When and why did you stop climbing?

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Ezra Ellis

Trad climber
North wet, and Da souf
Oct 25, 2016 - 04:31pm PT
This is a really great thread, it shows our weaknesses , and humanity beautifully.

I quit climbing every June living in the Atlanta Georgia area , and start again on Labor Day ,
95 degrees and 90 percent humidity, hells no😜👊
Occasionally I drag my self to the climbing gym in the summer, but gyms suck!
Bad Climber

Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
Oct 25, 2016 - 04:33pm PT
@Guyman: Dooood! What the hell have you been doing to get so banged up? That's a gruesome list of injuries. Alligator wrastling? Stick to climb. Beer is safe, too, if you can keep the volume down.

Hope to see you again in Bishop soon!

@Lars: Old Dawg. I know you and that crew, although I've only met Steve maybe once. So glad to see you, Mark, and Rainer are still kickin' it.

BAd
TomCochrane

Trad climber
Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay
Oct 25, 2016 - 05:27pm PT
pushing 74 and no serious injuries or disabilities though still kind-of lazy; except for the Tracker School, climbing, SAR team member, wild-land fire-fighting team member, sailing, flying, commercial/recreational diving, skiing, consulting NASA missions, and raising a flock of poultry
Mtnmun

Trad climber
Top of the Mountain Mun
Oct 25, 2016 - 05:49pm PT
Great shot of you and the wild men Lars! I am damn happy to see you getting after it.

I slowed the climbing down to work more on my art over the past few years. I had to have a serious conversation with myself that it was OK to go to Tuolumne and other climbing destinations and not climb.

I did get after it a couple of times recently and it felt GUD!

View of Lovers Leap
bergbryce

climber
East Bay, CA
Oct 25, 2016 - 10:51pm PT
It's sad to admit, but over the past 2 years or so, I don't think I've really had that much fun the handfull of times I went climbing. The short answer is that I need to be in climbing shape and flailing on stuff that I used to cruise is disheartening. I also need to have my "climbing head" in shape and only climbing a few times a year doesn't cut it.

It's ironic that I worked for years to change careers and get the schedule I wanted, to climb more, and now I have it and all I want to do is fish and metal detect. Hell, I'm even contemplating selling some of my gear, to buy new MD equipment of course.
Bad Climber

Trad climber
The Lawless Border Regions
Oct 26, 2016 - 06:04am PT
Hey, We're pulling for you, Cosmic. Here's to life on the rocks in 2017!

Bergbryce said:

I also need to have my "climbing head" in shape and only climbing a few times a year doesn't cut it.

Boy, at this the truth? Unlike so many other sports, climbing has a huge mental/emotional component--aka fear of death--that makes performance difficult if you can't put it in its proper box. I'm usually pretty good about getting back on the horse, but when it's bad, it's way bad. Climbing isn't much fun when you can't find that calm focus and flow. When it clicks? Well, we're addicts, right? Best drug in the world.

I'm headed out Sat. for another dose.

BAd
Larry Nelson

Social climber
Oct 26, 2016 - 06:59am PT
Many reasons for slowing down over the past few years.
Most of my climbing bros bought the farm, moved, or temporarily quit for family priorities.
A ramped up work schedule over the past 5 years squelched many opportunities.
Old and new injuries (mostly tendinitis) took their toll.

The show stopper was last winter when a bout of pneumonia put me in ICU (the first night I wrote 3 paragraphs for my wife to read at the funeral), spent 7 weeks in bed, forced my retirement and left me with limited lung capacity. Been working for the past 6 months to regain some part of my endurance and musculature.
A return to climbing has not been ruled out yet, but enjoying the outdoors in some capacity will go to my last day.
Life is good ;-)
snagglepuss

Mountain climber
Oct 26, 2016 - 07:17am PT
Hey Locker,
From where we're both sitting right now lack of motivated, healthy, committed partners doesn't seem like much of a reason. But it wore me down over the years. I would travel to the other side of the earth with someone and watch them slowly lose motivation while the storm raged or the fear grew. That's quitting for no good reason, in my book. Anyway, I'm the oldest guy in the gym and I like to climb big, committing things far away. I could climb with guys half my age but it wasn't as fun for me and most folks lack time and resources. If I could have mellowed with age I would have been fine but I haven't mellowed. I found something else to do that doesn't hinge on someone else's schedule or motivation. I'm mostly ok with not climbing (outside) anymore. It took a while and some of the old unfinished dreams creep into my thoughts from time to time but generally, I've moved on. The good news is I've actually been able to hold a girlfriend since I stopped being gone every single weekend! Maybe I'll get my act together and get married like the kids do.
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Oct 26, 2016 - 08:05am PT
Quite a list!

Let us recapitulate who has actually quit active climbing:

skitch: jacked elbow
locker: fuked up back
Reilly: most of my partners bought the farm
apogee: commitments of responsibility
moosedrool: injured lower ribs
hooblie: jockey on a nag syndrome (can’t win for tryin’?)
Spider Savage: pinched nerves
Edge: pro alcoholism
Sierra Ledge Rat: third shoulder operation
T Hocking: commitments of responsibiliy
Gnome of the Garblebase: broke neck
jogill: severe shoulder arthritis
Flip Flop: sightseeing & castles in the air
August West: bad knees and back and long prison sentence
Ksolem: seizures
Captain...or Skully: broke neck
10b4me: knees shot
hobo_dan: found windsurfing
snagglepuss: finding partners is a hassle
Adventure: spinal stenosis
jamatt: really hurt himself stepping up
Tom Cochrane: WAY TOO BUSY
DMT: slippery ford
Jody: couldn’t reach the next hold


Looks as if I'm in good company. Hey, I would not be here were it otherwise.

