New and Experienced Climbers over 50 #44

Went over to Peterskill today with Tim.
Finally got on Big Slab, which has been on my to-do list for a while now.
Quite fun and challenging for a 5.2! Not a real slab though.

dragons wrote:

Went over to Peterskill today with Tim.
Finally got on Big Slab, which has been on my to-do list for a while now.
Quite fun and challenging for a 5.2! Not a real slab though.

So many fun pieces of rock there it's mind blowing 

Weight gain is always a choice, let's be real. "Things are gonna change, I can feel it" might be the best song  lyrics ever. And yes, I also battle the beast. 

Went to the gym for an hour while the kid had an appointment, two moms there, 7 kids, neither mom thought she should climb with their own kids... I call that a parenting fail(and yes weight was involved).

And yes, one of them almost got crushed by standing underneath me on a crux...

With age you absolutely will gain fat if you keep eating the same thing.  I have had to continually reduce my carbohydrate consumption in order to keep from getting overweight.  Now on a keto diet, I weigh less than I did in high school.  

I'm  a solid 25lbs over high school weight but I also was a spurt sport guy back then and had no stamina for big days which i do now. I had stamina for a couple hours of biking, basketball or ultimate, I  didn't climb then and didn't play all day long ultimate tournaments then either.  

I still can't imagine taking my kid(s) to an activity,  hanging out with them the whole time and not joining them. I can imagine the whole family driving around Acadia and not hiking one of the trails or even getting out of the car except when they drive up our massive 1500' mountain! When I moved here 10 years ago I saw way more families hiking together.  These days you rarely see families hiking together and it's really sad. They maybe throw their kids to the climbing guides and go shopping in town. Don't get me started on e-bike "tours" . We wouldn't even have e-bikes in the park if Trump hadn't made the park service allow them...

https://youtu.be/446gNANQfeg?si=bEy0Q9DvYqPEUw1W

Jan, I'd love to hear some stories about Mike Waugh, esp what he's up to today.  Does this mean your two new knees and fixed elbow are now ready for climbing?  If so, that's great news.

It feels like summer is slowly ending.  The temperatures are the same, but the shadows are changing, and the critters are showing up in different places.  This guy was directly on my hiking trail, and I thought of Randy since I was a bit distracted and not watching my feet, in two steps I would have been atop this little guy. He didn't rattle.  Didn't hiss, didn't move.  I wonder if he just knows me now, and knew I wasn't a threat.  On the other hand, a mile from my car, it's always a question if I could make it back alone, and then make the 45 minute drive to the hospital. 

I listened to a recent podcast with Randy Leavitt and wanted to rewatch his FA of Book of Hate.  Watching and learning from his stemming, which was so precise but now that I've experienced stemming in my own limited way, so amazing to watch.  I love the backwards gloves on his palms. 

Here's an interesting thing for me, listening to Randy talk about his climbing: I felt I could relate to everything. Being a quite unsubstantial top rope climber, I can still totally get the thrill, the desire to make it hard, to try hard, and the work to exhaustion. That's the thing about climbing that is different from anything else imo, a 5.6 climber can still experience the same high. He also talked about motivation, and needing to admire the route he's climbing. Something has to call in order to fall in love with a route and want to give it your all. 

I also immediately resonated when Randy said "I love the solitude of climbing." I wonder if that's just a personal preference? I'm not antisocial (at all!) but my best memories are of times that felt solitary.

Ward Smith wrote:

With age you absolutely will gain fat if you keep eating the same thing.  I have had to continually reduce my carbohydrate consumption in order to keep from getting overweight.  Now on a keto diet, I weigh less than I did in high school.  

I agree! Although my reading of literature is that our bodies metabolism doesn't start to trail off until 60. Any weight gain is going to primarily be caused by lifestyle changes exacerbated but not caused by age--not that it matters that much. 

a few days ago with Isa and Bernie

Hugi had a really rough week or so in the beginning of august. We think he has a tumor in his sinuses that must have put pressure on his brain for a few days as he had several bad seizures over the span of  5 days. Meds must be working because he seems to be doing really well. Lost a lot of weight and doesn't eat much but seems to be reasonably happy. He is getting really sick of me giving him medicine every day.  Rock hopping yesterday..

He is a very cool little dude and it sucks watching him suffer. 

last nights full moon drumming circle

Anybody see the almost full lunar eclipse last night? It was beautiful!

It was cloudy here . thats why we had out party last night. 

phylp phylp wrote:

Anybody see the almost full lunar eclipse last night? It was beautiful!

Here it is from N/E Wyoming. It was just a tad hazy, so this was the best I could get.

Great shots.  

Not a great shot, but this fire lookout has been my go to spot for a long time. Seen many stellar nights up there.  Last night was good!

Kristian Solem wrote:

Here it is from N/E Wyoming. It was just a tad hazy, so this was the best I could get.

Nice!

It was overcast in Aliso Viejo CA could only see it through clouds.

Not as good as  Kriss's moon pictures but this was last night

Isa and I rode the ferris wheel

and did a lot of people watching

some nice tractors

don't ever get old

Love the Rodeo

Then the boys have to try and impress the girls... 

Theres an unlucky cowboy in the dust under the bull...

and the horse pull.

Great rodeo photos Nick. What a job being a rodeo clown. I am going to have to do a new highball boulder ascent just so I can name it Rodeo Clown. I love the barrels they have to jump in.. Hopefully nobody got too mangled.

Takes a special kind of crazy to ride a 2000 pound pissed off bull. Ever been to a Mexican rodeo? They do some crazy stuff as well. 

Trying out the new knees yesterday at 10,000 feet.  There is a massive fish in the photo, rivals all those that Bob posts up.

It was so nice to be cold up there after the last few weeks of humid heat in LA.

Bit of a climbing video in the link below of my recent trip to Araps/Gramps.

(Don't mention the trade war)

https://youtu.be/BAgMh3KNp7A?si=NjCgtmwcPc4ykjqv

So at 58, I got a daith piercing. My youngest has her ears pierced three times on each ear and after the latest one she suggested that I get one--more like she challenged me to do it, thinking I wouldn't. She researched all the different ones and we decided on this one because it's well hidden (don't want to offend clients that will make assumptions about my character/politics) and it has a similar pain level and healing time as hers--conch.

Now we bond at night cleaning the blood and ooze from each others piercings.