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gblauer
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Oct 22, 2002, 10:18 PM
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Resurrected Thread: Original Post date was 2002. I have added my 2011 update at the bottom of this thread. What's happening with you, 9 years later?
Looking through the profiles, I appear to be much older than most of you. Anybody out there over 40? When did you get started in climbing? Did you involve your kids? How long do you think you can climb?
(This post was edited by gblauer on Sep 8, 2011, 7:54 PM)
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olebetsy
Oct 23, 2002, 3:38 AM
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You must have missed me. I'll be 52 on November 11, and have been climbing for a little over two years. Our son, who is now 21 and working on V11 boulder problems - a heinously strong young guy - got me climbing at the Seattle gym where he works, Vertical World. So I started in a gym, but have been outside a fair amount over the past two seasons. He and I occasionally link up, inside and out. One of my most memorable mother-som experiences was watching him redpoint a 12d sport climb at World Wall 1, at a crag called Little Si. He's possessed by a desire to return to Joshua Tree, to do more highball bouldering and - gasp -soloing, which a mother doesn't always like to hear about!
He gets me trying things that are pretty hard - part of a 12d sport lead at the gym, which I couldn't finish on TR! - and harder boulder problems than I would normally attempt. But it's a terrific way to interact with him. It's amazing to watch him excel at the sport that finally fits him perfectly.
Dad prefers kayaking, but every once in a while we persuade him to rope up.
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olebetsy
Oct 23, 2002, 3:47 AM
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Oh, sorry, I didn't comment on how long I think I'll be climbing. I hope to keep at it for as long as I can drag myself to a rock! You know, there's a man at our gym who didn't start climbing until he was 50. He's now 83 or 84 years old, and he STILL comes to the gym, and goes outside. He's done a bunch of alpine and trad over the years, now he's sport climbing. It may seem unreal to the younger climbers, but if you take care of your body and don't do crazy, stupid stuff, you could last a long time.
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thomasribiere
Oct 23, 2002, 8:23 PM
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Long life to the climbers!
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missedyno
Oct 23, 2002, 10:50 PM
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oh wow, you guys rock!
climb on ladies, i hope to be climbing as loooong as i can.
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gblauer
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Oct 24, 2002, 3:27 PM
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I hear you...sorry! Just trying to reach out beyond the gen-xers to see if there were any ex-hippie, "make love not war" era players out there! I too hope to climb for many, many more years. BTW, I am an avid skier and expect to move to CO when my youngest (11 years old and a great little climber) is off to Princeton. Already looking for property...
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happyfeet
Oct 24, 2002, 4:28 PM
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Hurrah ladies! I'm nearly 33 and just started getting interested in climbing. One of the things I found so interesting is that there are many women my age or older who climb, which I think is absolutely fantastic! My boyfriend found a picture on this site one day of a woman who was obviously a very accomplished climber and was 35, which was encouraging to me. Since then I've found more and more ladies here older than I am and I really have to hand it to you ladies. It's very inspirational.
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kcrag
Oct 24, 2002, 8:48 PM
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Age... ikes! I happen to be one of those freaks of nature who always wanted to be older. When I turned 21, I couldn't wait to be 30. And now at 32... I'm really looking forward to 40 (HA! catch me again at 39... perhaps I'll be crying, but hopefully not!). To me, ageing accompanies wisdom and growth. Especially as a woman, each year we learn to shed the media influenced idea that beauty is something seen from the outside, in.
As for how long I'll be climbing... who knows. I love what I'm doing now, but perhaps my lifestyle will shift into the cushy, huggable grammie who loves to spend all day in the kitchen preparing gourmet meals for her family. Who knows?! Regardless, I plan on pursuing that which makes me happy.
Cheers to you, gblauer, olebetsy, skibabeage and others. I applaud you for being such positive role models.
(BTW, mtngeo and skibabeage kick my @ss on that wicked uphill trek!)
