UKC

I have started climbing again after 25 years, now my children are older. I am finding it a bit of a struggle. I would like to be able to do 6a's again. Is this possible? How are other older climbers managing?

In reply to dirvine:
I did the same. I enjoy it. But I can't help you: I'll never now do 6as!(Except with a strong belayer and a toprope)

In reply to dirvine: Well I'm nearer to 60 than 50 and I've just had an enforced 8 month lay off, but I'm happily leading 5's , following 6a and hoping to be back to leading 6a tomorrow,
I am weak but not really overweight. I literally was advised to do nothing but walk for months, then allowed to do some gentle supervised gym sessions.
Then that cruel man Chris the Tall made me do a 10 pitch 5+ with him a few weeks ago which was as many pitches I had done in the previous year!
It will come back mate, slowly though at over 50 compared to what it used to do.
Good luck
Al

In reply to dirvine:

You have to keep in mind that Al was a rock god in his youth - but definitely into my fifties I keep having lay-offs due to injury (I don't bounce as well) and getting lardy and weak. The surprisin thing is that I never seem to get that bad (Can struggle up a 5 or a HVS - take your pick - anytime). Getting fit is harder and takes a lot longer (for one thing your muscle mass starts to decrease) but like Al said - lots of walking to get the heart moving, weights, easy sessions at the wall, long routes that are easy for you (severe in my case) and it soon comes back. The hard bit is pushing on to higher grades and it depends on how obsessed you are and whether you have a wife or not (time on the rock is the key). Rest periods become critical and any twinge dealt with (ice packs etc). Gove it the summer and you should burn off the youngsters (well, some of them). It also helps to have like-minded mates. Have fun

In reply to dirvine: Hi, I'm 59 and getting back to E-level leading. It's been a multi-year haul with the loss of ability caused by two arthritic hip joints needing fixing. These were fixed in c2001 and 2004. Recovery took ages after the second one. I took a grip and have lost 20 poi=unds in a couple of months. Boy, it does wonders. HVS leading has just been attained and climbing wall training promises E-grade is not far ahead.

I go climbing twice a week: climbing wall mid-week and outdoors or climbing wall at weekend.

My standard is still crap and I could have done it quicker. All those wated years - f**k it.

Your best friend is my best friend. He's called Will. Do you seriously want to get back to climbing and leading 6a? IF you do then decide to do it and will yourself to do it.

If you do then decide to do it. Your next best mate from then on is called Percy Vere - because you have to rigorously, persistently, continually persevere at training and weight loss, etc, etc, et bloody cetera.

With Will andPercy's help and loads of inspuration from mates, books and climbing DVDS just go for it.

Is it worth it?

Get to the top of a targeted route/grade and ho yeeeeehaaaarhhhh! Oh yes, it's worth it.

Chris.

In reply to Chris_Mellor: Agreed, the only problem is that when you hit 6a, you want 6b, the hardest I have ever led on sport is 6c+ and the hardest on trad is E5 (when I was a lot younger and didnt know sport climbing existed)
At our age its probably easier to seem ok at trad than sport as sport is so athletic and trad is mainly mental. Either way, just do what you can safely and what makes you happy.

In reply to dirvine: as you see, there are a lot of us at that certain age. I started back into climbing after a lay off of a dozen years or so. Having once climbed at HVS/VS level without any training, I thought this would be a respectable aim. After a couple of years, and use of climbing walls I reached, and then passed this marker, and found E1s and occasional E2s well within reach. However I now find (but having not climbed this year - injury, not climbing-related - so for the immediate future, I'm not so sure) that although I've never gone beyond this (upto 6b+ on bolts) just so long as I keep the fitness and strength going (I've been running for 20 years or so, and do gym and wall) I can keep at that sort of level, if not better it. As others have said, if you want to do it, you will. Why not?

Good luck R

In reply to Chris_Mellor: Best friends = Will & Percy! Love it!

In reply to Marc C: Not forgetting Will's g/f Sally (Salivation when you see a route you want to do badly), and Percy's g/f Desiree (Desire to climb)

In reply to dirvine:
Of course you can! I was 60 this year and despite the crappy weather and working away from home I've managed the odd route such as the Dervish. Half of it is in the head- so be positive- and the other half is chosing slabby routes and having a young confident leader! I say slabby 'cos I recently found that Left Wall had got considerably steeper and I couldn't get up it. By the way I'm over 2 stone overweight too.
Just believe!

In reply to dirvine:

Would it be the end of the world if you never did another 6a? Just enjoy it.

