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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Turned 60 a few weeks ago, it’s just a number I tell myself… but my bod says otherwise.
Been climbing for 40 years and like many on this site I still get out all the time- almost every weekend.
I have always struggled with weight and the earlier statement, by Phylp about salads’ hits home.
Mouses claim about losing 70 lb also hits home because I have lost 60 lbs before, it’s a huge change in your body.
Maybe we should get together this summer and cruse some of the fine climbs at Courtwright.
I am lucky to be able to have Stoney Point as a focus for my climbing; I always have younger climbers to climb with. I get a lot of motivation and energy from them as well as enjoyment when I can share a cool climbing place or boulder problem.
Sometimes, when one of these youngsters figures out my true age they pay me a huge complement by saying something like this: “ your 60 – sh#t- my dad is 49 and he can’t even get up off the couch or walk uphill….. you just hauled me up a 5.10” ….
So 60 is just a number along the path, I hope to keep moving till the end.
You old guys - Jogill, Donini, PhilG, Alois, G_Gnome and all the rest of you, please show the way... Im following.
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kennyt
climber
Woodfords,California
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Sh#t, You guy's are badass I just turned 48 I don't know if i'll even be walking at 60!!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Part of this is the attitude of regeneration for me. I have been feeling like someone left the gate open, so it may have something to do with adjusting to not having to get up to grind it at work every morning. I am free and anything may be possible, and there are others "egging" me on, showing me the way. And a shitload of telebishion commercials making me aware of my new status.
Who was it who said, "It's all in the mind, innit?" Ringo?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGlOUc0LTiE
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mareko
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Lets see, I'm going to see my 55th this year. My thoughts, I have a great crew of climbing partners and still climbing strong. Its an addiction I will never quit. Being outdoors with my good friends, feeling the granite or sandstone, checking out an amazing line that you JUST HAVE TO DO. Maybe a few takes. But its climbing and the roadtrips and the friendships.
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mechrist
Gym climber
South of Heaven
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I feel the same kenny, but I'm not sure I'll be walking at 50.
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David Knopp
Trad climber
CA
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Just turned 50 a few weeks ago. What a great day-a celebration of community, friends, the love of my extremely tolerant wife. We roasted a whole pig, ate drank and laughed all night long. So yeah, it's possible to enjoy your geezer years. I too have had to adjust my goals-it's probably unrealistic to imagine doing something in pakistan, but i can probably manage something NTB in Cham or Peru. I think that's the thing-wisely, realistically evaluating your goals-I may never do tradewinds on the hulk, but i can surely do the regular route (whatever that is...). For me, the new concentration is on longer, not as difficult b/c routes, maybe more off the beaten track-did a 75 mile loop near yellowstone, climbing 10 peaks and a lot of bumps in 2 days, best trip ever. Not a move over 5.5.
Like Donini, i don't work too much, bless my wife and her ambitious career focus-we need to make the most of these times.
So, off for a long hike with a big pack, training while walking the dog!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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I'll be 60 next fall. I am planning to celebrate, I see it as a real landmark (as in "older than I ever thought I'd get.")
After decades of living in a strange balance of caution and recklessnes I hit a big bump in the road at 53 and for a while it was touch and go, one day at a time. For the next few years I was pretty limited as far as climbing but I was able to immerse myself in other activities and therapies including Pilates, Yoga, and lots of walking with short sprints. Today the whole thing is behind me with a few lingering effects.
So I've been getting out climbing a lot. I get a lot of satisfaction out of climbing in good style, and moving well, so I choose my routes carefully. Right now I am at a point where my climbing level is far below what it was in the past, but I am improving, as is my fitness in general.
When I got sick in '07 I was totally blindsided. One minute I felt young and strong, the next minute I was laying in the dirt having a convulsive seizure. Thus began my adventure in advanced medical care. In a sense I had a mentor in this process: my old El Cap partner (and a lot of other grand aventures as well) Rob Brown. Rob had fought back from stage 4 Lymphoma a few years before. I had watched with amazement as he handled the entire process of chemo, radiation, surgeries and the uncertainty of it all with a kind of serene grace. I took this as a lesson when the wheels came off my bus.
Another great person from whom we can all learn some real life lessons is SoCal local and Yosemite master Clark Jacobs.
