70+ and 5.12a+

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johnr9q

Sport climber
Sacramento, Ca
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 30, 2016 - 08:29am PT
Can anyone add to this list? Only North American climbers will be included. (If an item is in parenthesis, it is approximate - maybe someone can give me the proper info) I won't use full names unless they have be previously disclosed or I have permission.

John From Bishop 5.12 age 72
Hermann Gollner 5.13a age 72
John Fantini (5.12) age 70
John Gill 5.12 age 70+
Eugene Larson (a farmer from the Midwest) 5.12 age 70+
Lee Sheftel 5.13a age 70
Pete Cleveland 5.12 age 75
Herb Laeger 5.12 age 73
overwatch

climber
Jan 30, 2016 - 08:37am PT
My first guess would be Mr. Donini.
Spiny Norman

Social climber
Boring, Oregon
Jan 30, 2016 - 08:53am PT
Stevie Haston will probably join that club. He's around 60 now and still climbing hard. At age 55 he was climbing 9a.
k-man

Gym climber
SCruz
Jan 30, 2016 - 08:56am PT
In a climbing mag long ago, I remember reading about a farmer who picked up climbing when he turned 70, and was working on 12+.

Shake my memory, who was that guy?
Mark Force

Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
Jan 30, 2016 - 10:48am PT
Love hearing about that farmer! What could train your hand strength better than being a rancher, farmer, plumber, or blacksmith.

Had a patient once - a 74 year old rancher/cowboy who had grown up in Montana. He was 5'6" and around 165. He could peg a hand dynamometer at 200lbs (top of the scale so he was actually squeezing harder) on both sides and looked half bored while he was doing it!
LOWERme

Trad climber
NM
Jan 30, 2016 - 11:14am PT
In a climbing mag long ago, I remember reading about a farmer who picked up climbing when he turned 70, and was working on 12+.

Shake my memory, who was that guy?Quote Here

Pretty sure the man's name was Gene, and he was putting up 12s in the Needles (South Dakota).

I think Lee Sheftel turns 70 in June.

http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/lee-sheftel-climbs-5-13b-at-68-years-old

ETA: I believe my partner from BITD, Pete Bishop, may still be crushing the occasional 12. Pete is creeping up on 71.


I haven't spoken with Pete in quite a spell, so I'm not sure how his recent shoulder replacement may have affected his skill set.

Here's that story.....

http://kxan.com/2014/07/27/shoulder-replacements-becoming-more-popular/

sween345

climber
back east
Jan 30, 2016 - 02:32pm PT
What could train your hand strength better than being a rancher, farmer, plumber, or blacksmith.

Mark Force

Maybe if you were a long time master baiter?

I can't quote the numbers but Stimson Bullitt may meet this threads criteria.
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Jan 30, 2016 - 05:09pm PT
Oh yeah, the melon farmer....

Stevie is just a kid, even younger than me. But he'll be there when he gets there.

Dingus McGee on the other hand, is in the upper half of his sixties, and climbs as many five twelves a year as any one you know. not sure how high his numbers go, not sure if he knows.

And I'm not sure that that is the important point in this. There are a lot of climbers in their sixties and higher, especially in Europe, putting up new routes in the higher ratings, more than ever.
David C

Trad climber
UK
Feb 1, 2016 - 02:08pm PT
Well this women is 90 plus and can do this, which most 18 year olds I climb with can't

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dvkog_dunya-news-germany-s-90-year-old-woman-is-world-s-oldest-gymnast_news
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
Feb 1, 2016 - 02:54pm PT
You mean there's hope I can get better? I suppose I need to do something about the denominator in my power-to-weight ratio.

John
jgill

Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
Feb 1, 2016 - 03:36pm PT
I remember reading about a farmer who picked up climbing when he turned 70, and was working on 12+

You might be thinking of Dave Slinger, a Devils Lake legend, who started climbing at about the age 47 and continued into his 70s. I climbed with him in 1958 when I think he may have been about 50. I don't think he did anything at the 12 grade but he was soloing his test pieces at about 5.10 when I knew him.

I seem to recall Stimson Bullitt was leading 5.10+ at age 80. He was a lawyer and a member of an illustrious Seattle family.

