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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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Nov 12, 2011 - 08:59pm PT
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Awesome guys! At 60 I can just do a split front lever so I am quite impressed that you can do one in your 70s!!! Hope I can keep it up that long.
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pc
climber
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Nov 12, 2011 - 09:16pm PT
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Frickin' 'ell!!
I might just have to try that but I'm going to duct tape my belly button first to prevent spilled guts.
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dogtown
Trad climber
JackAssVille, Wyoming
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Nov 13, 2011 - 05:00pm PT
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John Gill has been the inspiration for me and others for decades. It comes as no surprise that at his age he can do, what he can do, with no fan fare he just goes about being Gill. One of The worlds Greatest high ball boulder, Lead climber and all round athlete, not to mention a humble and genuinely good man.
Dawg. Hey; Ricky.
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Nov 13, 2011 - 05:36pm PT
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Perforated Bovine RGold you are an inspiration.
Just tell everyone you can't put your legs together or you might crush your gigantic wedding tackle.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Nov 13, 2011 - 07:30pm PT
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I hope I can do one when I am 70. Haven't got one so far so that leaves me 28 years to train.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Nov 13, 2011 - 07:33pm PT
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just did one in the basement. straddled, i'm afraid.
an hour off of work for a quick workout. close as im going to get for climbing for awhile.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Nov 13, 2011 - 07:41pm PT
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Different strokes for different blokes as they say in NZ.
Always wanted to try one of these air machine, sky diving contraptions and found one here in NZ couple of years ago. Classic Kiwi set up with a jet engine underneath and the platform in the air with a top net to keep you from flying out of bounds and out of sight!
As you may guess liability insurance in NZ is not a big concern and thus the evolution of many extreme sport companies. The lads had to crank up the power to get me airborne but it was fun.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Nov 13, 2011 - 10:19pm PT
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John-
You continue to be an inspiration to the other old farts like me!
Rodger
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Dos XX
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Nov 13, 2011 - 11:54pm PT
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I always suspected that I was nothing more than a mediocre slouch. After seeing these pics of Gill and Gold, now I know I am. Thanks a lot.
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wack-N-dangle
Gym climber
the ground up
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Nov 13, 2011 - 11:58pm PT
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Where is Weld_it? make the pilgrimage, seek the radness
bump to get at least to 70
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Nov 14, 2011 - 02:24am PT
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Yes that guy (in the video Rich posted)
is a brute. I was impressed with the
plange presses on the parallel bars. The fast muscle-up interested
me too, as that was one of my things way back when. I could
do that slowly, i.e. in slow motion, both hands and arms
over the bar at the same time, slowly, without a jerk or
kip. I never tried it fast. He flies up there quick....
In his prime, John Gill was simply light years stronger
than anyone around, in almost every way imaginable,
with an equal strength of character. I mean, if you
want to compare raw strength, think of climbing a 20-foot
rope in 3.4 seconds. Or one-finger pullups on the first
two fingers of either hand. Or a one-arm front lever,
and then top that with tremendous balance and footwork...
just to mention a few of John's abilities....
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Social climber
Retired to Appalachia
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Nov 14, 2011 - 09:01am PT
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H.F.S.!
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 14, 2011 - 01:29pm PT
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Let us not forget that TM Herbert claims "And also I can now hold a full lever on the high bar with my wee-wee." Of course that was back in the 70s.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Nov 14, 2011 - 03:42pm PT
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Using two hands, pfft.
I bet he could still do the ol' one arm.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 14, 2011 - 08:34pm PT
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Strength is one of the last things to go preceded by eyesight, flexibility, memory, energy, hearing, virility, and drive- not necessarily in that order. All you can do is fight the good fight.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 14, 2011 - 10:41pm PT
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Hah! I sense all those fine qualities rushing off in unison, none of them showing the least courtesy about waiting for one of the others to go ahead.
But Jim is right: fight the good fight while you can, and have fun storming the castle.
