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jstan
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 1, 2015 - 12:05am PT
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Who would have thought interests could change so much.
When I was twenty six and a half, already an old man, I got interested in rock climbing (1965). I figured I could do that while also doing my thesis. It started out when I was pulling a forty eight hour day watching a germanium crystal grow, After it was finished I was long gone past being able to sleep, so I went out and ran on Syracuse University's track. In two inches of snow. Remember it clear as day. Maybe that was the day I was the most alive. Funny how you see so clearly when you are closer to the end. Just odd.
The Gunks were a well from which escape was impossible. Sharp holds on steep faces with roofs everywhere. Could hardly get your body out of a horizontal position. So much excitement. And the people. For some reason Willy spent a summer teaching me. Took me on an aid climb, Birdie Party, without indicating it was anything different. I guess just to see what I would do. So I am bat manning up this funny sling attached to an un-driven horizontal. Willy says, "I would not jump about too much were I you." Pin fell out as he spoke. How can you not love stuff like this?
Then at the Naval Research Lab. in DC I would do pull ups every hour. Hoping beyond any reasonable hope I could get better. Ah well.
Now I am retired and totally useless. Going back and forth between Santa Barbara and Joshua Tree. Both wonderful places. Tomorrow morning I go out and help pick up trash on the road to 29 Palms. Paper, tires, you name it. With people who are not afraid to throw themselves into problems that are obviously beyond solution. I guess I just love drama.
There is nothing more exciting than people totally committed to problems they can't possibly solve. Six times out of ten, they solve them.
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thebravecowboy
climber
liberated libertine
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people who are not afraid to throw themselves into problems that are obviously beyond solution. There is nothing more exciting than people totally committed to problems they can't possibly solve.
Yes, this is absolutely the reason that I climb: to confront that moment of perceived impossibility with a big wild naked middle finger and just try against it all.
And yeah, some of the best people I know are out doing exactly the same thing tomorrow. Although your particular stretch of road is just that much worse. :-)
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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John,
You left quite a legacy in the Gunks. It seems Mr. Crowther mentored quite a few climbers BITD. Me too!
It seems like life went by way too fast, but aside from climbing, which I still do, there are plenty of other activities which keep me busy. I'm a little too selfish, and self-centered to pick up trash.
This past Winter, I made 5 different wood cutting boards, which were all given away as gifts. I have an extensive work shop in the basement where I can keep occupied all Winter.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Six times out of ten
Optimist.
Climbing=chess/gymnastics
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Mouse's Corollary to Clinker's Equation
Rock/Water = Solution Pocket>More Solution Pockets>Interesting Fun for All
Optimistically, that is.
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MisterE
Gym climber
Being In Sierra Happy Of Place
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John, so 6 out of 10 times your crew murders the impossible?
%^)
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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_V, 1 - OD direct 5.10 G __
FA John Stannard 1970's, "Climb the final roof at a thin crack."
Always of interest to me is this gem, to the right of Teeny Face, at the top of the Obstacle Delusion/Insuhlation, Pedestal. (It makes a great mid-season test.)
A finger crack that takes a perfect ring lock, (at your waist, after. . .)
Then set your feet goin' full horizontal & PULL,
pull up lock off and reach like a Motha' . . . .
to Get first knuckle locks as you leave the toe locks and control the swing. . .
Then the twist to layback, throw the foot up,
a high step off the lip to a stand-up with the trees in your face.
This is hard, harder than .10, likely .11b.
A forgotten classic !
Thanks again.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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"i'm interested in
a prolonged derangement
of the senses."
-james morrison
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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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i suffer uncommon interests.
my loving gal,
she attempted for some time
to corral my eyes, heart and mind.
then she realized that we
were, together, going crazy.
so she abandoned the tether
and now i'm
completely enthralled by
and in love with
that lone, errant cheerio
in the corner.
usually i hate cereal.
but this particular
abandoned and forgotten
circle of processed grain
re-kindled the
chivalry and dormant-love
within me.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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in the early days, a pillow was no big deal
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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John, I guess some of us have a hard time losing interests. They just evolve as our circumstances change. I took my first piano lesson at seven, bid and made my first grand slam in bridge at 9, and started climbing at 16. Now, having just celebrated my Beatles birthday (i.e. 64), I still enjoy all three activities, but my objectives changed. i do much more accompanying than solo playing on the piano, I haven't played a hand of duplicate bridge in 30 years, but I'm playing a lot with my daughter and son-in-law, and I'm selecting climbing objectives by likely enjoyment, rather than mere challenge.
Obtaining fulfillment without feeling frivolous is its own challenge. Watching you seem to do that has inspired me for about 45 years, and it still does.
John
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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What a marvellous commentary from a respected scientist and one of the finest climbers of his generation. Our interests do change and as we grow old it's important to always have a project. The project John describes is altruistic and highly commendable - mine I fear is more narcissistic (exploring trivial mathematics). But the most important thing is to simply keep doing.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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It is irony that the activity which I pretty much abandoned in my forties has returned, only to be my main interest from which others have spun--photography and poetry and Yosemite history and gathering litter with old and new friends--because I cannot do the climbing any longer, even though that is my desire.
When I pursue these new interests, there is little regret about the end of my climbing.
THIRTY MORE YEARS
When I was a young man,
grown up at last, how large
I seemed to myself! I was a tree,
tall already, and what I had not
yet reached, I would yet grow
to reach. Now, [nearly] thirty more years
added on, I have reached much
I did not expect, in a direction
unexpected. I am growing downward,
smaller, one among the grasses.
--Wendell Berry
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Whoah, I just put together that Jstan is John Stannard. Alsways neat when icons of our tribe linger here on the Taco. Never really put two and two together. Not real bright I suppose. Thoughtful post John, I hope whatever life throws at you engages you and you throw yourself right back at it. A most worthy endeavor. Thanks for sharing.
Scott
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Interests may change or stay the same, but as you get older it's a simple reality is that you can not keep up physically, add minor injuries and the activities you excelled at are no longer an option to continue.
Mind intensive hobbies are a great diversion to keep active in new territories, they give you something to pursue.
Rock Collecting is a great hobby for us old ass hotties.
or Succulent collecting:
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yanqui
climber
Balcarce, Argentina
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Always nice to hear from the elders of the tribe!
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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And you know, Jstan just keeps on giving. He's probably
picked up more trash than anyone alive (probably many people
combined)!!!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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I met and became best friends with Steve Wunsch in Yosemite in the early 70's. I travelled with Steve to the Gunks where John Stannard held court. Everyone looked up to John, even a young and inordinately ambitious Henry Barber.
We all change with the years, each in his own way. John no longer climbs but still approaches
everything he does with the same intelligence, principle and style that he brought to climbing.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jim, you make an excellent point. I did not have the honor of meeting John in person until Face Lift about five years ago, but his writing - backed up by his climbing - influenced me greatly as a California climber. John tends to undervalue his role in the spread of clean climbing, but his demonstration of how broad the "clean" horizon could be, perhaps even more than the evangelism of Robbins, greatly influenced what got on my rack in the early 1970's.
John
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Fritz
Trad climber
Choss Creek, ID
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I used to think I had too many interests. Now that I'm retired, my schedule has stayed full with my interests.
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