Discussion Topic |
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Nov 12, 2011 - 03:01pm PT
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Nov 12, 2011 - 03:05pm PT
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I'll say!!!!
I hope I'm even near that at 73!~!
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Nov 12, 2011 - 03:06pm PT
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i also love the circa 1966 outfit
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The Lisa
Trad climber
Da Bronx, NY
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Nov 12, 2011 - 03:18pm PT
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Great find! That is impressive.
I am working on progressions with rings and rubber bands and it is still very taxing. Maybe by the time I am 70.....
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Nov 12, 2011 - 03:21pm PT
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Hell, I could do that (if the photographer caught me in just the right moment of my swing...).
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Nov 12, 2011 - 04:40pm PT
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I can do one now, at 55. Hope the next fifteen years work out as well for me!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 12, 2011 - 04:44pm PT
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As one of the "disciples," I'm doing what I can to keep the faith. At 68, I don't qualify as one of Gill's senior athletes, but I'm hoping to make it there with some remnants of strength and ability still intact.
The straddle position used here means this is not really a front lever. However, age has its prerogatives.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Nov 12, 2011 - 04:46pm PT
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it's ok rich, we're all straddlers now
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Nov 12, 2011 - 04:56pm PT
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Maybe I should go back to bouldering more.
good stuff
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Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
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Nov 12, 2011 - 05:10pm PT
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Cheers to John Gill! I had the priviledge to speak with him a few months ago. What an honor. He's even inspiring over the phone.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Nov 12, 2011 - 05:17pm PT
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Maybe I should go back to bouldering more.
sure, say that now that the season has ended
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sandstone conglomerate
climber
sharon conglomerate central
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Nov 12, 2011 - 05:25pm PT
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How could one not love bouldering? I'd rather boulder on a 30 degree day in a snowstorm then do laps in a gym with greasy holds and crowds of gumbies...
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Jennie
Trad climber
Elk Creek, Idaho
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Nov 12, 2011 - 05:37pm PT
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Front lever- quite a feat for a taller person.
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AKTrad
Mountain climber
AK
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Nov 12, 2011 - 06:28pm PT
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Rich, You look awesome. I'd have to turn my photo 90 degrees to look like that.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Nov 12, 2011 - 06:31pm PT
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Jgill is THE MAN!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Nov 12, 2011 - 07:54pm PT
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Jeebus, you even older f*#ks are going to make me stop feeling sorry for myself about our onset-of-the-cold-dank-winter up this way...
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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Nov 12, 2011 - 08:44pm PT
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kill me now...
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
www.climbaddictdesigns.com
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Nov 12, 2011 - 08:52pm PT
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Since this seems to be a Feats of Strength thread, here's one of Brutus(rest in peace) taken at the Snow Canyon Sushifest
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
In the mountains... somewhere...
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Nov 12, 2011 - 08:59pm PT
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Awesome guys! At 60 I can just do a split front lever so I am quite impressed that you can do one in your 70s!!! Hope I can keep it up that long.
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pc
climber
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Nov 12, 2011 - 09:16pm PT
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Frickin' 'ell!!
I might just have to try that but I'm going to duct tape my belly button first to prevent spilled guts.
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dogtown
Trad climber
JackAssVille, Wyoming
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Nov 13, 2011 - 05:00pm PT
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John Gill has been the inspiration for me and others for decades. It comes as no surprise that at his age he can do, what he can do, with no fan fare he just goes about being Gill. One of The worlds Greatest high ball boulder, Lead climber and all round athlete, not to mention a humble and genuinely good man.
Dawg. Hey; Ricky.
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philo
Trad climber
Somewhere halfway over the rainbow
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Nov 13, 2011 - 05:36pm PT
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Perforated Bovine RGold you are an inspiration.
Just tell everyone you can't put your legs together or you might crush your gigantic wedding tackle.
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Nov 13, 2011 - 07:30pm PT
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I hope I can do one when I am 70. Haven't got one so far so that leaves me 28 years to train.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Nov 13, 2011 - 07:33pm PT
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just did one in the basement. straddled, i'm afraid.
an hour off of work for a quick workout. close as im going to get for climbing for awhile.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Nov 13, 2011 - 07:41pm PT
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Different strokes for different blokes as they say in NZ.
