What were you doing at age 11?

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Messages 1 - 37 of total 37 in this topic
Ihateplastic

Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 26, 2013 - 10:05am PT
Having Robyn Erbesfield and Didier Raboutou as parents probably doesn't hurt.

[Click to View YouTube Video]
climbski2

Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
Jan 26, 2013 - 10:16am PT
Determined little gal and her love of climbing shows. Very cool post! Will be amazing what we see her and some of the other young ones do in the future. It already is!
Tan Slacks

climber
Joshua Tree
Jan 26, 2013 - 10:53am PT

My eleven year old (2006) was my "Pad Caddy" That was years ago, Now I have to chase her across the mountains


Bottom line, she keeps me inspired and I learn from her everyday.
Maysho

climber
Soda Springs, CA
Jan 26, 2013 - 12:39pm PT
Super impressive! And she seems to really love it. For any kid, having a passion is the best, and sets them up for rich life...

Me at 9 years old...I dare you to rappel like this now!
Gunkie

Trad climber
East Coast US
Jan 26, 2013 - 02:41pm PT
my 10 y.o. son just out bouldered me today @ the gym. Gee I'm outta shape. That's gotta be it. Or maybe he's just going to be my personal rope gun when he gets a little older?
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Jan 26, 2013 - 04:00pm PT
What else? Little League, Arden Park, Sacto.

I played for the Solons, named for the our hometown PCL team, and our opponents were likewise named for other PCL clubs, as we were the second-tier talent, the Coast League. The better players got taken for the Giants and the Dodgers and the Braves, etc., and played in the Major League.

I spent three summers doing this before moving south to Merced, where I continued to chatter till junior year in HS.

I had begun to read about the Himalayas and learned about Alaska from a sixth grade teacher who used to live there. I had a rock collection, too.

edit: I confess to having bouts of CRS (can't remember shit)--I forgot about having climbed partway up Pyramid Peak with the Boy Scouts out of Camp Harvey West in 1960. It was a side trip to a long day hike, leaving not quite enough time to summit, so we high-tailed it down to Echo Lakes.
Sierra Ledge Rat

Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
Jan 26, 2013 - 04:15pm PT
At age 11 I was living in Washington, D.C. We formed a neighborhood gang to protect ourselves from bullies and thieves from other neighborhoods. We fought hand-to-hand with rocks and clubs. I was part of the team who ventured into hostile territory to recover stolen bicycles.
Michelle

Trad climber
Toshi's Station, picking up power converters.
Jan 26, 2013 - 04:20pm PT
Competitive artistic roller skating :)

Still have my last freestyle skates too.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jan 26, 2013 - 04:31pm PT
11? I was already a hard man in training at 5!

Risk

Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
Jan 26, 2013 - 04:52pm PT
Early season Tuolumne trip

Back when there was no TM Campground gate. If you could make it in, you could camp.

Little Yosemite Valley low impact camping, 1968. That Svea stove worked for decades.

Backyard gear sorting. Note Goldline.
happiegrrrl

Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
Jan 26, 2013 - 04:52pm PT
At 11 I had a horse; an American Saddlebred named Buddy Rich, who was taller at the whithers than I was.

Once at a local horseshow, we were registered in a 12 and Under Showmanship class and when it was my turn to have the judge review how I handle my animal, she automatically used the same phrase she'd done for the several before...."Trot your pony." She called. a 16 hand pony? Now that's a pony!
Gal

Trad climber
a semi lucid consciousness
Jan 26, 2013 - 05:48pm PT
Great pic, Locker !!!

At 11, I was a gymnast-I'd go to the gym 3 times a week for 3hrs, and once on saturday-it was my obsession... So the thread, Surfing & Climbing-complimentary pursuits... I sort of feel like gymnastics & climbing are complimentary... or let's put it this way, if you were a gymnast in your youth, climbing is a great endeavor when your older and your body can't take the extremes of gymnastics anymore... the mental and physical challenge seems similar...
Gal

Trad climber
a semi lucid consciousness
Jan 26, 2013 - 05:54pm PT
sweet, Hankster!
climbski2

Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
Jan 26, 2013 - 06:16pm PT
Very cool Hankster!


