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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jul 12, 2018 - 03:44pm PT
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Back here in the right coast, the Hudson Valley contingent has started the ALCT (Assisted Living Climbing Team), populated by old climbers in various stages of decrepitude, from very mild to...you don't want to know. Admission standards are not based on years climbing, but rather on years living, and you have to be at least 70 to get in. (However, under extreme pressure, we have had to establish a JV.)
As you can imagine, a good many of the oldsters have more than 50 years before the climbing mast, and so are candidates for Jim's Half-Century club as well. (Speaking of which, I propose HCCC---half century climbing club).
As far as I can tell, membership in the ALCT confers neither rights nor privileges, and in that regard it mimics the HCCC. T-shirts have been discussed but have never happened, and drug manufacturers have turned a deaf ear to discounts on NSAIDs.
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Gorgeous George
Trad climber
Los Angeles, California
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Jul 12, 2018 - 04:06pm PT
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Damn, am I going to remember to post in 5 years?
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Crump
Social climber
Canyon Lake, Texas
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Jul 12, 2018 - 04:09pm PT
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Climbed Lasen Peak with my fam when I was 4 in 1964 and all the way my father encouraged me saying, “James, your a fine mountaineer!” Wrote on my brain tracks and by ‘67 and ‘68 I had stolen one of my dad’s sailing ropes and was pioneering Austin limestone! ERock in 1971, first ERock FA in 1972.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Jul 12, 2018 - 04:09pm PT
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I began my mountaineering by climbing Navajo Peak in the Indian Peaks of Colorado while still in High School, 1956. My first roped climb was Empor, on Cob Rock in Boulder Canyon with Bob Culp in 1959. First real lead was Cussing Crack, Castle Rock, Boulder Canyon in 1960.
So...do I win the case of Ensure, or the box of Depends? I'll settle for a bottle of Single Malt Scotch....
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11worth
Trad climber
Leavenworth & Greenwater WA
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Jul 12, 2018 - 04:23pm PT
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A route at Donner summit. Summer of 1958.
Jim Phillips
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Jul 12, 2018 - 04:59pm PT
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And how many of you crusty old farts are STILL climbing??? THIS is what really counts.
Pete [a mere 40-year veteran, but STILL givin' 'er....]
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Jul 12, 2018 - 05:22pm PT
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O.K. Pete, this picture is for you. I took this picture of Jimmy Dunn at the base of Turkey Rocks last year. I'm 72, but feel like 90 at the moment-herniated disc, ( I've had a few).
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Jul 12, 2018 - 05:23pm PT
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No man, you have it all wrong, how many "Toothless Old Tykes of Tomorrow," are still alive!
I get out several times a year, nothing big, mostly peak bagging and some easy sh#t. Perhaps you are unaware of the fact Donini has been cloned several times over and we aren't sure which is the original and which is the original Mutha?
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jul 12, 2018 - 06:16pm PT
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Perhaps you are unaware of the fact Donini has been cloned several times over and we aren't sure which is the original and which is the original Mutha?
Pete's kind of young, and should be forgiven for not knowing much about... well, about pretty much anything. But those of us who have been around for a bit longer know that, while the original is still intact, several clones have been identified....
Caldwell and Honnold for sure, but there is debate about several others.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jul 12, 2018 - 06:20pm PT
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And how many of you crusty old farts are STILL climbing??? THIS is what really counts.
I'm still climbing. 50 years is a somewhat distant memory, as I've got 61 years in. That said, I ain't no Donini clone or even close to it.
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Yeti
Trad climber
Ketchum, Idaho
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Jul 12, 2018 - 06:52pm PT
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Mine was on the Truckee Boulder in company with Dougal Haston and Paul Arthur in April 1968.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Jul 12, 2018 - 07:32pm PT
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I can vouch that Donini, 11Worth, Brokedown, & TWP are still climbing, based on seeing them in action at City of Rocks this June.
TWP on Rye Crisp at Elephant Rock.
Donini resting after putting up a rope or 6.
And I belayed Brokedown on a 5.7 a couple weeks after he had a heart attack after leading a 5.5 at the City of Rocks.
I must confess, I really enjoyed 11worth & me breaking away from the group, doing a hike, & climbing some new routes in Bingham's new guidebook. It turns out I lead a 5.6c sport & gear route, that isn't in the new guidebook. We old farts still like some adventure.
11worth following the new route.
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OldEric
Trad climber
Westboro, MA
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Jul 12, 2018 - 07:59pm PT
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The Grand - August of 67. Not my first roped climb but one that "qualifies" me for this club of dubious distinction.
Still climbing.
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Jul 12, 2018 - 08:04pm PT
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aside from my parents I don't know anyone on the wrong side of 50, much less someone who has climbed 50 years
good on all y'all
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Jul 12, 2018 - 08:04pm PT
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This was my first day, Spring 1959. I'm on the left, carrying a barely visible 120' half-weight Viking braided rope, about 9.0 diameter. So I'm in!
Yes I still climb, but finding partners can be difficult. Last year, with no partners in sight, I solo bolted a 9 pitch .8 route which I called Amazons, and then did the FA as a roped solo.
One disadvantage of aging is that you get stiff in all the wrong places, at all the wrong times!
And "Yes", I have started on Project 2018, the big slab in the background.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Jul 12, 2018 - 08:29pm PT
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Hurrah for Hamish Mutch!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 12, 2018 - 08:39pm PT
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Summer doldrums....but the Karakoram looms. Good way to beat the heat AND the crowds.
With areas like these available, I ask you, WHO in their right mind would let a little aging get in the way?
Feeling a lack of motivation...spread your wings and fly to new pastures.
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Risk
Mountain climber
Marooned, 855 miles from Tuolumne Meadows
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Jul 12, 2018 - 08:48pm PT
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Well, I’m not sure if I make the cut or not, because I can’t quite figure out what year it was. But, my first roped climb was with Wayne Merry behind Yosemite lodge around the corner from Swan slab with YMS out of the closet from the old lodge lounge. Anyone know the year?
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Jul 12, 2018 - 08:58pm PT
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spread your wings and fly
Smith Rock 24 May 2017
TWP in background
life is fleeting
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Bruce Morris
Trad climber
Soulsbyville, California
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Jul 13, 2018 - 12:05am PT
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First roped climb, Mt Starr King, with Phil Arnot and the Carlmont Alpine Club in October 1961. Didn't know how to rappel yet, so got lowered down on belay from the summit with two ropes. Nice way to get all scraped up. Learned to rappel that same winter on Mt Tamalpais summit rock, again with the Carlmont Alpine Club using the dulfersitz method. Again, a big mistake.
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