*keep in mind, too, Gail, that the average age for involvement in on-line portals tends to be in the early 20's (just a guess). Perhaps us 'older' peeps have more responsibilities like family and work that need our attention. Hope I'm not offending anyone... it's just my opinion.
-kelly
(Martha, please educate my pea sized brain... what is a BP cuff?! Wait a minute--an educated guess would assume it has something to do with blood pressure. Hummm. If you and mtngeo are talking about our trek this weekend, can I pitch in and carry the oxygen tank (I get first dibs, of course!)).
[ This Message was edited by: kcrag on 2002-10-24 14:03 ]
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happyfeet
Oct 25, 2002, 6:25 PM
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No way did I mean 35 is old! Silly mtngeo. I was referencing the fact that many of the women I see on this site are my age or older. 35...old....pffft. I just need to learn to form coherent sentences
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climbinganne
Oct 27, 2002, 1:37 PM
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i climbed with gail last week and we "old ladies" had a blast!!!
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olebetsy
Oct 27, 2002, 5:49 PM
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Hi you all. Last Thursday at the old climbin' gym, I trained with two good buddies who are both 43. One of them, Lisa, my main outdoor partner, is training with me for the Seattle Vertical World boulder comp on Nov. 9th. We're working in the V2 - V3 category.
Pretty good for our age, too! I figure it comes in very handy when you're outside, and that first clip or placement is a ways up...
Betsy
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yvonne
Oct 29, 2002, 11:18 PM
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i am 40 and look better than most 25 year olds, i have been climbing for 3 years now, i really enjoy ice climbing. i plan on climbing until alzhiemers sets in. my kids are not to much into it, but i havnt given up hope. if you keep your muscles in shape and the weight off the hips there is no reason a woman cant climb into her 60s-70s. you see older men doing it, its just that women didnt know about it until the last few years
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climbracer
Oct 30, 2002, 1:14 AM
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I'm 44 and climbing for over a year now and love it. I have several goals in mind, but they are flexible and depend on how my skills evolve over the next 10 years. I want to continue to learn trad and aid climbing. I just might try my hand at ice climbing eventually but I want to build my indoor climbing gym this winter. I just bought a circular saw to do the job. I hope to be climbing for many years and I believe I can do it. I know as I get older I will still enjoy the Gunks. I met a 60 something year old man climbing behind me at the Gunks barefoot and figure that I will be able to keep doing some of those beautiful classics for many years.
My kids are 11 and 12 and love to climb too. I think they will be more passionate about it if I could get them up a two pitch beautiful climb at the Gunks sometime in the next two years. They are still more at the toprope 5.5 level.
Hope to be climbing for a long, long time.
Kathy
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bigevilgrape
Nov 3, 2002, 3:12 AM
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I'm 19, i feel old when i go climb with my old high school climbing club
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yvonne
Nov 5, 2002, 11:04 PM
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hey i remember 19 - reagan was president, everything pointed north and not a spot of cellulite anywhere,,, girls enjoy it while you got it,
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rviozzi
Nov 28, 2002, 7:59 AM
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hey all --
i've enjoyed reading this thread!! i'm 41 and been climbing on and off for a couple years and have always thought (and observed) that i got into the sport late. i love climbing but am still trying to find a certain mix of folks to climb with: non-competitive, safe, interested in moderate (5.7 seneca/5.6 gunks) trad climbing, and completing the classic moderates on the east coast & alpine moderates out west.
anyone out there interested?
rose
rm_vioz@hotmail.com
[ This Message was edited by: rviozzi on 2002-11-28 00:01 ]
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rosemom3
Dec 4, 2002, 5:05 AM
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It seems rather sad that the first site I jumped at was the old ladies one but I knew at 39 years old that I am one of the older or shall we say more mature ladies in town climbing. It's nice to know there are a lot of us out there. I just started a little over a year ago and am now leading 5.9 trad. I love this sport. It would be so neat to hook up with some other mature ladies to climb with. Amazingly, I still have to explain to guys (not the 20 year olds) that "no" I am not going to have sex with them just because they took me climbing. And I am always amazed at how many guys get mad about that. I try to keep a sense of humor about the whole thing but I definitely have been looking into solo climbing. What does everyone else do?