In reply to dirvine: French 6A? No problem. Real 6A? I'll never know...

In reply to dirvine:

For now, I'd respectfully suggest, just enjoy your climbing. (Btw If you've not climbed for 25 years, is it English 6a or F6a??)

Forget about then. Stick with now. Savour the grades, the Severes, the VSs,etc. Concentrate on enjoyment, not grade.
Forget about age (I'm 53.)

Gear's better, we've got superb walls, tons of info about training, all the beta you could ever want about routes. As long as you're enjoying it, you'll be motivated. As long as you're motivated, you'll get better. And (whether it's English 6a or F6a), in time, you'll climb much harder - and you'll enjoy it more.

Mick

In reply to dirvine:
Yes ,yes yes . There are lots of folks in their 50s and 60s doing 6As but it will take a lot of effort and practice to get back to your old level. Anyway , who cares ? The joy of climbing as you get older is that every climb is a bonus and you don't need to worry about the grade .Enjoy !

In reply to Mick Ward: Mick, I dont believe you are 53, you look far more than 5 years younger than me, b*****d.

In reply to dirvine: Never mind the grades I just need a partner. It's half way through the summer and I haven't done a route yet. 56 I may as well be 106 lol Colin.

In reply to Rog: A rock god, never lol!

G'day,

I just started playing soccer (aka football) these last couple of years - watched someover 35 games, thought sh!t I must be at least that good, can't fail to make an impression here - now I play 'centre forward', 1st year goal tally 0, 2nd year goal tally after 1/3 of the season -5 ! So perseverance seems to work.

I'm 51 now, a 67 yo got carried off after a scuffle in our last game, our mid field general is 61 - must be the sun over hear.

I remember when I was about 45, bit overweight, bald sort of thing, bur pretty fit, going to climbing wall by myself in Sydney, and watching these guys trying to do a route.

I wandered over, can I have a go I asked, they looked and I could see in their faces, lets have a laugh at the old git - of course they said, however a bit of fancy footwork saw me thru and the expressions on their combined faces was priceless. I just untied, re-arranged the gut and moved on.

Anyhows, as RM said to JB as he was cominng down from Trango 'his hard years were behind him' !

In reply to Al Evans:

5 years older, more like - I've had a hard life! And I've yet to meet Lulu (or Emma, or even that rock goddess from some climbing forum...)

(Old as the hills) Mick

In reply to Mick Ward: People often stop me in the street and say 'I bet you've got a painting in your attic?'. And I say 'Why, that's very kind of you! You mean like The Portrait of Dorian Gray - the portrait in the attic gets older but its owner looks eternally young?". To which they reply "No, you just look the sort of old fogey who has an attic full of junk and memorabilia".....

In reply to Marc C:

Well at least you cut enough of a dash to be stopped in the street!

It took the 'Climbing in NI thread' to remind me of when I had the bottle (or foolishness) to bare all to the winds.

Mick

In reply to Mick Ward: Celebrity and charisma can be a curse. I hardly dare venture up to Lumbutts to work on my V15 project these days because of all the American tourists snapping away, "Look Wilma that's Lonnie Lawes, the Lumbutts Lizard, Lancashire's Leaping Lad!"

In reply to Marc C:

You've got no worries on the 'Old Fogey' front. You consistently burn me off whenever we climb/boulder together... And you're ceding me a decade!

... I'll get my own back when we finally get our Tryfan thing together. Let's see how well you out-climb me on the lead when I tie you off to a hefty belay!

In reply to Clauso: Last I heard from you, you'd been kidnapped, stuffed into a penguin suit, and were being force-fed pilchards! What idiot loved you enough to pay the ransom?

In reply to Marc C:

Since you ask, a funny thing happened there. Seems that the kidnappers ended up paying Lynda €15,000 to take me back!...

Damn shame. I was enjoying the pilchards and the penguin suit made a nice change from my usual owl attire.

In reply to Clauso: Think the smell of the regurgitated fish finally forced their hand. Pongu the Penguin!

btw have we decided on an order - presumably GAFPRGC, though some play the GCFPRGA sequence, and certain classicists swear by an ORR(akaFPR)GCGA?

My ambition is to get up an English 6a, not lead one. Maybe, but one step at a time. First I have to worry about helping with revision for A levels, then music, then holidays etc. I wish I lived a bit closer to rock, my nearest is 53 miles, and I don't like that. So its a two hour drive to Derbyshire or Kent. It used to be Leicestershire but they filled in the decent quarries.
Thanks for all the encouragement, its helpful.