Always wanted to try one of these air machine, sky diving contraptions and found one here in NZ couple of years ago. Classic Kiwi set up with a jet engine underneath and the platform in the air with a top net to keep you from flying out of bounds and out of sight!
As you may guess liability insurance in NZ is not a big concern and thus the evolution of many extreme sport companies. The lads had to crank up the power to get me airborne but it was fun.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Nov 13, 2011 - 10:19pm PT
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John-
You continue to be an inspiration to the other old farts like me!
Rodger
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Dos XX
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Nov 13, 2011 - 11:54pm PT
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I always suspected that I was nothing more than a mediocre slouch. After seeing these pics of Gill and Gold, now I know I am. Thanks a lot.
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wack-N-dangle
Gym climber
the ground up
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Nov 13, 2011 - 11:58pm PT
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Where is Weld_it? make the pilgrimage, seek the radness
bump to get at least to 70
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Nov 14, 2011 - 02:24am PT
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Yes that guy (in the video Rich posted)
is a brute. I was impressed with the
plange presses on the parallel bars. The fast muscle-up interested
me too, as that was one of my things way back when. I could
do that slowly, i.e. in slow motion, both hands and arms
over the bar at the same time, slowly, without a jerk or
kip. I never tried it fast. He flies up there quick....
In his prime, John Gill was simply light years stronger
than anyone around, in almost every way imaginable,
with an equal strength of character. I mean, if you
want to compare raw strength, think of climbing a 20-foot
rope in 3.4 seconds. Or one-finger pullups on the first
two fingers of either hand. Or a one-arm front lever,
and then top that with tremendous balance and footwork...
just to mention a few of John's abilities....
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Social climber
Retired to Appalachia
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Nov 14, 2011 - 09:01am PT
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H.F.S.!
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Nov 14, 2011 - 01:29pm PT
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Let us not forget that TM Herbert claims "And also I can now hold a full lever on the high bar with my wee-wee." Of course that was back in the 70s.
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le_bruce
climber
Oakland, CA
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Nov 14, 2011 - 03:42pm PT
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Using two hands, pfft.
I bet he could still do the ol' one arm.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 14, 2011 - 08:34pm PT
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Strength is one of the last things to go preceded by eyesight, flexibility, memory, energy, hearing, virility, and drive- not necessarily in that order. All you can do is fight the good fight.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 14, 2011 - 10:41pm PT
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Hah! I sense all those fine qualities rushing off in unison, none of them showing the least courtesy about waiting for one of the others to go ahead.
But Jim is right: fight the good fight while you can, and have fun storming the castle.
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Toerag
Trad climber
Guernsey, British Channel Islands
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Nov 15, 2011 - 07:33am PT
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BESI'st - it's the same over here in the UK - The old steel frame at my junior school with monkeybars and olympic rings on chains got pulled out a few years back along with most of the other similar playground apparatus - they've pretty much all been replaced with 'wooden towers with slides and rope bridges' type equipment. I'm a scout leader and only ONE of the 18 boys we have in the troop can do a pull-up....and he can only do one. 'Health and safety' and games consoles are resulting in a generation of kids that can't do anything physical. Parents won't let their kids out to play at the park 'cos they're scared of paedophiles that don't exist. Schools operate a 'it doesn't matter if you don't win as long as you take part' policy that results in no-one trying to win. If WW2 happened today the Germans would win for sure - my GF is German and the attitude of their nation is so much better than ours - they try REALLY hard at whatever they do.
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wayne burleson
climber
Amherst, MA
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Jan 17, 2012 - 03:31am PT
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Agreed that playgrounds used to be a great place to work out and
it is sad that many of the best metal structures are being replaced with wood and worse, plastic. See-saws and swings are gone due to potential
injuries, even in Europe... I'm afraid this is the insurance industry speaking...