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Alois
Trad climber
Idyllwild, California
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Charlie D
The old country was Czech Republic. Left when I was 20, went on a month long climbing trip to Dolomites in 1968, things happened back home, we never returned.
Idyllwild has been full time home for 12 years now, Tahquitz is still a quiet place Monday to Friday, wonderful place, climbed on it since the 70s.
My better half and I are just getting our feet into boots, going up North Gully, there is a bit of ice there, enough for a little fun. Thanks for the good wishes...
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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Getting older is no picnic. I'm turning 65 in April and I find it hard to believe. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel like, but I don't feel too much different than I did when I was thirty... and yet here I am. The most difficult thing about aging is watching friends and family die... I hate it... so much sadness. Still,the beauty of nature remains compelling, adventures remain, the mystery of our existence still fascinates, I can't imagine not wanting passionatly to be here and participate, at whatever age, in this remarkable life.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Pebble Wrestling.... Badly lately.
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Micronut -
Yes, I am the older climber in that video. It was so great to have all of our friends work hard to film that and share the experience. Andrew is a great climbing partner and we really pushed each other hard. I have been lucky to have had some great partners thru the years and this has allowed me to get to a level I might not have reached alone. A big thanks to them: Mike Waugh, Dave Hauser, Rich Grigsby, Kris Solom, and Andrew Rock!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jack LaLanne, in his early 90's, was once asked during an interview if he and his wife still made love to which he replied, "almost, every day."
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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1. Don't smoke
2. Drink in moderation
3. Keep to an exercise schedule - always (but give yourself lots of rest days, avoid really hard stuff for two or more days in a row)
4. Avoid highball bouldering
5. Stay off the still rings (ruined my shoulders - I cringe when I see Crossfit athletes, including young women, doing dips on them)
6. Always have some physical project, even if it is doing one more pull-up
7. Well, let's see . . . I forget what comes next
;>)
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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Good list. I know what you forgot: KEEP YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR! Which you apparently have.
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mechrist
Gym climber
South of Heaven
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Any advice on training for 1 arm pull ups? I fell like it is structurally impossible for me, but I'm not giving up yet... it is my physical project.
Even when I was climbing my hardest (13/v10) I couldn't even lock myself off for more than 3 seconds before dropping like a rock.
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zBrown
Ice climber
chingadero de chula vista
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I think technically it's not allowed, but if I grab my right forearm with my left hand I can do them (i.e. one arm pull ups).
When I was in high school I could do three consecutive "struggle-ups" (similar to a muscle up, but most folks would say easier). I can not do one now. I have no idea when it left me.
Go figure. Oh yeah I'm 66.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Mechrist, I think I know as much as anyone about training for one-arm pullups. I got up to seven on each arm at my best, and could do a few on each arm for thirty years, and perhaps better than that was climbing a rope-climbing rope one arm at a time, sagging down to a full hang at each regrasp.
I stopped doing all that twenty years ago when I was about fifty, because at that point those exercises seemed to be tearing me apart more than they were building me up. How long you can keep that kind of high-intensity exercise going depends ultimately on the genetic hand you were dealt and what you did with it, including the injuries you incurred along the way. In my case, as the frequency of minor traumas built up, I concluded it was only a matter of time before a major trauma really set me back, and so I permanently cut back on the intensity in the hope, so far realized, of better longevity.
So if you are serious about this, here is the program. I've moved the description to its own thread at http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/2083977/One-arm-pullup-program , on the off chance that the non-geezerly segment of the audience might find it of interest.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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I learned to do one-arms way back when simply by hanging a bicycle innertube off the pullup bar. When you do pullups you grap the bar with one hand and grab the tubing as high as possible with the other hand and do pullups like that for awhile. Gradually you move the hand down that holds the tubing. As the one hand gets lower, you can even use it to push down on the tubing. As the hand gets lower through training though, you can't get the push down on the tubing, and that benefit goes away, but the hand going lower means you are getting stronger. Eventually you just grab the tubing for psychological support and don't really need it. I once could do 3 quality one-arms on my left arm, and 2 on the right without doing an obsessive amount of training. It's mostly about doing the 'specific' training that makes it possible. I started from a base of being able to easily do 20 to 30 quality chinups however. The one-arm pull ends up being a neutral hand position on the bar - between the chin-up and pull-up postion.
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fosburg
climber
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jogill advice= gold; wow!
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