New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #44

Nick lake Willoughby is looking rough in that picture 🤪. 

Shadowlands, 5.8, Fairview Mt. California

Norm Larson wrote:

What's the person climbing here!?!

It’s a new route at city of rocks Todd. Called Valhalla on Stripe rock. Modern 5.8. Well bolted throughout but a bit of grade inflation we felt. It’s a really fun moderate 3 pitch sport climb.

That   just came up on my YouTube feed.

Hoping to get out soon. Canadian wildfires have been affecting us for the last couple days.

Norm Larson wrote:

It’s a new route at city of rocks Todd. Called Valhalla on Stripe rock. Modern 5.8. Well bolted throughout but a bit of grade inflation we felt. It’s a really fun moderate 3 pitch sport climb.

Thanks Norm, that pitch looks fantastic! Right up the middle of that face that looks out of place on that rock. Wow!

Reminds me of a short story. For the life of me I can't remember the area well, but there were two steep sport climbs on a vertical to slightly overhanging orangish wall that was down hill and south I think of the feature that has Cairo on it faced west. This would have been the early 90s. My self and two friends were having a wonderful morning being the only ones there. A couple of times folks would stand on a ridge above looking down and trying to keep the little crag to ourselves, when we saw people I would start into this manic ritualistic like dance on a patio like chunk of granite at the base with the hope that no one would come down to spoil our time there. It worked 

Now as I type this Im a little insecure, one of you guys might have been on of the three groups I scared off!

We have been dealing with that smoke for the past 3 days---very depressing and we are about 1000 miles from the fires. I can't imagine how miserable it is for the folks dealing directly with such fires close to their homes. My thoughts and best wishes are with them.

Good video of that crusher from Australia. I recall seeing the earlier video of him in one of the 'film tours' ---very impressive guy.

I spent much of this hot, smoky day wollowing in nostalgia---looking through old files, including correspondence that I hadn't seen in decades. One, of many gems, stood out in the context of this thread. It was a letter from a friend, written in the early '70s. She noted that in a previous letter I had complained ( once again--and nothing has changed since ) of being out of shape. To this she responded: "I picture you as an old man of 75 doing a neat layback and explaining to a watching young climber that you are still climbing because you haven't been given permission to stop." Well, I passed that landmark a few years ago now---and am still waiting for that  'permission'!!!!

Norm, tell me about the effing chain on Valhalla. WTF?

I didn’t feel the need to bring that up Jay. It’s pathetically over the top. The move without the chain is 5.8. The rest of the route? Less. It’s not the world we came from or will be in forever so I just move on.

Edit: like Dan my goal in climbing is to just have fun. The chain didn’t ruin my day but it did leave me perplexed that some see it as a good solution to a problem that isn’t really a problem. Just move the bolt down so some can clip a draw and grab it if they want. 

Wankers. Pathetic. And I know Steve and have called him a friend.

Seems odd.  Why not just a bolt and if need be, AO off a draw?  That said, nice looking line!

Norm, I am told the chain will be removed shortly, if it hasn't been already.

fire smoke was bad yesterday here but we had some wicked storms blow through that seemed to have helped. 

Interesting placements on Bush the Imbecile, Tranquility Wall, Wheeler Crest.  All in all a fun route climbed about twenty years ago with Denise and Bill Lundeen. The ladder rungs were placed by the FA to bypass some circuitous mid 5.11 climbing. 

Just finished up the 2nd (and final) day of climbing at Wild Iris, WY.  Just love this place. Even though the wildflowers were way past peak, it's just such a gorgeous setting.  Just 2 of us so I don't have any climbing pics, but I do have this shot of the Poker Face Alice roof.  2 climbs:  Poker Face Alice (12b) and Calamity Jane (13a).

Daniel Shively wrote:

Interesting placements on Bush the Imbecile, Tranquility Wall, Wheeler Crest.  All in all a fun route climbed about twenty years ago with Denise and Bill Lundeen. The ladder rungs were placed by the FA to bypass some circuitous mid 5.11 climbing. 

Interesting...

...I guess I admire the creativity...but ladder rungs!?!! Wtf!?!

Really, when I stop to think about it, it's certainly better than chipping or tat, but...

And since it's gone free, shouldn't the rungs be removed. 

Todd Berlier wrote:

Interesting...

...I guess I admire the creativity...but ladder rungs!?!! Wtf!?!

Really, when I stop to think about it, it's certainly better than chipping or tat, but...

And since it's gone free, shouldn't the rungs be removed. 

The FA of this route always did his own thing and had his personal motives. When we climbed it I briefly explored moving out right in an attempt to bypass the ladder, but remember thinking I could face a swinging slider if I blew the moves. We were probably among the first few climbers to repeat this route. I was kind of like wtf about the rungs but had fun getting up on another Wheeler Crest wall.  

We climbed this on December 4th 2008. I thought of this climb after reading about the chain on the climb in Norm’s photo. I’ve led several local bolted routes using clean gear and never wanted to chop bolts even though I didn’t need them. For me, the FA did the climb their way and I can either deal with it or climb something else.  I guess if BZ wants to remove the rungs that’s for him to decide, but from what I know of him, I doubt he gave it any thought. 

Climbing is Fun!

Mr Bill Lundeen enjoying the Wheeler Crest. 

One of the NH locals put up a 6 or 7 pitch  5.6 on Mt Webster that had one 5.10 move  on it.  He chipped it to keep it 5.6 and was crucified for his transgression.  If he had simply put a bolt there and called it 5.6 A0 no one would have blinked.  It's good to accept that we climbers have some pretty fucked up arbitrary rulze that apply differently to different people depending on how popular / local  they are and how hard they climb.  

We did the 2nd ascent of a rout put up on Mt Willard by an exceptionally well regarded trad ambassador local. He told us he was stuck on the last pitch for quite a while before suddenly finding a way up.  When we did the 2nd ascent the chipping was blatantly obvious.  I brought a sport climbing friend up there who knows a thing or two about tough love route development and his take was.  " Well  he ain't no Michelangelo..." yet this local was referenced in many of the arguments about route style and fixed anchors as one of the benchmark  examples of how it should be done. Naturally here in the north east after a few seasons the evidence is long gone....  It is noted in my book that when it comes to ethics the climbing community is quite often completely full of shit.