Where Have All The Old Climbers Gone?

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 161 - 174 of total 174 in this topic

<< First | < Previous | Show All | Next > | Last >>

Dingus McGee

Social climber

Laramie

Feb 11, 2014 - 04:01pm PT

Blakey,

yes, unless you were traumatized from route, you wouldn't feel any anxiety unless you felt for sure you would soon be on it soon.

Monte

Trad climber

Ocean Beach. CA

Feb 14, 2014 - 03:56pm PT

Everybody's right because everyone has a different mix of life parameters. Bodies are like favorite old cars. As they continue to acquire age and mileage, parts you never even knew about start to wear out and break. And for many of us, the reality of mortality that we only intellectualized about previously begins to be visceral and other priorities compete for our limited time. It's a young folks game that aging practioners hate to give up because it is just so damn fun. My partner and I bolted up a couple of 5.9's on lead last year (I'm 68) but I trashed my rotator cuff a few months later following Gary Anderson (that guy will NEVER quit) over a roof and it is healing very slowly. There are a thousand stories on the naked crag. I've always felt that there was a pretty good book here. How about it John Long?

jgill

Boulder climber

Colorado

Feb 14, 2014 - 04:15pm PT

A lot of my current cycling friends who are in their 70's & 80's were also runners, swimmers, hikers ,climbers & skiers .We still do some of that sometimes but biking long distances is now physically more rewarding . . . (Jerry)

Good comment. Those of us who are really old may change our activities, but many of us still have the urge to be physically active.

By the way, I failed the balance test even though my visual-aided balance is excellent. One reason you won't find me high up in the air anymore (there are other reasons as well!)

;>)

57 years ago, and it was not easy then!

scuffy b

climber

heading slowly NNW

Feb 14, 2014 - 04:28pm PT

The balance test says that my left and right sides are vastly different in
age. I attribute it to some nerve impairment in my left leg, which led to
muscle atrophy.

Daphne

Trad climber

Northern California

Oct 30, 2014 - 10:33pm PT

Stumbled upon this in a search and am bumping because it highlights, I think, the value of history in our threads. How awful to lose this much accumulated wisdom. Although, perhaps because of the men and women of wisdom who are participating, this thread is unlikely to disappear. Thanks for all who contributed.

Wayno

Big Wall climber

Seattle, WA

Oct 30, 2014 - 11:16pm PT

"only the good die young"

the rest of us fools keep trying

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

extraordinaire

Oct 30, 2014 - 11:18pm PT

[Click to View YouTube Video]

survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Oct 31, 2014 - 07:24am PT

Where have all the old climbers gone?

Chin up people, there are more active old climbers today than there have ever been in the history of mankind!!

When I was a kid, we saw a silver back climber once in a blue moon. Now I see them on almost every single climbing trip.

Myself included!!

Celebrate: Old Guys Rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Charlie D.

Trad climber

Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra

Oct 31, 2014 - 07:35am PT

^^^Ha! Survival speaks the truth, seems those old guys were once upon a time someone in their 30's.

Jaybro

Social climber

Wolf City, Wyoming

Oct 31, 2014 - 07:39am PT

57 years ago, and it was not easy then!

That means that I was 1 yr old then. And in the ensuing yrs as a climber and gymnast, I've never been able to do that! I suspect it's a specificity training thing.

Anyway, as we get more climbing years under our belt ( I've got 51) we by must needs, get smarter. We play to our strengths, watch our weaknesses, and do what we can. Today I'm off for several days to something that could be the hardest thing I've ever tried, but it's in my, as Monty Python says, "idiom/vernacular" I've long since lost my place in line to be " the best" but, if I can go out and get my reach out there, even if it exceeds my grasp, and I get an idea of where the boundaries are, in my field, I'm pretty damn happy with that! I'm pushing sixty, and this sh#t is still cool!
As Kerouac said, "it's the road, man!"

"A hand came out of heaven and pinned a badge on his chest,
"Get out there man, and do your best!""
-Jimi Hendrix, Astroman

Branscomb

Trad climber

Lander, WY

Oct 31, 2014 - 08:18am PT

I'm pushing 63 now and still at it, not in such volume as I used to do but I still get out 2-3x a week and at least boulder.

I think the reason I stick with it is what I tell myself when I feel like just sitting and drinking a beer or two after work being depressed and that is that it would be really nice to get outside, even if I don't do a lot of pulling down. Just to get out.

I've seen a lot of people, esp sport climbers it seems (maybe I'm wrong), that go at it really hard for a while and then they get out of it and don't go back. The people that I know who have gone that way seemed to be into it for a lot of ego reasons, being really good like that and garnering all the respect of their peers really was what they were in it for. Seemed like when they couldn't get that rush anymore, they moved on to something else.

Whereas I'm still here, not the best of climbers by any means, but I enjoy what I do and a lot of it is the places that climbing takes me, more than needing some crowd approval. I am the black sheep around here, it is well known, in Lander, the home of self-aggrandizement. I'll admit it's nice once and awhile to be recognized. I'm not above that: nobody is. But as I've gotten older it seems more like what Joseph Stillwell said when his staff arranged a big party for him on his promotion to Major General: "the farther the monkey climbs up the flagpole, the more you see of his ass."

I think there are a lot of older climbers around, but they're pretty quiet and into it for their own reasons that preclude advertisement.

Roger Breedlove

climber

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Oct 31, 2014 - 09:57am PT

Move to a really flat place.

I was arrested six times for asking, "Any thing to climb around here?"

It might have had something to do with wearing Lycra and EBs, and a caulk bag on a purple sling.

aspendougy

Trad climber

Los Angeles, CA

Oct 31, 2014 - 10:48am PT

Although his passing may have been sudden and difficult for his wife, friends and family, I always liked how Bob Kamps just kept climbing at a pretty high level and then he just took off and left the body all of a sudden. Everyone seems to have a slightly different pattern. He is another one of the old guard who I think is somewhat under represented in climbing history. A very wonderful man.