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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Oct 24, 2016 - 05:08pm PT
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wow, Edge's offer seems so great. buuahahahahaa, not!
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Oct 24, 2016 - 05:11pm PT
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good one edge. I upped my game a bit after my colonoscapy or whateverthey call that crappy thing when you drink that awful sh#t and crap your brains out for 2 days so that they can stick a camera up your a*#... Good way to lose weight ferr certain. DMT you have inspired me as well though I dream about a 4x4 sprinter more than a sportsmobile. and Thanks for the tractors.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Oct 24, 2016 - 05:26pm PT
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whateverthey call that crappy thing when you drink that awful sh#t and crap your brains out for 2 days so that they can stick a camera up your a*#
It's called "The Climbing Accelerator". But I've heard the Competition Sport Climbing Federation has declared it grounds for disqualification.
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WBraun
climber
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Oct 24, 2016 - 05:29pm PT
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If one has stopped climbing then one has become sterile, and/or dead.
The living entity in the material world is always climbing .......
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yedi
Trad climber
Stanwood,wa
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Oct 24, 2016 - 05:51pm PT
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I stopped around 1998. Last trip was to Red Rocks. The folks I went with were the biggest part of the fun. When my main climbing buddy quit wanting to go,I just started other hobbies. Picked up vintage MX racing, don't really miss it and don't want to train that hard anymore. Funny, busted up myself more racing in 12 years than 25 yrs climbing.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Oct 24, 2016 - 06:00pm PT
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Replaced it with windsurfing in the 80's and then got involved with raising a couple of children. The older I got the less nerve I had for leading. Still geting after it Mt. Biking, Canoeing, and a whole lot of X-country skiing in the winter. I'm entertaining the idea of getting on it a bit more as I'm retiring this year. Not too concerned with difficulty but more I just want to get out and enjoy the day. When I was younger I had too much of a chip on my shoulder- not real interested in trying to impress anyone anymore-hope to see some of out there
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Oct 24, 2016 - 06:38pm PT
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Well ------always a deep subject.
I started doing technical climbing in 1969 & it was pretty-much my life focus, until the early 1980’s, when a divorce changed my life & fly-fishing became the sport of choice. I kept climbing, but I was down to a few times a summer.
I didn’t climb as much after marrying Heidi in 1988, although she enjoys climbing & loves"risk-taking.". I became a “work-a-holic,” until 2005, when I reduced my work load & went to Nepal for a 16 day trek up towards Everest.
However through all those work-a-holic years, I kept doing some technical climbing.
Then in 2010, that old bastard Donini figured out that I had been stalking him on ST. We had done a fair amount of mellow rock climbing together in the late 70’s & early 80’s, then had worked for the same company as outdoor sales reps, in the mid-90’s.
Thus came a renewal of Donini-inspired & mentored rock-climbing, mostly focused on City of Rocks, although I climbed other places & with other people too. I kept my fly fishing, mountain hiking, mineral collecting, & river running hobbies, & I worried I was not “really-devoted” to climbing, like many here.
Summer 2015, I was leading pretty good for a 67 year old, & even posted a climbing report about a big trad-route in “deepest” Idaho to ST. http://www.supertopo.com/tr/A-SLICK-ROCK-Adventure-in-Idaho-with-a-single-Blue-Camalot-Belay/t12821n.html
I note in the report, that in the 1970’s & early 80’s, my old climbing-pal/friend Mark & I dragged girl-friends & novice climbers up the then 11 pitch route. After leading it this time, I was limping & covered with scabs for two-weeks afterwards. Mark & I have both reluctantly concluded that perhaps we are not currently as athletic or fit as we were in our 20’s & 30’s.
This year, I had the joy of climbing with Heidi & old Idaho friends, & 11worth & Mark Force & other fun folks, for 5 days at our City of Rocks get-together. I didn’t follow anything harder than 5.8 & didn’t lead anything. Then I enjoyed a great summer of not doing technical rock climbing, but other-wise had lots of mountain fun.
Chronic “Tennis-elbow” is a pretty-good excuse.
Maybe next year?
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lars johansen
Trad climber
West Marin, CA
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Oct 24, 2016 - 06:40pm PT
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I didn't...but I have had to scale back considerably due to health issues. Here's a SF City Boys reunion yesterday at Split Rock, in Tiburon.
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yanqui
climber
Balcarce, Argentina
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Oct 24, 2016 - 06:57pm PT
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Started climbing my senior year in college, spring quarter, after I was done with wrestling and wondering what the hell I was going to do with my philosophy degree when I graduated. It took me a year and a half to finish up that last quarter of college. Climbing can do that to you, sometimes. Since then I've laid off the sport a bit, from time to time, because of work or family obligations and there was a couple of years where I was forced to stop completely because of severe hip problems but I've basically kept things going for 38 years straight. At this point in my life I have a little more free time and financial stabilty to pursue my passion and I'm curious to see where it will take me.
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Rexi
climber
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Oct 25, 2016 - 02:47am PT
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I started climbing when i was 12, got diagnosed with HCM heart condition when i was 16 but continued to climb. When i was 19 i had travelled quite a bit for climbing, climbed 5.13s and was having a blast but started getting symptoms from my heart so stopped... well never quite stopped but just the occasional climb.
But now 16 years later i´m back :) I feel like i have found a way to maintain a decent climbing form without feeling it affects my heart and want to try new stuff, more trad and longer routes. Looking forward to spring.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Oct 25, 2016 - 07:02am PT
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I took 3 climbing trips this Summer, which is unusual for me. but I thought that I better grab the opportunity, while I still can move.
