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PinkTaco
Mountain climber
Utah
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Nov 17, 2017 - 10:17am PT
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Hi John,
First, I'd like to thank you for your continued contribution to our sport, the history (http://www128.pair.com/r3d4k7/Bouldering_History1.0.html); that you have compiled over the years is a real treasure! THANKS!
Your NFL analogy is a good one, it is still the same game with the newest padding.
While the helmet and added padding may help reduce the player's short-term acute injuries, the long-term more serious impact related injuries (head and neck) are merely being added to the cumulative aging deficit - to be paid for dearly at later time. As you mention, this same affect has been witnessed in gymnastics with the spinal issues.
Has this protective gear contributed to a false sense of security which ultimately increased athletic performance in these sports?
Just as I hang on a lot tighter when I am run out on the sharp end, I hang on measurably less when on the top rope. The pads below me when I am bouldering offer this direct sense of security (real or not), that allow me to push even harder than I otherwise would above the dirt. It is in this sense that I feel they are slightly different beasts. One perhaps more pure than the other... no pad vs. pad. Same game, but does the added padding increase performance? For me, absolutely!
Side note: I recently heard a poor old sod fell on to the and broke his femur bouldering at the gym.
Two questions for you:
(1) have you ever checked out any bouldering comps in the gym?
I was completely catatonic after seeing my first. Amazing athletes!
(2) Over the years does your tertiary sampling indicate to you that there are a higher percentage of mathematicians that climb, than say would be expected randomly? :)
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 17, 2017 - 10:46am PT
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I still do sit start problems that end when my body is completely erect.
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Nov 17, 2017 - 04:14pm PT
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Pink: Two questions for you:
(1) have you ever checked out any bouldering comps in the gym?
I was completely catatonic after seeing my first. Amazing athletes!
(2) Over the years does your tertiary sampling indicate to you that there are a higher percentage of mathematicians that climb, than say would be expected randomly? :)
(1) Yes, I've watched a regional comp. Impressive athletics.
(2) This is a tough one. There are no reliable stats describing how many (PhD) mathematicians live in the US. Anywhere from 2,900 to over 100,000 depending on the sources. So the percentage of math people to general population is speculative. Those I can think of offhand who are still around are Rearick, Freedman, Goldstone, Kelman, Bratten (the last four aging but active). There may be more here on ST, and if I didn't name you, sorry, I'm 80!
Research mathematicians are intellectual explorers and problem solvers, so you might suspect they could be attracted to climbing if they are a bit athletic. Also, many work in higher education, having lots of time off.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Nov 20, 2017 - 12:20pm PT
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Dick Shockley, of Shockley's Lunge at Santee boulders, comes to mind for mathematicians who boulder. He still hangs out there; calls it his office and some days he is a deriving maniac.
For myself, at 60 and recovering from a broken ankle, there is no bouldering anymore. Everything is a solo now; falling is a fail. All of my problems are easy and I consider therapy.
Crack Therapy
Laps on this short easy hand crack has increased the flexibility and pain free movement in my ankle. Finally ready for some longer stuff.
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Nov 20, 2017 - 03:31pm PT
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Dick Shockley = physicist?
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 20, 2017 - 03:41pm PT
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My hat is off to older climbers who are pushing their bouldering limits.....make sure you hit the pads!
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yanqui
climber
Balcarce, Argentina
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Nov 20, 2017 - 04:19pm PT
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Honorable mention from Gill, what could I possibly say to that? After a crappy weather weekend where I got some math done, tomorrow the weather improves and I can make my escape outside.
Cheers to old folks who climb boulders!
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Nov 20, 2017 - 04:54pm PT
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Jgil, either a physicist or mathematician. Hard for me to get a straight answer out of him sometimes. Half the time he answers me with poetry literally pages long. But lately, he has been working on some problems in mathematics with pages and pages of equations working on a particular derivation.
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PinkTaco
Mountain climber
Utah
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Nov 28, 2017 - 09:34am PT
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Let's see off the top of my head there is:
Bob Palais,
Franz Helfenstein,
Eric Cytrynbaum,
Kevin Lawlor,
Chris Orum,
Ron McKay,
Barbara Grover,...
all still climbing and all mathematicians.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Nov 28, 2017 - 12:57pm PT
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"Mathematician Ben Johnsen has taught for a number of years at Norwegian universities and has written textbooks, compendiums and articles about many mathematical topics, especially numerical theory and cryptography. Many articles and countless lectures show a continuing interest in popularization of the drug. He is also the author of other books with real-life cultural history. One example is the cultural history of fungus in "Mushrooms and mushrooms!" He has written about the summits of Jotunheimen, about Lyngsalpene and about the cultural history of cryptography in "Cryptography - The Secret Scripture" and more."
Ben Johnsen is still climbing, though I don't think he's bouldering. He has written some of the funniest climbing stories ever written in Norwegian or any language.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 28, 2017 - 01:38pm PT
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"Poetry, physics, the same thing"
-Doctor Who ( Capaldi)
- over 2000 years old
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 28, 2017 - 01:47pm PT
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Jaybro, 61, headed out any moment to the awesome local bouldering area known as 'The Fakes'. For a session the scope of which is so overwhelming, the locals would probably not even call it " bouldering"...
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 28, 2017 - 01:58pm PT
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It just dawned on me that we should call this "oldering."
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chappy
Social climber
oakhurst
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Nov 28, 2017 - 04:28pm PT
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I still really like to older errr...boulder. I approach it much the way JGill did back in his day. No pads (just a towel to wipe the grit off the shoes), rarely jump off (2/3ft is definitely pushing the limit). I treat it very much like soling. I try to down climb everything. Always in search of a sweet traverse (close to the ground!). Obviously, this limits a lot of what bouldering is all about (max difficulty moves in a "safe" environment). Of course modern sport climbing has really changed things--allowing essentially bouldering on climbs. Much safer and easier on the body to take soft little 10/15/20 foot air balls onto a rope as opposed to the body pounding the knees ankles and back can take jumping off boulders. BITD one didn't have that option. I am keenly aware that often I am one screw up away from a serious injury. I keep telling myself I should get a pad or just start mini traxioning. There is just so much more I like about bouldering than pulling hard. I love the simplicity (part of why I have avoided getting a pad), I love touching beautiful, naturally sculpted rock holds, finding that minute foothold or weird sequence or balance point that makes a problem go. Problem solving. Mathematicians and bouldering--that adds up. Sometimes I laugh at my futility. I often refer to my bouldering as hiking and hanging. I still love the hell out of it.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 28, 2017 - 04:55pm PT
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Had a great 10 probes at the fakes. And a nap after.... And before!
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Nov 28, 2017 - 05:18pm PT
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If you're "Oldering" there's a subset of ethics to follow.
Don't crank up your audiobook too loud.
Don't leave tic marks or skin tags on the rock... that's lame and gross.
Please refrain from beta blasting and repeats of old embellished story telling.
If you're incontinent- use your own pad.
No creeping on the yoga pants
And please use undergarments- that saggy scrotum will have people thinking you're part flying squirrel.
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Nov 28, 2017 - 08:32pm PT
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Well Pink and Marlowe, you got me. I should have mentioned Palais, but the others I'm unfamiliar with. Thanks.
Rich, how about Baldering? Although Oldering is pretty good!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 28, 2017 - 08:49pm PT
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John, I think I prefer "oldering." Not only because of its sonic proximity to the real thing, but also because (hah!) it is bouldering with the "bold" removed.
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