Ahh hell why not. I had great parents who loved the mountains and took us cool places.

Barefoot hiking


Eagle River Alaska (little did I know I'd climb and ski those peaks in my future)

mackenzie74

Trad climber
Berkeley, CA
Jan 26, 2013 - 07:47pm PT
Not what she is doing!
Fletcher

Trad climber
The great state of advaita
Jan 26, 2013 - 07:55pm PT
I was living in a small country New England town looking for stimulation, both intellectual and physical. I found some stuff to satisfy those needs...

During this time, I first picked up Colin Fletcher's The Man Who Walked Through Time and The Complete Walker. His writing fertilized the seeds of inspiration that have lead me toward a life-long appreciation of the outdoors and the myriad elements that go with such experiences.

In tandem, I was also in the Boy Scouts (another long story unworthy of this thread). But, part of experience was earning these metal "skill awards" that would slide onto your uniform's flat webbing belt. One had to do with physical fitness. Running was something you could to to earn the award. A suggestion to get started was to walk 49 steps then run one. Then the next day, walk 48 then run two. And so on, until you could go without stopping and run a half mile. I measured our big backyard and and half mile was five laps around.

So I diligently worked at this, got up to running the whole way and earned the badge. Our next door neighbor's son was in the Marines and when home, he *ran*, yes *ran* on the roads around a lake in our town for FIVE MILES including a couple of ginormous hills! Of course, I thought he was not human, this being the mid-seventies. But he (I still remember his name, Gary) inspired me and eventually, my regular running expanded to the lake too. Later, when I began training for marathons, I ran the lake route three times in a row. Had to deal with harassment from townies who thought I was some kind of freak. Maybe I was! Freak Power!

And, those two experiences, my friends, are at the root of why I'm here, part of this strange, beautiful Taco Stand today.

Eric
Fletcher

Trad climber
The great state of advaita
Jan 26, 2013 - 07:57pm PT
Love it Hank! I think playing with dirt with sticks is genetically encoded. My kids still love doing it today!

Eric
rottingjohnny

Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
Jan 26, 2013 - 08:28pm PT
I was serving drinks in a biker bar in Daytona....
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Jan 26, 2013 - 10:28pm PT
Fletcher, good post. I knew you were in great shape, at one time or another--that sort of thing shows in how guys carry themselves later on when they are not in training; they seem at ease when standing--and I was wondering how you did it. But really, running is my own bugbear--having bad knees I needed to find something else.

I found swimming about the time I was eleven and kept this up thru HS and college's first year. You runners (and Jerry Rice was the most in-shape man I ever heard of, except Jack LaLanne) are lucky. Pair of shoes and go: Talus. Track. Sidewalk. Trails. STairs.
Leggs

Sport climber
Home away from Home
Jan 26, 2013 - 10:30pm PT
What was I doing at age 11??? Great question.

I wrote an award wining essay.
I was traveling the Pacific NW with my mom and dad
I was studying classical ballet and playing piano
I was singing, privately, in my bedroom
and I was writing a report on our 11th President, James K. Polk.


~peace
Ihateplastic

Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 27, 2013 - 12:24am PT
I was writing a report on our 11th President, James K. Polk.

Wow! How old are you?
Leggs

Sport climber
Home away from Home
Jan 27, 2013 - 12:32am PT
I'm am 40 years old.
How old are you, man???

Did you KNOW that James K. Polk was our 11th President???


~peace
Vitaliy M.

Mountain climber
San Francisco
Jan 27, 2013 - 01:03am PT
I was in Texas playing in the dirt with a stick. Because that's what you did back then.

C'mon! The story is much better than that! >:)

[Click to View YouTube Video]
Ihateplastic

Trad climber
It ain't El Cap, Oregon
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 27, 2013 - 01:06am PT
Leggs... its a blague!
MisterE

Social climber
Jan 27, 2013 - 01:07am PT
A Brooke Raboutou I wasn't - and I don't mean just gender-wise.

Fresh out of the mountains and home-schooling, I was Class President of Whatcom Middle School, and had just met some bad neighbors who turned me to the dark side for a few years.

