New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #43

rgoldwrote:

A propos of nothing, when Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julienne Baker got together and toured as Boy Genius, my daughter Sarah was their keyboardist.

I was trying to remember whose daughter played with them!!! That must have been such a cool experience for her!!!

Phoebe Bridgers and Boy Genius are 2 of my favorites right now.

Lori, this pic is for you:

Folsom Lake with the Sierra in the distance. I was basically at the base of those peaks bouldering a few hours before.

My wife always plants a bunch of butterfly bush wherever we've lived:

Todd Berlierwrote:

I was trying to remember whose daughter played with them!!! That must have been such a cool experience for her!!!

Phoebe Bridgers and Boy Genius are 2 of my favorites right now.

Lori, this pic is for you:

Folsom Lake with the Sierra in the distance. I was basically at the base of those peaks bouldering a few hours before.

My wife always plants a bunch of butterfly bush wherever we've lived:

Thank you, Todd.  I miss that lake more than I can say.

My granddog Whiskey and I were at Folsom Lake almost daily during the summers... mostly just soaking together.

Nice memory: Whiskey was terrified of water as a puppy.  He yelped and scratched if my son tried to take him into water.  But when he came to live with me I thought we might find some love somewhere... so I took his favorite Frisbee to the lake with him and would throw it waterside.  He wouldn't have to put a toe in the water, just fetch the Frisbee on the sand and bring it back.  Eventually I started landing that Frisbee a foot or two into the lake, and he got comfortable wading in up to his ankles.  By mid-summer I was throwing it all the way out in the water, and he would dive in and swim for it like a champ.  By end of summer, the moment I let him out of the car he would race to the water and swim out to sea.  Such a cool dog! 

So this picture was a big moment where he was so comfortable just chilling there on a hot afternoon with me sitting beside him.  Just a beautiful and loving dog. 

I hope to be back in a few weeks, Todd.  It's really my second home.  :-)  Thanks for the picture!

Some more Bonticou pics. 

Rich Rosswrote:

Some more Bonticou pics. 

I have a masters degree in science, it is titled the structural geology of bonticou 😃

A small bit of 'Gunks history.

Some time ago, J.S. was kind enough to tell me how he made the resident pins that he placed at the 'Gunks.  

"When I left school, I went to work in a building designed to store
naval artillery shells. Behind the laboratory area, there was a
machine shop with a band saw and even an exposed beam I could throw a
climbing rope over. And a tensile machine intended for use in showing
that we could use lasers to shoot down out of space the warheads headed
in our direction. I, of course, made all kinds of unintended uses of
these wonderful facilities.

One of them was to purloin some roughly 1/8" thick steel sheeting
that could be cut up using the band saw into shapes something like
those generated by Chouinard.
(I was too smart to think I could also be creative.) Then I took each
of a hundred or more of these, put them in a bench vise and whaled
them over with a big hammer.
Once bent over, I drilled holes for both a carabiner and for the
larger sizes, a rivet. I took some of the smaller sizes and tested
their strength in the tensile machine. Radically strong.

Since I knew they would rust, I sought out a garage shop operation in
the District that could electroplate them all with cadmium, a
terrible substance. Once plated, I painted them with some paint that would,
hopefully, not be too obnoxious. I expect I still have the receipt
from the plating shop.

I did all of this without even one remonstration from my supervisor
at the lab. This is, after all, why one goes to the trouble of
getting a degree. And it was a lot of trouble.
That's about it. While they did not rust terribly, the cadmium did do
great damage to downstream lichen. I did not know this would happen
at the time, but knowing it might not have changed what I did. Life is full to the brim with
tradeoffs.

So, nothing out of the ordinary. I ended up recycling two-thirds of
them.

We had found a better way."

John

I bought the stupidest, smallest little camera that ever was for no good reason whatsoever, it’ll be fun taking very bad climbing pictures with it.

About 125 KB a picture; back to last century!

I got a couple of nice messages this morning that might be worth sharing.  Since the beginning of this thread one of my main interests has been on the process of aging, and how to stay strong the maximum amount of time.  I've explored diet, especially protein and Vitamin A, sleep,, exercise, etc.  

So in 2011 I took my first DEXA scan and was diagnosed with osteoporosis, and lectured harshly by my doctor that it was 'too late' to intervene with diet or hormones, or to change anything, He demanded I be on a bisphosphonate (like Fosamax) immediately.  He talked a lot about death, esp from any fall or break.  Actually he was right about the odds.

I've had subsequent DEXAs in 2015, 2021 and 2023.   My doctor evaluated everything this week and wrote:

"Seeing bone density improve as you age is incredibly rare in medicine.  But your left hip shows significant improvement, your hip did not just stop thinning, it physically rebuilt itself and moved into a safer diagnostic category.  Your Lumbar Spine did a massive spectacular recovery, going from a severe thinning to acting like the spine of a healthy young adult."  