Many playgrounds now have crappy little climbing walls with greasy holds and uninspired placements. I think it would be better to just go back to the metal jungle gyms and pullup bars. Perhaps the climbing community could speak out and provide leadership on this matter...
And wow and respect to John Gill... I remember hearing that he ripped apart his bicep a few years back. That blew my mind since I thought it couldn't happen to big guys like him. Great to see him back tearing it up.
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jan 17, 2012 - 04:27am PT
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No better climber or person than John Gill.
I am glad I was as fit as I was when he and I first started
to climb together in early 1968.
I was a university gymnast (very modest in ability,
compared to my far superior cohort teammates), I had a few areas
in which I excelled (many more in which I was not good enough
to be called a gymnast). I had a flair for presses and could do
a slow hollow-back off the floor, very slow. I also could start
in a one-arm lever on the floor and then do a one-arm press
into a one-arm handstand. Of course I did the requisite stiff-stiff
press, starting in an L-seat on the floor and slowly going
through my arms, with straight legs, and up into a handstand.
Dave Rearick taught me that one (although he did it with the
folded/crossed leg version). He had learned the normal standing
stiff-stiff from Gill, in the Tetons. I was a walk-on gymnast, and I
think they took me on as a kind of mascot, because I had these
self-taught abilities but was not a true, well-rounded (versatile
on all apparatus) gymnast. They were all stymied, though, when I
managed a one-arm mantel on a two-inch wide wooden ledge along
the gym wall, starting in a hang and going up slowly. I once
day also finally did that one-arm mantel on a smaller ledge, maybe
an inch and a half wide, very thin. I had them all, with that
little trick, but then some of the guys were Big 8 champions and
could things, for example, on rings... wild strength.
One of my happiest memories, though,
was when I did my first routine in a meet, and I hit it as well
as I was capable of hitting it. The routine was on parallel bars
and involved a straight-body hollow-back to a handstand and
a one-arm handstand. I have always had an inner ear thing, so I
couldn't tumble very well and could not do the required back
stutz (straight body back flip on p-bars), thus losing a full point. But
when I finished the routine and stuck the landing, the whole
team ran out and embraced me. We were all dressed in long white
gymnastic pants, which not many use anymore. That was about as
far as I could take it. In another meet, I first became acquainted
with Gill's friend and bouldering partner Rich Borgman, who performed
beautifully on the side horse. He was terribly skinny and had no
weight at all on those Fort Collins overhangs... what a brilliant
climber... unhearalded in much part. When I bouldered with Gill,
then, in the late '60s, I was amazed at his physical prowess but
also his grace and coordination, his balance and footwork. He had
all the abilities that go with high art, not just strength.
No one has had the magic of John Gill, a man with a true gift.
I was also very impressed
when I climbed with Rich Goldstone (he came to Colorado in the
mid '60s, and we had great adventures...). Rich could easily do
one-arm pullups back then, and solid front levers. I felt a bit like
a weakling, although my strengths were of a different kind... I suppose.
I feel incredibly blessed to have known these gentlemen.
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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Jan 17, 2012 - 08:52am PT
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"come all ye young geezers ..."
okay, okay. the big question is how-hard-how-old? reading between ST lines, i'd say donini is probably the leader here. he was put together with a lot of wire, and that's important. i climbed with bob kamps, another well-wired one, shortly before he passed on and he led a l'il old 10b at williamson--"wanted to take it easy" that day, he said.
i'm far from my 70s, and when i do a 5.10, i usually pay for it with a week of soreness and nearly pulled tendons. ya gotta watch it. that snap-crackle-pop won't be rice crispies.
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Vulcan
Sport climber
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Jan 17, 2012 - 11:02am PT
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"Brute" seems a little harsh.
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Curt
Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
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Jan 17, 2012 - 11:44am PT
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Hey klk, it's prime bouldering season here right now!!!
Curt
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jan 17, 2012 - 02:43pm PT
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I can't hold that straddle-lever for anything like ten seconds. Five seconds is about the best I can manage, and I do have a way of speeding up the count as I near total hydraulic failure.
Those Ghost pants just bit the dust; fabric literally disintegrated---hopefully not a metaphor for the body they were covering...
