I've been roping up since 1983. I used to climb all of the time, except when I needed to go to the bathroom, or needed to go to work, or needed to sleep. I have a family now, am happily married, and my five kids all have their own interests. I have other interests as well, but this is about climbing...
Oh, yeah... I'm 43-years-old. Yikes! Oh, well. At least I am privileged to be this age, which is extraordinary, considering some of the fine messes I've gotten myself into in the past.
It all started when I was 4 years old. I wanted to be Lute Jerstad, or even Willi Unsoeld. Yep. Wanted to be a mountain climber.
My Dad hiked me up Clingman's Dome in North Carolina when I was a little kid. I guess it's his fault, then. As a young adult, I was able to climb in several domestic mountain ranges, not to mention climbing on a bunch of crags around the country. Been around the Rockies, as well as a few of the desert ranges down in the Southwestern U.S. I went to Ecuador in '93 and again in '01, each time had some interesting shopping, dining... and, oh yeah, climbing adventures. Maybe sometime I'll put that stuff on the website too. Whut th' heyyy...
Nowadays, I'm a crag rat. Once in a while I get to go to the mountains, but it's hard to get away. Plus, when I am away, I get home-sick. So in a way, I'm my own worst enemy.
There's also the aging problem now beginning to rear its ugly head, with issues aplenty: a stiffening right knee, a possibly torn rotator cuff, creeping self doubt...
So that leaves me thinking, what am I gonna do now? I need to maximize every technology at this point to get me up everything, where my own strength and endurance was once enough (or was it!?). On a somewhat brighter note, it helps to remember that although I was stronger then, I was also invincible and consequently dumber.
I prefer remote locations which require a certain level of commitment just for the approach, let alone for the climbing. Still, I do have hit list, which takes me where ever the climbs are, people or no.
Okay, click around the site, see what you think, kill half an hour here, then get out there and do something you like... misery loves company!
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