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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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Image linked from Cascadeclimbers. Fred Beckey a couple days ago....
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Ed's curves are for power sports in track and field. I'd expect the curves for various types of climbing to look very different. Most high-altitude climbers seem to peak in their forties, even later than marathoners.
Climbing is so technical and variable, that I doubt we can map it the way we can more straightforward competitive sports.
I'd bet that gyms will dramatically improve longevity for many older climbers. The single biggest problem for many folks is simply managing career and family responsibilities. Now that everyone can have a woody in the basement-- or at least around the corner--it ought to be a lot easier to stay in reasonably good shape.
Europe is just packed with old guys and gals pulling down hard.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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My first 5.8 lead and my first 5.9 lead stand out as clear and vivid as my most difficult alpine ascents. Whatever level I'm climbing, regardless of the number, is still fresh and exciting if it is near my limit. We will all see our physical powers wane, but the EXPERIENCE itself need not diminish.
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MH2
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 9, 2009 - 04:45pm PT
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the EXPERIENCE itself need not diminish.
AMEN to that, underline, bold, and exclamation mark.
Not as a conscious choice, but in review and reflection, I long ago decided that my climbing was more about the experience than about accomplishment. The two do not separate cleanly, though.
Here is my own plan for the arc of my climbing career. Given the amazing unrealized possibilities in most of us, I figured I could keep getting a little better every year until the upward progress collided with the age-related downhill slope of the ceiling.
Although I said I "nudged the facts" in the OP, it would be more in the spirit of objectivity to say that I reported them selectively to illustrate what I already know to be true.
Any problems at the moment may owe more to years of night shift sleep deprivation than to aging.
None of that matters when you see Beckey's cap set against the campanula(?)
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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FYI:
[url="http://www128.pair.com/r3d4k7/SeniorAthletes.html"]Senior Athletes[/url]
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jun 10, 2009 - 12:00am PT
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John, I am particularly like this part of your link:
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Jun 10, 2009 - 12:06am PT
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Hmmm, don't remind me...No seriously though, back in the day we used to say "It's not what you're climbing, but who you're climbing with." referring to when you're out with your good friends no matter what the grade. (but I did climb a hard one or two back in my day...)
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jun 10, 2009 - 12:09am PT
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I can feel myself declining just sitting here.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 10, 2009 - 01:44am PT
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I decline to answer all these questions, on the ground that it will incriminate me.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jun 10, 2009 - 01:50am PT
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The MH2 graph says it all for me!
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LuckyPink
climber
the last bivy
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Jun 10, 2009 - 02:24am PT
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there's a study in progress at the Buck Institute w Kaiser Permanente regarding the ability of people over the age of 50 to increase muscle mass. Preliminaries show that this certainly happens with standard exercise and training. What is also shows is that although muscle mass can be added, it also is lost more quickly over weeks and months than for younger people.. meaning..
NO TRAIN NO GAIN
and a long couch binge is harder to overcome than it was in your twenties.
lots of research in medicine on the following topics:
the effect of inflammation, a complex cellular event that affects organs as well as muscle and cartilaginous tissue.
the difference between the effects of l o n g term stress and the effects of aging
complex metabolic cascading disorders such as the obesity, diabetes, joint pain, cardiovascular disease, dementia cascade
immune system function and the mind body connection
I think the upshot is to be cognizant of change in your body and adapt according to your goals.
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona, Spain
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Jun 10, 2009 - 03:46am PT
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bump climbing content
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justaguy11
Trad climber
Birmingham,Al
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Jun 11, 2009 - 09:18pm PT
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I'm with the folks saying that you just need better cardio and less weight. I'm 51 and I let myself go for about 5 years due to...ummm....life and stuff, but I'm now 8 months into my 6 month fitness comeback and I'm leading hard 10 trad, middle 11 sport. If I get back to my previous "peak" (15 years ago), I'll be flashing trad hard 11 easy 12, sport hard 12. I'll come back and post here when I get there.
I do lots of trail running (better all body conditioning). I boulder with the youngsters (it pushes me to get stronger) and I change approaches when something starts to tweak (like a finger or an elbow). The trick is not to get injured during your comeback...and to know the diff between regular "I shouldn't have quit doing this" pain and "Hmmmmm, I just partially tweaked a joint/ligament/tendon by pushing too hard..need to let it heal".
Listen, carefully, to your body. Eat protein. Cross train your entire body and REESTABLISH YOUR AEROBIC FITNESS. After that, I don't see any particular limits.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jun 11, 2009 - 09:48pm PT
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I constantly see people talk about their trad vs. sport leading ability. Invariably they lead harder sport vs. trad. The only logical reason, if you know how to climb, for this to be so is the fact that sport ratings tend to be softer than trad ratings. Most sport climbs were put up after 1985 and there is no question that ratings have softened since that time. Case in point: Boulder Canyon sport vs. Boulder Canyon Trad, City of Rocks and Mt. Lemmon sport vs. trad, Little Cottonwood Canyon vs. Maple Canyon, Gunks compared to Romney- it goes on and on and on.
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JOEY.F
Social climber
sebastopol
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Jun 11, 2009 - 11:12pm PT
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Is there a correlation regarding Ed's haircut and everyones hardman ness
???
there's a graph somewhere, I'm sure.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jun 12, 2009 - 12:51am PT
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how about for the Marathon?
looks like you really loose it between 80 and 86
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east side underground
Trad climber
Hilton crk,ca
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Jun 12, 2009 - 01:07am PT
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whatever it is you do- NEVER QUIT just adjust your adventure to fit your age and fittness and have fun, thats the point of it all is'nt it?- Fred Beckey is the man
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dogtown
climber
Cheyenne,Wyoming
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Jun 12, 2009 - 01:21am PT
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I’ll pipe up on this one! After my trip back home to So Cal. I can still surf big waves, it just takes me four time as long to paddle out. I can still lead 5.11 but the approach up to Suicide is four times as long as I remember .
Still in love with it all !
Will never stop.
Bruce.
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Gunkie
climber
East Coast US
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Jun 12, 2009 - 08:26am PT
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I'm not that old, yet, but now look at ledges where I once spent a night in a wool cap and bivy sack and say to myself, 'this is really a portaledge bivy'.
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