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jan 18, 2012 - 02:09am PT
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There are lots of people who climb very well
at relative old age, people we don't hear of much,
and others could do it if they wanted but have
done enough in their lives, climbingwise at least,
to be satisfied. Others, well, it only takes a
small injury to end the hard stuff, a badly torn
tendon, a shoulder... It's all relative. I have
adhesive capsulitis in both shoulders. I wish you
could see what that feels like and see if doing 5.6
isn't more like 5.11. Rich, how hard was that route
I did in the Gunks? 5.8? I had to climb the faces
between the horizontal ledges, because I couldn't
pull down from an extended-arm reach... I remember
Fritz Wiessner climbed Nutcracker in 1967 with Royal,
Rearick, Roper, Chouinard, and me, and I think we
were celebrating his... 60th or 65th birthday... and
he was in big clunker mountain boots and had an easy
time even of that mantel at the top....
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PBockenthien
Boulder climber
Lakewood, CO
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Jan 25, 2012 - 11:55am PT
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I find the straddle is actually a lot more practical. Just as one rarely ever finds the need for a direct overhead pullup, feet straight out isn't required.
Granted John used to do one-finger, one arm semi-front-lever pullups
@Patrick - thanks for sharing those stories about JG, RB and others. I was just a kid starting out and always wanted to know about the Colorado bouldering/climbing scene.
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pk_davidson
Trad climber
Albuquerque, NM
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Jan 25, 2012 - 04:32pm PT
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bump for JG
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Jan 26, 2012 - 05:12am PT
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All those tough guys in the East, Goldstone, Jim McCarthy,
Kevin Bein, Dick Williams... leaned how to do solid front
levers. I didn't even know what such a thing was until Rich
showed me his in Colorado in '65. They all seemed to know
how to do one-arm pullups as well, a hard core (corp) of
climbers.
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BooshBoosh
climber
El Portal, CA
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Jan 26, 2012 - 12:29pm PT
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JGill is an American hero
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jan 26, 2012 - 11:10pm PT
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All those tough guys in the East, Goldstone, Jim McCarthy,
Kevin Bein, Dick Williams... leaned how to do solid front
levers. I didn't even know what such a thing was until Rich
showed me his in Colorado in '65. They all seemed to know
how to do one-arm pullups as well, a hard core (corp) of
climbers.
This is what happens when the winters are long, ice climbing hasn't really happened, and climbing gyms hadn't been invented yet. We were lucky in a way; the West Side Y in NYC had gymnastic equipment and a high rope-climbing rope out and available to anyone. Nowadays liability concerns would probably make it a real hassle to use that kind of stuff.
We each had our circus strongman specialties. Kevin was the only one who was really solid at iron crosses. He did L-crosses too and could pull into them straight-armed. McCarthy was the king of weird hand-balancing tricks, especially repetition tiger bends (presses from forearm stand to handstand and back down). Williams was the duke of high-angle handbalancing, doing precarious handstands on top of all manner of exposed summits. I was the rope specialist, doing sequential one-arm pullups up the rope. We all did front levers, handstand presses, muscleups, and a bit of tumbling.
Every now and then we went climbing, but mostly we were too tired out from exercising to do anything else. Periodically, we'd take our muscles out to Yosemite and get totally shut down on 5.10 offwidth (but not before we pried those effin slippery slots open and inch or two, dammit). The natives were kind and dragged us up many things we wouldn't have managed otherwise.
In spite of our obvious incompetence, we convinced many people that being a circus strongman would be good for their climbing, and so what Warren Harding called the Camp 4 Olympic Training Village was born, providing generations of climbers with exciting new opportunities to rip tendons off their insertion points.
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go-B
climber
Habakkuk 3:19 Sozo
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Jan 26, 2012 - 11:16pm PT
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I wish I could have done one of those in High School!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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I think this guy wins the front-lever contest.
The still is at 2:20 in the following video: http://vimeo.com/36429174.