This correspondent still wishes to climb but cannot find the breath to keep up, mostly. But added to a long list of other deficiencies along with the cold hard fact that my last climb was in 2013 with Cosmic, I've come to the end of the road, leading-wise, certainly.

It would be nice to be able to say, simply, "I reached the summit of my climbing career and nothing else challenged me." But that ain't happenin'. It was reached long ago, whatever was my personal high point in my climbing.

Good luck to you all in your new endeavors and to those who post after me with their tales.

Like locker, I'm still good for a belay, maybe a TR at low elevation.
phylp

Trad climber
Upland, CA
Oct 26, 2016 - 08:35am PT
My longest breaks from climbing, following injuries or surgeries, were involuntary and I got back to it as soon as possible. Shoulder surgeries, 3-6 months off, severely sprained ankle, 2 months, elbow issues, 2 months, etc.

My voluntary breaks are usually not more than 1-2 weeks at most, when I'm tired of traveling or want to focus on cross-training.
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Oct 26, 2016 - 11:24am PT
DMT.... explain "Slippery Ford" ... you fall into a creek or something?

BaD... I did crash my Go-Kart, hard, .... you know "Two Men enter the last corner with a big race victory on the line..." well Kirk won the race, I went to Hospital... my racing friends thought I was dead, being all lifeless, as they shoved me into the ambulance. That was fun.

Left arm ... was a Skiing Mishap. The proverbial "last run" of the day on the first day of the season.

The right Knee was because of Sport Climbing.... EE showed be a cool trick on how to get a no-hands rest.

All the others involved hiking of some sort.

Climbing is brutal but not as brutal as hiking!!!!!

Mouse.... me n Cosmic are going cragging in the spring... you should hobble along.
All are invited... expectations for fun are hi, expectations of climbing performance will take care of themselves.
Captain...or Skully

climber
Boise, ID
Oct 26, 2016 - 11:31am PT
It's not "quit", at least not yet. It's still a "hiatus", so far.
mouse from merced

Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
Oct 26, 2016 - 11:40am PT
Guyman--

So lame, but count me in!

There is a Spring in my step, regardless of the aches & pains.

My last Fall is now just a bad memory.

TWP, are you listening in?
Gorgeous George

Trad climber
Los Angeles, California
Oct 26, 2016 - 11:41am PT
What? me quit?

I don't think so.

I admit to slowing down, maybe a lot.

But, what would I do then, chase around a little white ball?

No thanks.
guyman

Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
Oct 26, 2016 - 12:13pm PT
Tad.... maybe a "Super Topo Senior Climbers Meetup"

we need a place where we can anchor to the car bumper.

a place with no OW to climb, or chimney cranking....

some nicely featured slab with a walk off the back.

maybe a low angle splitter or two.

lets get cracking.

Benton Crags might be the spot, sort of mid distance for most of the folks.
skitch

Gym climber
Bend Or
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 26, 2016 - 01:06pm PT
I haven't quit, I'm going at least 1 day a week to da ORG. I just don't enjoy it now that I've taken 3 months off, but since I live in Bishop I feel stupid if I don't climb if I am capable of doing so. I just wonder if I can find "fulfillment" in life if I completely quit climbing and move onto other activities. If I did decide to do so then I would likely look at moving somewhere with better mtn biking.
JEleazarian

Trad climber
Fresno CA
Oct 26, 2016 - 01:48pm PT
The only times I completely stopped climbing were when I was locked up in Taft and when I was under doctor's orders not to climb after repair of a ruptured Achilles tendon. Both lasted about six months, but in the former case, I still managed to finagle a way to boulder, disguised as window cleaning.

I stopped climbing as a way of life when I graduated from college and got a job in 1973. Almost immediately, I saw a picture and blurb on Dale Bard in Mountain magazine, and wished I could still hang out in the mountains. Dale was a contemporary of mine in the Berkeley climbing scene, and many of my climbing friends thought my getting professional employment was "a waste of perfectly good climbing potential."

Would I do it differently now? No, because I doubt that I would have met or married my wife if I did. More importantly, I found I have much better ways to gain personal significance than through climbing, which is essentially solopsistic. I still love to climb, but my significance comes from living for Another, and I'm pretty sure I'm the better for it.

John
johntp

Trad climber
socal
Oct 26, 2016 - 02:49pm PT
Pretty much stopped in 1993 after a really bad accident at Suicide left me pretty f*#ked up balance wise. Funny thing was I was the belayer and my leader fell on me. I've told the story before. My friend drove me into the talus after all his pro ripped resulting a pretty hideous head wound for me. We self rescued and went to the hospital in Hemet.

I still dabble a bit but am no where close to what I was before the accident.

Has beens, no ones. Go grow and learn what pain really is.
10b4me

Mountain climber
Retired
Oct 26, 2016 - 03:00pm PT
I just wonder if I can find "fulfillment" in life if I completely quit climbing and move onto other activities.

When I could see that my climbing career was coming to an end, I bought a kayak. I have kayaked in the Lakes Basin, and on Mono Lake. Kayaking on Mono Lake was great fun.
clode

Trad climber
portland, or
Oct 26, 2016 - 03:16pm PT
I climbed the stairs yesterday. I haven't climbed them since then. I guess that means I stopped climbing yesterday. The reason? I haven't needed to since then. Comment: I bet you I'll take up climbing again real soon! Moral: I intend to keep climbing until I am no longer physically able to.
Messages 61 - 80 of total 89 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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