossibly polished and the ultraviolet light is unbelievable. I watched a video just of the process of loading the machine onto four jumbo jets and the team that has to go with just to reassemble the machine and train staff.  

There are so many pieces left out of my current understanding, and I just ask the next question as it arises. The cool thing about AI is it will teach me as I go and wherever I find interest. For instance, I have followed the journey of TSMC from 28 nm to four. I know everyone is waiting for two but what does that mean practically?

it makes sense that Cannon would be trying to get in the game.  I would be very interested to hear more about these alternative methods and how far along they are.  

Watching the stock market with these tech companies is also quite a learning experience.  The question I have been asking myself is when/if this explosive market growth will crash.  The thing is, unlike other past crashes, these are products we will only need more of over time. The only thing I could think of that would disrupt the flow would be a serious war or espionage.

It sort of crashed Friday. Hopefully a short thing.
Yes, EUV is definitely going to be more commonplace within a decade.

2nm chips with more advanced designs will be the future. Purely AI driven designs with less and less human oversight. Models will be similar.

Mythos and Chinese equivalents will likely be used for making more advanced models.

I also spent a day getting around the new credit limits of Microsoft Copilot. I got an open source model working with Copilot. Not as smart as Sonnet 4.6/7 but can carry out simple tasks without using credits at work. Deployed onto two medium sized  GPU. Pretty cheap at under 700 Watts fully thinking… those are 4nm chips…

Lori Milaswrote:

This must be on Little Hunk, but I'm not sure. I think Bob took this picture, maybe he'll recognize the route.,  I'd like to do it again! 

ZZZZZ Direct Start

it's rained 3 weekends in a row though memorial day weekend I did manage to get a few climbs in between the drops...  last two weekends have been soakers up here.  working really hard. A lot of 9hr  construction days..  The good news is that although I have forgotten how to climb I almost have all of my firewood in.  A good thing considering the price of heating fuel these days. The single guy who lives in this monster house  part time we are working on  spent 7k on heating oil last winter. 

last summer I jacked up that gable end on those pillars and replaced all the rotten sills etc. rebuilt and trimmed. mostly by myself then we tore off the porch and built a new one. the not so brilliant architect has the porch roof dumping water on a window...  lots of rot repair, all the window trim, new doors and windows etc.  we have a crew now.   doing same kind of shit on other side now.  big French doors etc. 

Since the rain prevents new climbing pictures  here are some old ones.

The Black Dike on a very cold day. 

Isa on pitch 3 of Overture 9+ The most exposed  climb in the Daks. 

River crossing in the Daks

My friend Alex in the Gunks.. Lorie thats Gunks 5.6 for you.

me bouldering. I have not bouldered this route since I was 60. I led it this spring and it felt pretty hard..... 

this shot is on the flake that you can see on the left skyline of the cliff. Its rated 8+ now but was 5.6 BINTD. There is sone steep hard climbing to get to this spot.. 

Thank you, Bob! I have inspired myself!     And without getting too mushy, I feel nothing but gratitude for all your coaching and encouragement.

Li Hu.. realizing that semiconductors are not exactly a climbing topic, but then they are. I am gaining a totally new perspective on what seniors can do. Yeah we outliers climb, bike , hike and all that. But it’s also about reading, learning and being completely informed.

I was thinking yesterday out on my hike “who gets to do any of this?”  Who gets to roam and explore in wide open spaces?  Who has the time to think about compute power and nanograms?  Or to really hunker down and investigate geopolitical issues. 

Well, probably you and others who are still working are somewhat limited timewise.  But I was under the impression that age probably takes away your brain and any desire to use your brain.  But I’m just getting ready to learn more and do more if I can only figure out a reasonable plan—there’s so much catching up to do. 

Learning what’s going on out there in the tech industry makes politics look very different. I wonder if some of those old coats in Congress have any idea.  

EDIT:  Nick… i’m so proud of you! Look at that beautiful house and all the work you are doing on it. Where you get the energy to get after your construction jobs and then trudge through Snow or go on your long hikes or climb is beyond me..  looks like a beautiful life you have created.  

Lorie. I was not getting as many hours in  during the winter. Usually eat into my savings in winter and try an make up for it in summer but its kicking my ass right now.  thought you would like Gunks 5.6. Look at all those holds

I’ve posted this before, but me on Shockley’s Ceiling with a pony tail and a rack of hexes and stoppers, circa 1978.  

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

Super cool. Is that a Joe Brown 12lb helmet? 

Yes, as well as EBs and a Whillan’s “nut buster” harness.  State of the art stuff!

Lori Milaswrote:

Li Hu.. realizing that semiconductors are not exactly a climbing topic, but then they are. I am gaining a totally new perspective on what seniors can do. Yeah we outliers climb, bike , hike and all that. But it’s also about reading, learning and being completely informed.

Honestly, keeping our minds active is super important.

After getting laid off from My robotics company, I was thinking to check out. My daughter said I was getting too lazy and turning into a pile of mush. So, I did what any normal pensioner does. Go work for a FAANG company. Two of them, actually… ended up with heart issues, went home and started working with AI a lot more.

Quit Silicon Valley after 9 months of high pressure “39 is the oldest people ever get” environment and am now employed with 20 somethings and the occasional spattering of old folks in their 30s for the past year.   

AI is definitely the great equaliser for older folks. I don’t really enjoy memorising hundreds or thousands of lines of code then figuring out where is the bug needing fixing any longer. Instead, I have AI do the rote memory stuff and find syntactical errors or non-compliant with the latest compiler tools crap. I just tell it how to proceed as if I were managing a team of engineers from the 2010s.

AI is a great tool, but you need to know how to steer it. Just like a team of young brilliant engineers. Which is what seniors are good at.

Our perspectives are still quite useful and based upon years of mistakes and brain misuse.