We'll have to wait and see what he can do at 70.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Feb 10, 2012 - 12:05am PT
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Very impressive master ice climber! Question: does ice climbing or mixed climbing with those tools require more muscular strength than rock climbing? Seems like it's more fingertip, light weight stuff on the rock. But I've been out of the game for years. Are female ice climbers more muscular than typical female rock climbers?
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Nov 11, 2013 - 08:12pm PT
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Surprised to see this pop up again. Here's what the old guy does these days: Old Man
;>)
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Brunosafari
Boulder climber
OR
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Nov 11, 2013 - 08:34pm PT
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That looks like a fantastic quality apparatus, JGill, my favorite configuration too since grade 5. The magnificent rare footage of bouldering speaks for itself. You have been a lifelong inspiration. Thank you from myself and Everybody. I will look into getting a set of bars and anybody else with a brain should do the same. -Bruce Adams
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Malbrouck
climber
Houston, TX
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Nov 11, 2013 - 09:38pm PT
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That was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. I'm 41 and I can't do what you're doing. I'm not sure I could have done it when I was 31.
You have inspired me beyond words. It's time to get serious.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Nov 11, 2013 - 09:59pm PT
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John-
OK, you've re-inspired me to get back on my (much needed) weight loss program!
Rodger
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 12, 2013 - 12:15am PT
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Cool stuff John! Way to hang in there (as the saying goes).
Did you just buy one of those ladder thingies for your back yard? It doesn't look like the usual playground milieu...
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Blakey
Trad climber
Sierra Vista
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Nov 12, 2013 - 03:56am PT
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John,
Thanks for posting up that footage - I'd only ever seen photos of
you climbing, in which you always looked very 'static'.
Equally interesting is how you managed to do those problems in such crappy footwear - now I know ;-)
More seriously, even over here (the UK) you were an inspirational if not mythical figure in the 70s and 80s. No less so now!
Chapeau!
Steve
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Nov 12, 2013 - 11:36am PT
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great video, john.
ladders are great.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 12, 2013 - 11:46am PT
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So I was confused by the OP foto and still am. Was Mr Gill purposely channeling Guido?
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Nov 12, 2013 - 12:13pm PT
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I don't know who or what John Gill is channeling, but there's some strange hydraulic action taking place in young John's arms that I'm not quite able to understand - and at a honourable age he's still going strong... I agree with Blakey - the man's a myth - also on the other side of the pond...
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ncrockclimber
climber
The Desert Oven
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Nov 12, 2013 - 12:24pm PT
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Respect.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Nov 12, 2013 - 02:32pm PT
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Did you just buy one of those ladder thingies for your back yard? It doesn't look like the usual playground milieu... (RGold)
Rich, the best deal I found on the internet was from www.fla-playground.com. They built the ladder and shipped it in three pieces via FedEx to my house, where I had a couple of guys install it for me. My only regret is that I should have requested slightly heavier metal (a larger "schedule") so that it wouldn't flex, but, nevertheless, I'm very pleased with the product. Good company to deal with.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Nov 12, 2013 - 06:12pm PT
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Gymnastic background?
Rope climb and still rings 55 years ago. I was way too big for the rings!
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Malbrouck
climber
Houston, TX
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Nov 12, 2013 - 07:54pm PT
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As a climbing novice I still struggle to wrap my head around the fact that this is *the* John Gill. It's like going to a football discussion board and finding out Terry Bradshaw posts there.
Pardon the fanboy drool. Carry on.
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Blakey
Trad climber
Sierra Vista
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Nov 13, 2013 - 10:42am PT
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One of the Taco's redeeming features is that folks/heros like John do participate.
It is a refreshing counter to the considerable volume of non climbing related shyte that is posted up.
A fantastic resource and material lies hidden amongst the conspiracy theories, gun crap, Republican vs Democrat bleats, debates about Flags, and whether or not the President is American FFS! Worst of all I have yet to see any points won or conceded in these playground spats.......
Let the climbing shine through.
