Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Aug 23, 2017 - 08:58pm PT
|
It sure looks like those dudes have a special relationship and know how to have fun. Kind of sobering though...three of them are younger than me.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Aug 24, 2017 - 02:23pm PT
|
I stopped climbing for 4 years and recently started up again.
Has anybody ever soloed a virgin wall in their sixties?
Might be an interesting goal,...
|
|
donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
|
|
|
Aug 24, 2017 - 04:12pm PT
|
In your 60's soloing a virgin wall might be an easier task than soiling a virgin.
|
|
Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
|
|
|
Aug 25, 2017 - 12:15pm PT
|
The only guys that want to soil virgins can't handle the competition.
My limited experience in that regard was,... disappointing.
|
|
Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Aug 25, 2017 - 03:54pm PT
|
In the words of my good friend, Dave Huntsman, "I'd just lie down next to her and cry!"
|
|
rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 29, 2017 - 02:54pm PT
|
Geezers score again, a 50th anniversary ascent. The HS grade seems to span 5.6 to 5.7 depending on the seriousness of the lead. (Fifty years ago is ten years before the advent of cams, so the seriousness may have declined since then.)
[Click to View YouTube Video]
|
|
jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
|
|
|
Oct 29, 2017 - 09:18pm PT
|
Nice video, but Lauria's more impressive with fifteen more years under his belt.
|
|
healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
|
|
|
Oct 29, 2017 - 09:28pm PT
|
Did 1300' of 5.9 rope soloing yesterday at 65 - kind of sore today.
|
|
rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 29, 2017 - 10:09pm PT
|
Nice video, but Lauria's more impressive with fifteen more years under his belt.
For sure, and then there is always Beckey*. Even I have 7 more years under my belt and am still regularly managing harder that HS on the sharp end. But I wasn't trying to promote comparing and ranking. I was just hoping to celebrate the various ways we have found to engage in the sport we love as the indignities of age force accommodations. At this point, I'm more interested in the spirit of being out on the rocks or in the mountains, and the ways we find to keep that spirit not only alive, but even newly vibrant.
I was just out on Friday with the best climbing partner I've ever had, John Bragg. Here's the view from a belay ledge on a lovely climb of no particular significance. At moments like this, it doesn't matter how old we are, or what we can or can't do as well as we used to, or who our age is climbing harder, or who is older than us and still at it. The day speaks for itself, and I think John and I both sensed how lucky we are, after so many years, to be up here yet again in the sunlight.
Lucky again when the sun sets beautifully on yet another but now-precious day on the hill.
--------------------------------------------------------
*Postscript: Fred died the day after this post, at the age of 94, with an 80 year climbing career behind him. For years, the United States portion of the Climbs and Expeditions section of the American Alpine Journal might just as well have been titled, "My excellent summer vacation by Fred Beckey." He was prolific, he was ubiquitous, and he spanned the generations. There will never be another like him, and in the context of this thread on aging, his eighty years of climbing will be a monumental threshold for a long time to come.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
RIP Fred
|
|
Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
|
|
|
Oct 30, 2017 - 09:10am PT
|
"The toothless old tykes of tomorrow were the tigers of yesterday" Tom Patey
Bonnie Prudden well into her ninties still wanted to get back at it in the Gunks when I had the exquisite pleasure of interviewing her several years ago before she passed. Due to a life devoted to fitness she was still powerful as a chimp when I got my first hug from her and certainly capable of pulling down.
Though she did sigh and pronounce "Climbing is a jealous sport. If you don't keep doing it, you get sloppy" when I asked her why she stopped. Absolutely amazing woman and climber.
Great thread Rich!
|
|
ladyscarlett
Trad climber
SF Bay Area, California
|
|
|
Oct 30, 2017 - 01:41pm PT
|
At moments like this, it doesn't matter how old we are, or what we can or can't do as well as we used to, or who our age is climbing harder, or who is older than us and still at it. The day speaks for itself, and I think John and I both sensed how lucky we are, after so many years, to be up here yet again in the sunlight.
<3
Moments like this are why I keep trying, in spite of injuries and non-climbing life factors. It's heartening to hear, and encouraging to keep trying the steep way up...
Thanks for sharing!
Cheers
LS
|
|
whoops
climber
paradise, ca
|
|
|
Oct 30, 2017 - 02:10pm PT
|
I climbed in a place called the Mile End Gym while working in London. Met a guy that was 83 years old and still climbing twice a week. If you tried to talk about anything but climbing he would stop you and say "this is my climbing time". I'm 68 and when I grow up I want to be just like that guy or my 73 year old climbing buddy John Robinson. I breathe when I'm away from climbing but I finally catch my breath when I'm standing at the bottom of some wall. Those of you that have a real passion for something, anything, will understand what I mean.
|
|
Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
|
|
|
Oct 30, 2017 - 11:23pm PT
|
Climb forever? Thought Fred might, but time caught up with him. Love ya, Fred.
|
|
guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
|
|
|
Oct 31, 2017 - 10:41am PT
|
rgold..... thanks for the post and the pics...
Fred was so amazing, he was able to keep going and going and going...
when I get old I wish to be like Fred....
heck when I was 23 I wanted to be like Fred.
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!