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Steve Johnson
Trad climber
Telluride, Colorado
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Mar 31, 2017 - 12:02pm PT
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Sometimes you got to bend but not break.
The great Steve Hong once told me when discussing this general topic that the day you stop climbing is the day you start dying.
I've had a fully-torn shoulder joint, knee ACL snap, bulging disc, 5-6 broken bones over my lifetime, plantar, back problems, etc., and now the usual aches and pains of slightly older age.
At 62 I can still climb 5.10 - 5.11, but I have a great young rope gun for my partner and we still seek out desert FA's. I'm not afraid to aid or take a rest to prevent a fall, just get the ego out of the way. I skip most bouldering. For various reasons I didn't ice climb this winter for the first time in 43 years, though I will likely do so next winter, just not leading much. I continue over 55 years now to down-hill ski fast, I just ski fewer moguls and do less back-country. I balance down-hilling with even more days of cross-country skiing, to de-compress. I switched to flat peddles years ago, but ride less as the aluminum bikes were hard on my elbows (and now neck).
The idea is to yield slowly and gracefully. I now do far fewer climbs, more hikes and backpack trips, more stretching, more river-running, take more care when hunting or hauling meat on steep slopes.
When the fear and loathing exceeds the wonderful feeling you had when you first began climbing or began to get good, that is the time to ratchet back difficulty/exposure or possibly switch sports. You might find that quitting climbing abruptly instead of slowly de-emphasizing it and lowering your expectations will be a bit depressing unless you are able to embrace other sports with passion.
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Mar 31, 2017 - 12:05pm PT
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Steve Johnson +1
Don Lauria +1
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Mar 31, 2017 - 01:29pm PT
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I had Avascular Necrosis in my left knee. The tibial plateau died. Dead Bone. It hurt like crazy. So I had half of my left knee replaced.
It changed things. I can't run, but I can sure as hell walk, so I do these big hikes. I just don't get my dose of neurotransmitters from that, and that is my biggest problem.
That is a little too mellow to keep me happy, so I searched for something where I could use some of my skills, so I am getting into Paragliding.
You can be a chain smoker and paraglide. No lie. Some dudes take smokes along, because the wings are now so advanced that you can stay aloft for hours at some sites. You would get out of breath hiking up to some of the launch sites, though.
Like most things, you can make it as safe or as dangerous as you like. Wing design is an advanced science now, and beginner wings have a lot of passive safety built in.
I've got a lot of free time right now, so I am planning on taking 6 weeks off to do a road trip, just flying at the best sites in the west.
Flying sounds like a lot of fun, huh? If you live in California, you are already close to some of the best sites in the country.
It isn't too expensive. I got a used rig for about 2300 dollars. New kits are 5 grand. You can always sell it when you want to move up to a more advanced wing. There is a big market in used equipment.
I think that it is the cheapest mode of flight.
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gunsmoke
Mountain climber
Clackamas, Oregon
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Mar 31, 2017 - 02:00pm PT
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Matisse, you launched a truly great thread, at least for those of us who are middle aged and beyond.
Perhaps a primary question is "Can you quit and still be you and still be happy?" As I've aged I've come to value life more. While I've always appreciated and needed the outdoors, I need it more than ever. When I was biking in my twenties I met two older guys who asked how far it was to the ocean. Some inquiry led to them stating that every year at their birthdays, which were about a month apart, they rode their age. The day's goal was 73 miles. I thought, that's want I want to be at age 73. 73 is a ways off, but I still have that mindset. In balancing health and mindset, protecting my mindset can't take a backseat to health. What is the value of health and long life if life is lived on a sofa?
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Mar 31, 2017 - 02:06pm PT
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A part of the mind will always say quit.
That part of the mind is wrong. Do not listen to it.
Actually, I don't think my mind ever told me to quit.
My back on the other hand...
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Mar 31, 2017 - 02:13pm PT
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As for quitting and being happy, when I gave up BASE, skydiving, and climbing, when my son was 2, I became very unhappy. I've done what I could to keep the adrenaline pumping. I've just had to become inventive.
So I zero'd in on Paragliding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLgbWMPI5l0
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Mar 31, 2017 - 02:32pm PT
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I just bought an electric bike (legal in Zion when the road is closed) from jello's brother Mike, and I just finished fencing my ranch and am ready to buy some brood mares.
I am looking forward to befriending my grand-niece and turning 63 soon.
Not too many worlds left to conquer in climbing, but I might yet just try,...
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Mikep_
Mountain climber
Oakland CA
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Mar 31, 2017 - 02:32pm PT
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I just turned 65 and have been asking the same question of myself for a few years - and I have similar difficulties with knees, back, hips, etc. It is not complaining, just reality, something goes out and you cannot do what you were doing 10 minutes ago.
Comparing to others is useless; I have a partner in his 70s whose idea of training is weeding his garden but he will get out in front and break trail all day long. I figure the difference is genetics (I train hard).
In the end you have to ask what you enjoy, this is a sport, hobby, pastime, you should be enjoying what you do. For me, it is long days in the mountains with good company.
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Hummerchine
Trad climber
East Wenatchee, WA
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Great thread! Particularly enjoyed the comments by Donini and Steve Strong...but pretty much all are good! I also turn 60 this year...pretty soon in fact. None of the "each decade" ages has phased me...I embraced them in fact. 60 does indeed sound ominous...but I say that while I'm at Smith Rock shredding for a week with The Mighty Thor. Sure, I can't climb as hard as ten years ago...but I'm still having a gas and redpointed a few routes I've wanted to lead for decades at Castle Rock Leavenworth last year. If you still dig climbing then...well, climb!
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SammO
Social climber
Ohio
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TWP hit a number of nails on their heads.
Notice how the "suck it up" camp points to folks like Donini, while Donini himself, Gill, others wax far more philosophically and less gung-ho "die hangin' from a finger lock"?
If you're doing something for the experience, the engagement with life through an activity, you can adjust your goals without limiting your quality. If you're trying to impress someone (including yourself), pain and frustration inevitably grow as one resents youth being wasted on the young. Older folks here, even those gifted with talents that set the standards, by and large understand and appreciate that it was never really about the numbers - it was about the play. The play's the thing. As in, playful, playing around, playing with friends in games that made everyone a winner.
Beating yourself up, risking injuries that can end activity, seems a poor tradeoff. Shifting gears, figuratively, I debate whether a cushy full-suspension bike will make riding safer, or just lure me into pushing harder until I crash just as much, but on worse terrain.
Are we playing or competing? I took to climbing expressly for its non-competitive, anarchistic style, in the '60's. Now, it's a simpler recipe:
Do what you enjoy, enjoy what you do, apologize to nobody.
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aspendougy
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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I love swimming in warm, tropical ocean water. Is there a place with a few slabs jutting out of the water, where I can do a few climbing moves and then just fall back into the water when I've had enough? Maybe there are places like that in Thailand. I'm 66.
It would be nice to have an outdoor climbing gym in the middle of a tropical bay somewhere.
http://www.crystal-lagoons.com/
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