BBST
Steve
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bjj
climber
beyond the sun
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Nov 14, 2013 - 06:27pm PT
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About 17 years ago, when I was in my late 20's and had been climbing for 4 or 5 years, I was inspired by the pic of John doing the one arm front lever in Sherman's "Stone Crusade" (at least that's where I think I saw it first) enough to start practicing it. Lo and behold, within a few months I was able to pull off a 2 or 3 second hold of the position (and about 10 secs for a 2 arm).
It was a hell of a party trick to show off at Camp 4, Skinner's house in Hueco, etc. I watched many many climbers who climbed SO MUCH harder than me try and fail.
I'm tempted to start training it again now, at age 45. My body compisition and stats are at least as good as they were then - though I only started climbing again a year ago after a decade on the couch. It *should* be possible in theory.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Nov 14, 2013 - 10:11pm PT
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I'm tempted to start training it again now, at age 45
Go for it! Put those youthful muscles into play!
It's not climbing; it's different, but can be just as satisfying.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
extraordinaire
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Nov 15, 2013 - 12:11am PT
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More impressive the truck/ trailer drivers going perfectly straight in reverse, than the Van damme stem. Callin' polite BS on it.
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Nov 15, 2013 - 01:20am PT
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Appropriately titled “The Epic Split,” Volvo says the advertisement is the real deal and that while some safety equipment was digitally removed, no computer trickery is involved in the actual stunt, at least not on camera.
JCVD! JGILL! Inspiration!
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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Nov 15, 2013 - 03:47am PT
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Wow, if the Volvo steering system failed, JCVD would have taken an epic fall, probably the most painful in history!
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Patrick Oliver
Boulder climber
Fruita, Colorado
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Nov 20, 2013 - 02:25pm PT
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John actually does harder things now. It really doesn't surprise
me that John and Rich can do the front lever (with legs open).
Remember John once did a one-finger one-arm front lever! This lever
here is so easy, compared to what they could do in their prime.
Yes it's an amazing feat, relative to the age, but John has never
gotten that out of shape (nor has Rich) and has always done
ridiculous things on his training apparatus in the garage. I'm
just glad the continues to get the recognition. He was the best
pure rock climber of his day, a man with such phenomenal technique
it really is yet to be surpassed, but also a man of exceptional
humility and great character, a living legend I am proud to have
as a friend.
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Harry Mammil
Trad climber
Llanrwst
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Nov 20, 2013 - 02:34pm PT
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Considering John's height it is really amazing. I read somewhere that for anyone over 5'10 it is pretty much impossible! That's for gymnasts though not Rock Idols.
At 63 I can still manage an acceptable double but not a single (no way) which is a pity as I still want to do Foops.
And I bet the Master is still out cranking in the hills! Truly inspirational - when I started climbing most people stopped at age 30.
Best wishes to the gentleman and don't stop!
Mike Hammill
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Petah
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Nov 20, 2013 - 03:15pm PT
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Sic.
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RasVegas
Trad climber
Goodyear
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Nov 20, 2013 - 04:25pm PT
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I feel like such a weak, small, uhhhhhhhhhhhh did I mention WEAK man right now! I suck!
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Nov 20, 2013 - 10:19pm PT
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Phylyp, Damme nice post, but Enya makes it happen for me as a nice touch.
"No sweat, I'm gettin' paid BOO-COO SEK's. I can do this forever, suckahs!"
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JestaGal
Trad climber
Solana Beach, CA
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Nov 22, 2013 - 09:58am PT
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AWESOME!!!! This pic has just inspired me to return to my too-long-left-on-the-shelf goal of being able to do one pushup for every birthday. Fifteen down, only 48 more to go. The front lever...hopefully in the next re-incarnation.
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JestaGal
Trad climber
Solana Beach, CA
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Nov 22, 2013 - 10:53am PT
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Oh, yeah...forget the dancin' boys. I want John Gill and Rich Gold at my next birthday party!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 22, 2013 - 11:18am PT
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Hey! We dance too, if you're down with the minuet.
Meanwhile, here's an actual 70 year-old sorta kinda front lever, rather than the way youthful 68 year-old version posted earlier (thanks to Steve Molis for manning the iPhone both times).
Be forwarned that, rings or not, your dancing geezers will most likely adopt this position for the duration of your party. Just wake us up when it's time to leave.