I realize that I'm going to have to "scale it back" a bit, after an unplanned bivouac last month. I was just moving too slow,
compared to just 5 years ago, when I would easily get off this route before dark, ( the NEB of HCR -Yosemite).
My memory of an open bivouac, in tee shirts, on top of HCR, at 70 years old, will ward me off any future routes, of that nature.
Five years ago I climbed the NWF of HD, with my son Mark. I was slow then, but a lot slower, on this trip.
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snagglepuss
Mountain climber
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Oct 25, 2016 - 07:44am PT
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Worked through countless partners over the years. Couldn't find anyone close to my age with the desire, time, health, resources, MIND to climb the kinds of things I want(ed) to climb.
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Adventurer
Mountain climber
Virginia
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Oct 25, 2016 - 08:04am PT
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Had to stop about a year ago at age 67 due to a diagnosis of Spinal Stenosis.
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Escopeta
Trad climber
Idaho
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Oct 25, 2016 - 09:49am PT
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Interesting how some of the politards really don't climb....
I find it equally interesting that some of the people who claim to still be climbing have no sense of ethics or style.
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jamatt
Social climber
Asheville, NC
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Oct 25, 2016 - 09:59am PT
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Haven't climbed in about 4 years. Glad to be done. Selling my rack for pennies on the dollar was an incredible release and act of acceptance.
In WNC, you can be a kinesthetic clusterf*#k and still have some intense experience on moderate trad multipitch like Maginot Line, The Mummy, The Daddy, Sundial Crack, etc.. You can also try to step up and really really hurt yourself. I did both.
Went over to OC1 in which I am equally incapable.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Oct 25, 2016 - 10:08am PT
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I find it interesting how some people here think they actually know the climbing history and current activity of any ST'er, polititard or not...
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JimT
climber
Munich
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Oct 25, 2016 - 10:15am PT
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Curious, I seem to be the only one who made a positive decision to stop climbing, not injury or change of circumstances or whatever.
I started in `67 and by the mid 70´s had got pretty good and I could get up most of the test pieces of the day. Onsight new routes were the thing to do and after succeeding on one of my dream lines I had to rap down to strip the gear (my buddy refused to follow) and saw exactly how far out strength and stupidity had got me.
I took up dirt biking instead as a pro enduro rider which was fine until old age took it´s toll, it just becomes impossible to recover fast enough from the last race to train adequately. The motivation and speed stays more or less the same and you can cover up a lot with increasing skill and cunning but at the end of the day the need for ever more training stops you.
Being a professional racer gives you another insight into climbing and sport in general though, climbing you can have a good day and a bad day, it´s a casual recreation. When you race you perform when someone else says so, when that flag drops you have to justify other peoples investment and there aren´t any excuses, either you are fast enough or you aren´t.
Came back to climbing in the early 90´s by coincidence. Thankfully they had invented sticky boots, decent pro, harnesses and bolts in the intervening years!
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Branscomb
Trad climber
Lander, WY
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Oct 25, 2016 - 10:15am PT
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I quit climbing for about a year in 1979...developed tendinitis in my elbows that neither ice nor Advil could touch. So, I took the 4K I had stashed and spent a year wandering around Europe, India and Nepal. Taking a break sent it away and took up climbing again when I got back. Been at it steadily, if not in a spectacular fashion, ever since. Like it too much to ever really quit.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Oct 25, 2016 - 11:16am PT
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Started at 20... 1973.
took a 7 year vacation in 1980 ....to explore my wife, that lead to 2 kids.
started up again in 1987.
I have been on the Disabled List a few times for:
Broken Collar Bone, concussion, broken scapula.... another 1 year off.
Totally blown right Knee, required surgery.... another 1 year off.
Pulled left Quadriceps, all 4 clean off at the knee. Big surgery... 6 months in a full leg cast. That didn't stop me from climbing, just slowed me down some, it took almost three years to get the leg working again.
Torn right labium, 100% off- required surgery.... that took about 1 year to get back into the game.
Broken left arm... at the airmpit... Doc said my shoulder should have ripped apart, but I have "good muscles" .... recovery took about 1 year.
Three years ago... Spinal scoliosis on my lower back, pinched off some major nerves.... lost all use of my left leg for 2 weeks... docs did some shots, some sort of a shocking procedure and a ton of PT... I can now walk about 2.5 miles with no pack.
Only one of these was a climbing injury, the right knee.... don't squat down on your heal to get a no-hands rest.
But I haven't stopped climbing...
A bunch of my old partners have given up the sport, but I find new, younger partners do go out with.
And some of the old dads still get out with me.... that's nice.
I still have lots of stuff I wish to climb, the list has had some stuff crossed off to be sure.... im never going to succeed on Mt. Robson but I am working hard on my next goal... make it out to the Needles and climb the Howling... again.
Ill stop when im cold and in the dirt - whenever that day arrives.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Oct 25, 2016 - 02:35pm PT
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Curious, I seem to be the only one who made a positive decision to stop climbing, not injury or change of circumstances or whatever...
I took up dirt biking instead as a pro enduro rider which was fine until old age took it´s toll...
I don't regret any of the climbing trips I have taken. I sort of regret that I never took up white water kayaking when I was younger. When I was older (and still climbing) my lower back was too fragile to ever consider it.
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