My first crime with the bad crew was robbing an UNLOCKED fireworks stand - easy. I got the rush big-time - by 12 I was ransacking cars, stealing drugs from my parents for myself and "friends". At school, I was also tripping girls in the hall because I thought that was a good way to flirt. I got a round-house from a 7th-grader that left a bone-bruise on my jaw for 4 months.

Needless to say, I didn't make Class President the next year.



Chaz

Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
Jan 27, 2013 - 01:12am PT
Hankster writes:

"I was in Texas playing in the dirt with a stick. Because that's what you did back then."


You guys had a stick?

That's cool. We couldn't afford a stick, because my parents thought I needed a sister instead.
jogill

climber
Colorado
Jan 27, 2013 - 01:15am PT
by 12 I was ransacking cars, stealing drugs from my parents for myself and "friends" At school

That's more like it! A bunch of goody-twoshoes here. When I was 13 (I think) I stole a pistol from a Mafioso.

;>\


Chinchen

climber
Way out there....
Jan 27, 2013 - 01:24am PT
Street Plants.
Fletcher

Trad climber
The great state of advaita
Jan 27, 2013 - 01:42am PT
I hadn't seen that Caylor clip in a while. Love it! Man, you should be certified a national treasure. Anyone who can go through all that mayhem, live through it, and tell about it with a smile and humor is a gem!

Eric
F'ueco

Boulder climber
Sunnyvale, CA
Jan 27, 2013 - 01:47am PT
Hmm, at 11 I was running 10km races and throwing stuff at the track... The first shot is me at 11 with my dad after the "Forty Nunners Run" in Foster City, CA. The second is me throwing shotput at age 10 at Modesto Junior College.



Fletcher

Trad climber
The great state of advaita
Jan 27, 2013 - 01:49am PT
Hey Mouse! You talking to me? YOU TALKING TO ME????? You saying I'm out of shape???? Hee hee!

For 35 years, I've been 5 lbs. away from being way honed. Damn Peanut M&M's and TJ's Coffee Blast Ice Cream!!!!

Many moons ago, I was one of those distance runners who had to get out every day, do big miles. But I loved running so much (particularly the being outdoors in the elements part), that in my late twenties I knew I need to diversify and cut back. Goal has since been to have knees that work when I'm seventy for running. I have my Mom's husband as inspiration... he's 85 and still running! He inspired me to get into distance running back when I was a kid, BTW.

Sorry to hear about your knees... but there's lot of other stuff out there with good benefits.

Eric
slayton

Trad climber
Here and There
Jan 27, 2013 - 06:54am PT
Some of my best memories are of that 11 year old time period. Running around the desert around my home in Desert Hot Springs, just outside of Palm Springs and down the hill from Joshua Tree. Chasing lizzards, hunting snakes, getting stuck with cholla on a routine basis, digging forts out of the sand around cat's claw. Smelling the rare, itinerant rain with the overwhelming scent of creosote. Bliss.
Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Jan 27, 2013 - 10:40am PT
When I was 11, I was wishing I was 56. Now that I am 56, I wish I was 11.
Michelle

Trad climber
Toshi's Station, picking up power converters.
Jan 27, 2013 - 10:42am PT
^^^ nice!

edit: doh, double post Patrick!

steveA

Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
Jan 27, 2013 - 11:02am PT
When I was 11, I had a pretty serious hobby of making explosives; including by the age of 14; high explosives, rockets etc.

At 14, I blew the tips of 2 fingers off. My mother thru all my stuff out.

If I hadn't quit; I'm sure something more serious would of resulted. Climbing is risky, but my former hobby was more hazardous.

Certainly something I wasn't going to introduce to my own son.
Leggs

Sport climber
Home away from Home
Jan 27, 2013 - 12:23pm PT
Leggs... its a blague!

EXCELLENT use of the word "Blague", IHP.


:)
Anastasia

climber
InLOVEwithAris.
Jan 27, 2013 - 12:32pm PT
11...

I was busy being awkward, confused and childish. Not much has really changed, eh?

I remember that my favorite past times at age 11 were riding my bike with my dog and hiking in the Sespe with my dog. Again, not much has changed except... These days I like bringing along the husband a kid too.

Plus no one yells at me when I get home for being gone for hours.

AFS
Messages 1 - 37 of total 37 in this topic
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