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bjj
climber
beyond the sun
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Nov 22, 2013 - 01:20pm PT
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RGold, that is amazing. Very impressed.
I am 45 and I feel like I have one foot in both worlds. One still in the past as a young, fit upstart, yet the other now in the "crusty old guy fondly remembering his youth" realm.
I've just started climbing again a year ago after a decade off. I am not content to try and ease back and accept being resigned to climbing moderates for the rest of my life. Seeing things like what's on this thread is a good kick in my a*# to remind me I have quite a few years left to improve.
I managed to climb 5.13 / V8 a couple of times around age 30. I had assumed those days are over as currently I am struggling with mid 5.11 - Just maybe I was wrong.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 22, 2013 - 01:55pm PT
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bjj, everyone has their own approach to climbing and everyone gets different things from it. I think that if I could somehow compute my average climbing grade over the 56 years I've been climbing, it would come out to about 5.8. And that isn't because I've declined to only leading 5.4's now---I haven't. It's because I've found enormous pleasure in those "moderate" grades at every part of my climbing career, including the now-distant times when I was climbing four grades harder.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Nov 22, 2013 - 02:41pm PT
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I always loved to do the 5.6s and 5.7s in the Tetons and BH Needles 55 years ago.
;>)
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bjj
climber
beyond the sun
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Nov 22, 2013 - 03:35pm PT
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I get what you guys are saying, but I'm the kind of person who *needs* to continually improve and push my limits at something, else I grow restless and discouraged. That's why I quit climbing the first time. Numerous overuse injuries forced me into a long layoff and to back down the difficulty scale significantly. After almost a year like that, I wasn't able to keep my psych up, and instead opted to try some new sports instead.
I was fully healed after 2 years or so, but by then I was very immersed in my new activities and wanted to focus on them - figuring my climbing career was over.
Maybe as I get older (or, more accurately, more mature) I will mellow and won't feel that need to keep competing with myself.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy moderate routes, and "easy" style climbing, but I can't (at least currently) survive on a diet of only those.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Nov 22, 2013 - 03:57pm PT
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I never got into gymnastics at an early enough age. I still pump iron to get in shape for climbing, albeit at a less "vigorous" level. It has helped though. And those pleasure "5.6-5.7" climbs seem just about right for my dotage, although I was still able to push up to some 5.8+ a couple times in the past couple of years.
But...it's always more fun looking ahead than sitting on one's a$$ contemplating "remember when...?" I'm already making plans for another trip to the Dolomites in 2014, finances permitting.
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Curt
climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
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Nov 22, 2013 - 04:31pm PT
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I always loved to do the 5.6s and 5.7s in the Tetons and BH Needles 55 years ago.
Me too, John. Well, not 55 years ago though :-)
Curt
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Klimmer
Mountain climber
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Nov 23, 2013 - 02:42am PT
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Always inspirational!!!!!
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eagle
Trad climber
new paltz, ny
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Nov 23, 2013 - 09:49am PT
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props to mr gill. i could never hit this move in my prime..a warm up move for the fellas in the olympics
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 23, 2013 - 09:57am PT
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As a young climber in the Tetons in the late 60's we all aspired to do John's boulder problems around Jenny Lake. I think Steve Wunsch even got uo one or two.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 23, 2013 - 12:52pm PT
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I think Wunsch made one of the very early repeats of the North Overhang on Red Cross Rock, maybe even the second ascent? I don't think Jim Holloway made it up to the Tetons...
Two shots, posted elsewhere, of Jenny Lake bouldering in the sixties:
Ray Schrag styling a one-handed ascent of Cutfinger Crack:
The Master himself on a traversing problem on Cutfinger Rock:
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 23, 2013 - 12:59pm PT
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The Jenny Lake boulders are an example (like Stony Point) of location, locatin, location. Modest in extent but historically important especially because of the imprint of John Gill.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 23, 2013 - 01:30pm PT
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One of the things that is hard to understand now is that in the sixties the Tetons was the crossroads of American climbing, even while it was no longer the center of progress or activity. Climbers from all over continually passed through the Tetons on their way to and from other destinations, and so the very modest Jenny Lake boulders had a disproportionate effect on the American climbing psyche.
