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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 1, 2006 - 06:52pm PT
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Gee crimpy, thanks for ratting out the secret locale of the Rat Cave. I'll have to come up with something out of the rat utility belt for you. OF course, you could just meet the Ratmobile at some climbing destination.
HAHA oh wait, you don't come past the red and I don't go past the BSF, alas, such tragedy, and never the twain shall meet!
BUt the truth about Alabama is that I live 15 minutes from places where J gill climbed, and I live 45 minutes from ropable rock, and 90 minutes from Jamestown, where RIch gottleib and stegg did a load of routes, and 2.5 hours from Twall or Lost wall, and 5 hours from the BSF, and Whitesides, with Tallulah somewhere in there at 4-5hours.
ALL the rock I mentioned beats the crap out of that stuff in Jtree.
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Hootervillian
climber
Lickskillet, AL
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only part of the year Jaybro, think about what you save on chapstick.
and there's some tremendous yawing wide coming out from under all them bushes.
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Ed Bannister
Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
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Dirt,
Sorry to hear about the atrition of your partners.
Jeff Bosson was my best friend and climbing partner for many routes over many years, he died at 36, taking a shower.
Just get a tee shirt that says if it isn't three pitches high, it isn't worth doing. oops, that would rule out most of the stuff you drive hours to get to.
Move to a place where there is some climbing, in three hours drive I am at Whitney Portal.
Note that , K solemn, short timer, and a lot of Kalifornians, Grigsby, Mike Waugh, and many, many others are well past 40, some well past 50, and are still climbing hard, and not on stuff that half the rope isn't out on... for that the whole Stonemaster crew is past 40!
good luck
ps fattrad, learn to spell, conservative embarrasment, as bad as nuculur or however our President says it.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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"... For what it's worth, I climb mostly with guys 20 years younger. I call it running with the big dogs...."
I call that running with the pups.
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Ouch!
climber
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The best bouldering in the south is on the Tennessee River bluffs. That water makes for a great crash pad.
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 1, 2006 - 08:23pm PT
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Poor alpspit,
I could do multi pitch every weekend IF I wanted to. On good rock, LOL, not that soft driedbread stone you have in the desert.
The BSF is full of 3-5 pitch stuff that has not ben done yet.
WHitesides is up to 10 pitches.
Laurel Knob is within reach, and is the tallest granite east of the Mistypissy river. I have friends who did some of the routes there.
Besides, I'm hoping to catch a girl partner, and I've heard that girls are not as interested in length as in other things, hehe.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
one pass away from the big ditch
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try the old, "dude, you'll get your name in a guidebook if you help me put this sketch fest up as an FA."
might tease out the riff from the raff.
DMT prolly has it right, but I gotta stop agreeing that guy, just on principle alone. ;)
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Ed Bannister
Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
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Chris, you'd climb with a girl 20 years younger wouldn't you?
curious to read what you would call that!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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If you found two good partners in the last 5 years you are doing really well. Partner development is not easy (as you know) and requires a lot of work, especially if you are raising them yourself. You'll put in a lot of time cragging on stuff that they have to learn about, and then getting them to lead and then getting them out to the really interesting stuff on your agenda.
Unfortunately, your agenda might not coincide with their agenda... then you're out of luck. Developing multiple partners at once is a strategy.
Get out as much as you can and see what happens. You might have to wait on some of your projects until you find the right person. And don't give up on the dead partners, sometimes they come back to life (although your situation sounds pretty terrible).
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Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
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"Christians and Mormons who can't find anyone clean enough."
Aw man dirtineye, some of them make great partners for the actual rock climbing. Don't discount 'em so fast. You can always find other people to party with when they day is done and the rope and rack are put away.
My 2 favorite partners both love Jesus like you would not believe. They know I'm an unspiritual heathen and they respect that. And I respect their beliefs and know we'll never be on the same page spiritually.
But that totally doesn't matter cause I know when I climb with them I know I'm actually gonna get the climbs done and they know they got a partner who is there to send hard and stay focused on the climb with them. We share a common love of climbing and sometimes, that's actually just enough for a really great partner. I'm just there to climb, they're just there to climb. They can find other people to convert and I can find other people to hang with and have a good time when the climbing day ends.
Plus, they're seriously happy partners....Jesus loves them, that makes them happy.
I love my Jesus loving climbing partners.
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Ed Bannister
Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
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There remain yet some that are not obnoxious, well at least not about their beliefs.
Flouride, thanks for the laugh, and you are right.
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Fluoride
Trad climber
on a rock or mountain out west
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Thanks alpspitz.
And don't forget one of the most fun things about climbing with people who love Jesus. When you get to a bad crux and you're having any issues, you can yell out to them "HEY, dude...What would JESUS do????"
You both end up laughing, a tough mental moment is broken up with humor, and the crux always ends up going fine.
WWJD....
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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Alps, that's a pretty good setup for a one liner. I'll pass on it though...
As you may recall I did persue that "20 years younger" strategy for a while with rewarding results. In the end though, it was all a bunch of drama and heartache. These days my companion/partner is just a few years younger than I, super fit (a fitness nut actually) and we're compatible, we both grew up with Captain Kangaroo...
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Ed Bannister
Mountain climber
Victorville, CA
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Chris, I just hope you are well and happy.
The memory of you falling off of Streetcar while taking in the landscape as it were reminds me of sitting on the ledge on Ski Tracks at Tahquitz, I STILL, remember being taken with a girl walking 200 feet below, Dolfin shorts and all, we talked for a while, but we were on our way... and so was she. I remarked as she walked out of sight... good thing I wasn't climbing, I would have fallen on 5.6!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
LA, Ca
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Thanks Man. I am well and happy.
I am probably also the only person ever to fall off Streetcar while standing up in the exit move. Those women will drive you to distraction...
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2006 - 12:24pm PT
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THe old "get your name in the guide book" tactic attracts the wrong kind of people. The fair weather climbers say, "SURE!", then they never get around to business for one reason or another. Someone who is not dependable enough to show up for plain vanilla trad climbing (which takes more effort and planning than sport or bouldering) is NOT going to make a decent serious partner uopn whom you may depend.
Doing new routes is not much about climbing, it's about uncertainty and adventure, and most people don't realize that this is dirty, dangerous, and takes a LOT longer than climbing existing routes.
You need someone who is FUN to be around, dependable, daring enough to adventure, smart enough to know when enough is enough, skilled enough to onsight at least 5.9 or 5.10 when that alleged 5.8 warmup winds being something else, haha, and that is just for starters.
YOu just don't find those people under every rock.
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Blowboarder
Boulder climber
Back in the mix
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Good luck Dirt, i think it's genetic. You either want to go out, get filthy, yard off loose rock, destroy native vegetation and tromp thru snake ridden gullies, or you don't.
It's innate and not a learned skill.
BTW, bouldering for pussies? Every fall is a groundfall, wtf do you topropers call yourselves then?
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dirtineye
Trad climber
the south
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 6, 2006 - 10:36am PT
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BlowMe Harder, yeah you are right, it is genetic. Corbett and I have talked about this trait, or the lack of it in climbers, for years. It's still a problem though.
An who said bouldering was for pussies? Try a 20 foot groundfall sometime, LOL. You'll need more than one pad, and it's still not good for you, especially when you're old.
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quartziteflight
climber
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Dirt for brains,
Would you please stop spraying about the south? Turn her off man! Who cares if people talk sh#t about southern climbing areas.
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