I am no longer a 5.11 climber

Discussion Topic

Return to Forum List

This thread has been locked

Messages 21 - 40 of total 93 in this topic

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

eeyonkee

Trad climber

Golden, CO

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 16, 2018 - 05:50pm PT

SomebodyAnybody! Thank you! Really, I'm so stupid (stoopid), I didn't even see that one. DUH!

WBraun

climber

Apr 16, 2018 - 05:53pm PT

eeyonkee

You're not st00pid and I know you're joking.

But just remind you ..... you're a good man !!

eeyonkee

Trad climber

Golden, CO

Topic Author's Reply - Apr 16, 2018 - 06:06pm PT

I can easily give up 5.11.

That's what I am grappling with. Would you say the same of 5.10... 5.9?

I think of 5.10 as something that good athletes (in sports where lightness counts) could do first try; 5.11 is harder.

mike m

Trad climber

black hills

Apr 16, 2018 - 06:28pm PT

Eeyonkee, by your definition I was never a 5.11 climber, but I got up more than a few and even authored some. Man if I would have done the stuff you did I would be pretty proud. I did the Great Zot to Rewritten today with my son and he did all the hard pitches and it was super fun. If you are saying you need climbing partners for some practice pitches to get back to 5.11 just let me or jack know. I am doing the same thing on a long term basis. Keep climbing the easy stuff as I am sure you know is quite fun too.

steve s

Trad climber

eldo

Apr 16, 2018 - 06:30pm PT

The thing that matters to me the most is that “ you are a climber “. And you bring something to the scene. Grades don’t mean shite! Cheers

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

Apr 16, 2018 - 06:53pm PT

The thing that matters to me the most is that “ you are a climber “. And you bring something to the scene. Grades don’t mean shite! heers

And, in the end, there are only two grades anyway. Either you can get up it, or you can't. Whatever number is attached in some book isn't the point.

wilbeer

Mountain climber

Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,

Apr 16, 2018 - 07:05pm PT

How True,cheers Ghost !

MH2

Boulder climber

Andy Cairns

Apr 16, 2018 - 07:31pm PT

I recognize on a considered level that grades are not the point. I formed a deep appreciation for their significance at the Gunks long ago and have no need to free myself from that appreciation.

I think of 5.10 as something that good athletes (in sports where lightness counts) could do first try; 5.11 is harder.

When I started out, you were a hardman if you climbed 5.8 and a god if you could do 5.10. There were no 5.11s in the guide.

It is much different, now.

Roger Breedlove

climber

Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Apr 16, 2018 - 07:33pm PT

What....?

Grades don't matter?

And, now you tell me?

Damn!!

ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber

ne'er–do–well

Apr 16, 2018 - 07:43pm PT

what a puss- - -
I guess you can always just go back to free soloing groundbreaking 10a grade IVs.

SteveW

Trad climber

The state of confusion

Apr 16, 2018 - 08:13pm PT

I never wuz one. . .

(though I did do a couple of easy '11's clipping bolts--don't
tell anybody)!!!

Tom Patterson

Trad climber

Seattle

Apr 16, 2018 - 08:25pm PT

As a fellow 70s Poway High grad, and long time admirer of your climbing, Greg, you'll always have my respect--5.11 w/grunts and groans, or not.

shipoopoi

Big Wall climber

oakland

Apr 16, 2018 - 08:36pm PT

eeyonkee, i used to climb 5.14, but now it is a project to climb 12a. the thing is...if i pick something hard for me, that i have to dig in for, it doesn't matter the grade...as long as i am still pushing my limits. and by the grunting and whimpering i do on lead now, there is no question i am pushing it, and that keeps me motivated and happy.
just pick hard 5.10 projects for yourself and get grunty, its so fun . steve schneider
i'm 57 by the way

couchmaster

climber

Apr 16, 2018 - 09:30pm PT

MEH. Kids today warm up and then do laps on what I use to think were test pieces in days of olde and was proud to have gotten up. It's nothing to get wrapped up in.

rgold

Trad climber

Poughkeepsie, NY

Apr 16, 2018 - 10:49pm PT

I think I might once have been a 5.11 climber, but as I get older, the grades float away like dandelion seeds on the wind. They flit about in the fields of memory, close enough to touch, and yet far away.

If you keep at it, a climbing career is like a bell curve, and I'm pretty far out on one of the tails. Many are doing better, even more have left the field of battle or indeed this earthly realm.

The day Jesse Owens died, a commercial he made mistakenly aired. He said, in hindsight rather prophetically, "Hi, I'm Jesse Owens. I used to be the world's fastest human, but now I'm moving at a slower pace."

My slower pace is not yet the final one Jesse inadvertently announced, and while it lasts, it is full of the same delights and challenges that motivated the sprints my youth. I've come to realize that as a climber, I was a romantic and a sensualist far more than an achiever, and now that achievement is no longer much of an issue, the smell of the rock, its feel under my fingers, the way the rubber-shod foot, guided by a half-century of experience, settles into scoops and divots, these things make me happy and at peace.

I wouldn't complain if I could climb harder, but all things considered, it is a privilege and a blessing to be still doddering about at all. So good bye and fare thee well to those now-hazy days of 5.11 and beyond, I'm off to grovel up something much easier---but no less joyful, no less satisfying; being granted another day on the hill is all I could possibly ask for.

mcreel

climber

Barcelona

Apr 16, 2018 - 11:01pm PT

Fortunately there are a lot of good 5.10s out there!

healyje

Trad climber

Portland, Oregon

Apr 17, 2018 - 02:11am PT

In good years I manage it for a couple of weeks before it starts raining again.

hooblie

climber

from out where the anecdotes roam

Apr 17, 2018 - 03:19am PT

on occasion it feels like i've cobbled together a functional stride.
that's when my mind races ahead to dreams of jumping sharks

steveA

Trad climber

Wolfeboro, NH

Apr 17, 2018 - 05:57am PT

I was talking to an extremely well known climber the other day, who is 81. In his day he did 1st ascents all over the US; including the Diamond etc. He was complaining that he couldn't do a 5.6 that he had led many times. Such for the slow decline. I take satisfaction that many climbs I did years ago have been upgraded a notch. I didn't realize that I climbed that hard in my youth!
I turn 72 in July, and last October I did the NEB on HCR in Yosemite, for the last time. It's hard to except aging!