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Toerag
Trad climber
Guernsey, British Channel Islands
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Nov 15, 2011 - 07:33am PT
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BESI'st - it's the same over here in the UK - The old steel frame at my junior school with monkeybars and olympic rings on chains got pulled out a few years back along with most of the other similar playground apparatus - they've pretty much all been replaced with 'wooden towers with slides and rope bridges' type equipment. I'm a scout leader and only ONE of the 18 boys we have in the troop can do a pull-up....and he can only do one. 'Health and safety' and games consoles are resulting in a generation of kids that can't do anything physical. Parents won't let their kids out to play at the park 'cos they're scared of paedophiles that don't exist. Schools operate a 'it doesn't matter if you don't win as long as you take part' policy that results in no-one trying to win. If WW2 happened today the Germans would win for sure - my GF is German and the attitude of their nation is so much better than ours - they try REALLY hard at whatever they do.
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wayne burleson
climber
Amherst, MA
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Jan 17, 2012 - 03:31am PT
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Agreed that playgrounds used to be a great place to work out and
it is sad that many of the best metal structures are being replaced with wood and worse, plastic. See-saws and swings are gone due to potential
injuries, even in Europe... I'm afraid this is the insurance industry speaking...
Many playgrounds now have crappy little climbing walls with greasy holds and uninspired placements. I think it would be better to just go back to the metal jungle gyms and pullup bars. Perhaps the climbing community could speak out and provide leadership on this matter...
And wow and respect to John Gill... I remember hearing that he ripped apart his bicep a few years back. That blew my mind since I thought it couldn't happen to big guys like him. Great to see him back tearing it up.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jan 17, 2012 - 04:27am PT
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No better climber or person than John Gill.
I am glad I was as fit as I was when he and I first started
to climb together in early 1968.
I was a university gymnast (very modest in ability,
compared to my far superior cohort teammates), I had a few areas
in which I excelled (many more in which I was not good enough
to be called a gymnast). I had a flair for presses and could do
a slow hollow-back off the floor, very slow. I also could start
in a one-arm lever on the floor and then do a one-arm press
into a one-arm handstand. Of course I did the requisite stiff-stiff
press, starting in an L-seat on the floor and slowly going
through my arms, with straight legs, and up into a handstand.
Dave Rearick taught me that one (although he did it with the
folded/crossed leg version). He had learned the normal standing
stiff-stiff from Gill, in the Tetons. I was a walk-on gymnast, and I
think they took me on as a kind of mascot, because I had these
self-taught abilities but was not a true, well-rounded (versatile
on all apparatus) gymnast. They were all stymied, though, when I
managed a one-arm mantel on a two-inch wide wooden ledge along
the gym wall, starting in a hang and going up slowly. I once
day also finally did that one-arm mantel on a smaller ledge, maybe
an inch and a half wide, very thin. I had them all, with that
little trick, but then some of the guys were Big 8 champions and
could things, for example, on rings... wild strength.
One of my happiest memories, though,
was when I did my first routine in a meet, and I hit it as well
as I was capable of hitting it. The routine was on parallel bars
and involved a straight-body hollow-back to a handstand and
a one-arm handstand. I have always had an inner ear thing, so I
couldn't tumble very well and could not do the required back
stutz (straight body back flip on p-bars), thus losing a full point. But
when I finished the routine and stuck the landing, the whole
team ran out and embraced me. We were all dressed in long white
gymnastic pants, which not many use anymore. That was about as
far as I could take it. In another meet, I first became acquainted
with Gill's friend and bouldering partner Rich Borgman, who performed
beautifully on the side horse. He was terribly skinny and had no
weight at all on those Fort Collins overhangs... what a brilliant
climber... unhearalded in much part. When I bouldered with Gill,
then, in the late '60s, I was amazed at his physical prowess but
also his grace and coordination, his balance and footwork. He had
all the abilities that go with high art, not just strength.
No one has had the magic of John Gill, a man with a true gift.
I was also very impressed
when I climbed with Rich Goldstone (he came to Colorado in the
mid '60s, and we had great adventures...). Rich could easily do
one-arm pullups back then, and solid front levers. I felt a bit like
a weakling, although my strengths were of a different kind... I suppose.
I feel incredibly blessed to have known these gentlemen.
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