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JestaGal
Trad climber
Solana Beach, CA
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Nov 23, 2013 - 03:24pm PT
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I was on a two-week bicycle trek from Estes Park to Durango back in 1979 and somewhere along the route we ran into a guy who was bicycling in a pair of EB's. When I asked him where he was headed and why he was bicycling in his climbing shoes, he said he was on the way to the Tetons and didn't want to carry any extra weight. Does anyone know who that crazy person was and if he is still around? Can't be to many people that bicycled from Colorado to the Tetons in their EBs, can there?
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JestaGal
Trad climber
Solana Beach, CA
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Nov 23, 2013 - 03:35pm PT
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This thread is bringing back old memories...I think it was 1979...maybe August...I had signed up for climbing lessons in Toulomme for Week 2, but Week 1, I was hanging out in Camp 4. Some guy came over to my tent and asked if he could sleep there for the night because if the rangers caught him one more time without an assigned campground, something bad was going to happen...he told me but I don't remember what...the rangers had all ready taken his sleeping bag away from him (maybe a couple of times). I imagine that happened a lot of climbers back then. Anyway I let him stay in my tent...always wondered who it was
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Curt
climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
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Nov 23, 2013 - 04:37pm PT
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I think Wunsch made one of the very early repeats of the North Overhang on Red Cross Rock, maybe even the second ascent? I don't think Jim Holloway made it up to the Tetons...
The Jenny Lake Boulders are great. I've done all the problems on Cutfinger and Red Cross rocks that are on the little guide that John gave me. The North Overhang problem is interesting, in that using the same two starting holds (one undercling and one small crimp) with your hands reversed--i.e., L hand on the crimp, R hand on the undercling, results in a new boulder problem that is about 4 "V" grades easier than the standard way of doing the problem.
Oh, and the Center Overhang is actually very hard. I'd say V9 or so, done Gill's way without the chipped and enlarged RH hold. When you consider that Gill first did this in the 1950's, it puts into perspective just how far ahead of his time he actually was.
Curt
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Nov 23, 2013 - 08:33pm PT
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Oh, Curt, I meant the Center Overhang as the one Wunsch might have been the first to repeat. That was the only route the rest of us couldn't do bitd.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 23, 2013 - 08:50pm PT
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Bitd there were too many hot female seasonal rangers for me to give bouldering at Jenny Lake it's full due......or was it weak fingers?
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Curt
climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
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Nov 24, 2013 - 01:44pm PT
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I've done all the problems on Cutfinger and Red Cross rocks that are on the little guide that John gave me.
Bitd there were too many hot female seasonal rangers for me to give bouldering at Jenny Lake it's full due...
So, what was your comparative success rate?
Curt
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Alan Rubin
climber
Amherst,MA.
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Nov 25, 2013 - 11:10am PT
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No discussion of the Jenny Lake boulders is complete without mention of the typewritten guidebook to them by Gill and Chouinard. It was written as a semi-parody of Ortenburger's Teton Guide--"These are big boulders, they make their own weather", etc, while still accurately describing the classic problems with Gill's B1-3 grading system. It was kept at the Jenny Lake ranger station and shown with great reverance to the generations of climbers who pased through the Tetons---a true devotional relic. Does it still exist?
I was only able to paw unsuccesfully at the starting holds of most of the problems,maybe once in a while doing two-hand ascents of Gill's "no hands" slab routes. I was thrilled when I actually got up one of the actual problems--Cutfinger maybe? When I went there again in the early '90s, I found the problems to be incredibly polished and once again reverted to failing on the starting moves.
Oh Jim, I didn't think that you smoked any of the funny stuff BITD, but I don't recall any female rangers at all--hot or otherwise at Jenny Lake back then.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Jan 26, 2014 - 05:47am PT
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John Gill's "Reflections of a Middel-aged Boulderer" in Mountain 110, 1986.
When do we get "Reflections of a Senior Boulderer"?
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