Explaining why:  "Once you removed gluten, your intestinal lining healed.  Combined with the high mechanical loading of rock climbing, your bones were finally given the building blocks and physical stimulus needed to reverse the damage."  

This news gives me confidence to continue climbing and scrambling.  Of course, it takes away one of my best excuses for not lead climbing.     But I really bet the farm on exercise and sunshine as being a better healer than Fosamax and I won the bet.

---

More good news for me... my ultrasound last week showed my uterus completely healed, no sign of any problem.  So, I avoided all the procedures, heavy drugs and hysterectomy.  I truly believe good nutrition, climbing and sunshine can heal anything.  

I don't know if it's bone broth, vitamins, or whatever Ward does   , but I think we can still have the edge with a little extra self-care.  I have renewed hope for getting up some of the routes that have been waiting on my list. 

---

All right, I'm just going to say it.  Trix is the best route in all of Joshua Tree. Period.  Of course, this is as far as I'll ever get on this route, apparently... I just wanted to TOUCH that top section and I guess I'm not tall enough.  I think a better climber would find a way.  

And Bob said I busted the tiny knob on the crack approximately where I am standing in this picture.  I don't think I did!  Although I did chip something off.  

I don't know why there isn't a long line waiting for this route.    

Lori

Just wanted to mention my wife's Penelope story with the same issue. She too was diagnosed with bone density problem a few years ago. We went on a 6 week trip to the Wind River Range that summer and Pen carried 55 pound pack all those weeks. We also scrambled and climbed several peaks, hiked all over the place too.

When we got back, her bone density improved so dramatically, the doctor (just like yours) said she never saw anything like it....

So, it seems, that stress loads on older woman's body, combined with D and Calcium, and for some HRT, can do wonders. BTW, Pen is 75 and her bone density is still great today. She exercises with weights and we still scramble on Tahquitz and at J Tree.

Cheers, Alois. 

.

Here's the video of the boulder from Tuesday. Top 5 FA for me.

I feel close to a one arm hang on 20mm 7 second benchmark. Hoping Monday will be the day?

Working on technique on easier climbs. Keeping shoulders tight and scapula pulled in.

Todd Berlierwrote:

Here's the video of the boulder from Tuesday. Top 5 FA for me.

Todd, I have never quite understood bouldering but your passion and joy come through loud and clear.

May you have five more top FAs after this one ;)

Todd Berlierwrote:

Here's the video of the boulder from Tuesday. Top 5 FA for me.

Great looking line. Beautiful morning light too. Thanks for sharing. 

Here are my very rubbish photos from the tiny camera I bought. 

I think the original Kodak version, rather than this copy, would be better, with more of the nostalgic look I wanted. 

None of the pictures are more than 250KB. None are edited. It's annoying that they all have the time and date stamp on them.

Years ago I was very much in to photography, using exclusively vintage Medium Format cameras, like the Rolleicord III, with vintage light meters (unpowered). If any of you want to exercise your brain, and haven't investigated film photography, do it. 

Thanks for the photos, Carl. I have an old Brownie box camera and a plastic Diana camera, but it has been a number of years since I have played with them. It is indeed fun! 

Carl.  Nice street photography.  I did a bit of that BINTD.. the medium sets the tone. Grainy on purpose is cool. 3200 triflex? B&W comes to mind.  Poor quality noisy digital not as interesting.  The antique camera is cool though.  Todd, nice rocks. Good climbing  . I am on a mini photography road trip.  Loaded up the gear after work yesterday and went down to my old haunts to play music. Swam in the river and slept under a bridge.  Brewing up a cup of tea now and heading to a horse show to be the photographer.  

Miss Halifax is 12 years old today. She and her sister will be joining me in checking out a newly found route up at Chipmunk Flat today (and the checking out will involve a creek crossing - the next best thing to snow):

Todd Berlierwrote:

Here's the video of the boulder from Tuesday. Top 5 FA for me.

Nice!!! And, it looks fun, and, not super difficult to get back down. That top section would be quite a drop!

Helen

Pretty good day for June, out with my brother and Steve.  First pic not from today, but I was in the same place, did well given the conditions.  Too warm and humid for sending, and I definitely need to get something higher than ankle socks for the black flies!

Ward Smithwrote:

Pretty good day for June, out with my brother and Steve.  First pic not from today, but I was in the same place, did well given the conditions.  Too warm and humid for sending, and I definitely need to get something higher than ankle socks for the black flies!

First pic is perfect condies! Pants, beanie and no shirt...a regular boulder bro! 🤣

Ward Smithwrote:

I definitely need to get something higher than ankle socks for the black flies!

As far as I know we don't have black flies in the Eastern Sierra, but on both days I was out this week climbing around Mammoth, as soon as the shade came, I was plagued by the tiny, tiny things I call nits. And sometime on Thursday a spider decided it hated me.  I'm not sure if this happened outside or inside, but my right shin is itchy and a mess.