I was doing a few 12 or 12+ moves at age 70+,but quit climbing after that.
Tom Turrentine

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
Feb 1, 2016 - 04:12pm PT
I'm interested in this topic - turning 62 , but I'm not a star from the past and never do sport stuff except at gyms. I've always climbed mid 10s in the Valley and Sierra, but because of work and family have only had a few days a year to climb - but I will retire next year and finally have some time to climb more. I still climb about the same, but I'm wondering what is possible and what has been accomplished. I hear about older guys doing 5.12 but guessing those are sport leads. I seldom hear many older guys talking about routes like Astroman or Rostrum.. (those would be dream climbs for me) I'd like to try a wall again.. and with all the great gear it seems like we could do more free than we did back in the 60s and 70s (not interested in speed climbing walls - but more interested in doing 5.10 plus leads on a wall). But I don't see or hear much about older climbers doing that kind of stuff. I hear that older climbers are not able to get more powerful but can develop more endurance.. so it would make sense that there are more older climbers able to do long hard trad leads than short hard sport stuff. But haven't heard much (other than Donini.
rick sumner

Trad climber
reno, nevada/ wasilla alaska
Feb 1, 2016 - 04:12pm PT
Time for a comeback JGill. Got to show these whipper snappers how it's really done.
steveA

Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
Feb 1, 2016 - 04:50pm PT
I don't know about the 5.12 bit but here is a photo of Jim Donini and myself
taken a few years ago, when Jim was 70, just after doing a 12 pitch alpine
route in the Wind Rivers, which goes at 5.10D. Jim led all the hard stuff without any problems. Impressive in my book, up at 12000+ ft.
Rolfr

Trad climber
La Quinta and Penticton BC
Feb 1, 2016 - 06:33pm PT
A bit more on Fantini. On his 70 birthday he led 6 routes 5.12 to 5.12 b/c, the next day he raced in a 160 KM bike race and won his age category. His competitor in that category was a previous Tour De France cyclist.

I can't wait to turn 70!
martygarrison

Trad climber
Washington DC
Feb 1, 2016 - 06:42pm PT
I seldom hear many older guys talking about routes like Astroman or Rostrum.. (those would be dream climbs for me) I'd like to try a wall again

Tom, after you retire take the year and work toward Astroman or the Rostrum (easier by a fair margin). Map out a progression of Valley crack climbs to work your way through. I'm sure many folks here on Supertopo can help out with suggestions.

Marty
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Feb 1, 2016 - 06:56pm PT
Dave. slinger, that's it, I couldn't remember his name.

Tom. If you're going to have the time, you can train, to avoid injury, and follow whatever sort of climbing your moved to do. Those are generalizations, not absolutes. Young people like us ( I'll be 60 in July) probably have a better shot at endurance than power, but that's not to say we can't get more powerful, as well. I could never do over forty pull-ups ( power/ endurance?) in a set till my mid fifties, though I haven't worked signifigantly weighted pull-ups (power?) in some time.maybe I'll work on that.

As far as climbing, I'm definitely drawn more toward endurance "trad" climbs. One in particular I've been on is the hardest thing I've ever worked on, and I'd be psyched to get it by my 70th, but working on getting it before that and having new projects by that time :)

Frank Sanders is in his sixties, hundreds of ascents of hard Devils tower routes since the big 6-0!
Merril Bitter climbs hard, last I heard, sport and trad and is like mid early sixties.
jgill

Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
Feb 1, 2016 - 07:44pm PT
I hear that older climbers are not able to get more powerful but can develop more endurance.. so

Curious to hear if those over 70 actually increase endurance. Didn't seem that way to me, but we are all different.
Tom Turrentine

Trad climber
Santa Cruz
Feb 1, 2016 - 09:10pm PT
Thanks Marty and Jay

Just put a fingerboard above my chair, so the in the next few months while I finish some projects before retiring, I can stand up, do a few minutes of hangs every hour ..

tt
ionlyski

Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
Feb 1, 2016 - 09:26pm PT
Don't have any names to add to the list. Not to burst anyone's bubble but the list would likely be in the hundreds anyway at least; wouldn't it? I would think any climbers who climbed at that level, then took good care of their body and mind (like Donini) they should be able to retain those levels. Pretty much the way it's been in most sports these days.

Arne
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