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gblauer
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Sep 8, 2011, 5:33 PM
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Resurrecting an old thread...It's 9 years later, my aforementioned 11 year old is now 20!
I am well into my 50's and still passionate about climbing. Since this posting Mitch and I (who most of you know I met on RC.com) got married and purchased a little climbing cottage at the Gunks. We spend almost every weekend up there.
Regrettably, I have developed painful arthritis in my big toes (surgery 2 years ago) and in my fingers. I really have to limit my indoor climbing primarily due to the stress it places on my fingers.
I continue to make progress, but, I am not nearly satisfied with my climbing (actually leading). My climbing is fine, my leading is ok. I guess the good news is that I am still improving, albeit rather slowly.
I do hope to climb for many more years, but, not sure if my fingers will hold up. I guess I will make that decision day by day.
In the mean time, I head to Germany in a couple of weeks for some climbing (and work) then Mitch and I head to EPC for two weeks in November, off to Thailand in February.
So...how is it going out there "old" ladies? Are you still climbing? Have you noticed any changes in your climbing? Passion? Willingness to push?
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clee03m
Sep 8, 2011, 6:04 PM
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One of my good partners is in her 40's. She rocks. She climbed half dome in a day this summer and free'ed most of it. She climbs HARD. And she is really chill. She is also an avid runner and has had her share of her injuries, but she is still going strong. She climbed half dome with one of my favorite partners who is in his 50's.
I am going to Squamish for 6 days in a few weeks with my other partner who is in his 50's. He climbs less hard (9's and 10's) than compared to his 'prime', but he is still passionate about climbing.
I am 35. But I look forward to later years when kids would be older, and I would have more free time! May be early retirement? Wouldn't that be nice...
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happiegrrrl
Sep 9, 2011, 2:29 PM
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I wasn't started climbing when you made this thread is 2002.... Started spring 2004.
I'm 49 years old and, climbing-wise, still on the way up. I got bit by the bug hard, when I started, and eventually it led to doing trailwork, then making extreme efforts to get to the Gunks each weekend(taxi to train, paid driver from train to Camp Slime, then reverse at weekend's end, all with a backpack, rolling duffel, medium sized cooler and Teddy...hahaha). Then my lukcy break came when I was able to do a caretaker gig on the land, with a cabin as residence.
Spent last winter living in the van in the southwest, and will be doing that again this winter.
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gblauer
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Sep 9, 2011, 3:55 PM
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I started climbing September 2002 and found RC.com shortly thereafter.
Happie...you live the life girl!
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tigerlilly
Sep 13, 2011, 6:32 PM
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In 2002, I was a dedicated cyclist with no thoughts of climbing whatsoever. I started climbing at the tender age of 44, and am now 49. It may be a good thing I waited until I was older and wiser to take up climbing. I've broken a lot of bones mountain biking, and the falls weren't nearly so far.... 
I think my body is actually stronger now than when I started climbing, primarily because my long-neglected core and upper body are now getting used and challenged. My biggest problem is inside my head. I used to feel indestructable, until a number of crashes with bad results taught me otherwise. I'm much more afraid of maiming myself to where I could not take care of myself (I am single with no close relatives) than I used to be. I blame some of my anxiety on the hormone fluctuations that come with advancing age, and hope that will fade in a few years.
I do seem to have plateaued in my climbing skill level, but I really haven't worked at harder routes much this past year. I am very slowly increasing my lead level, but my head gets in the way. I've also take up whitewater kayaking, but my learning curve there has been very gradual, too. Perhaps it's a bit late to teach an old dog new tricks?
Kathy
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smallclimber
Sep 14, 2011, 1:52 AM
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41 and started climbing in my 30s with my husband who is the same age. I don't feel old when I climb. I'm not much good but I love it.
We are expecting our second child only 17 months after the first in January, I will be 42, so climbing must have kept me young in some ways!
Though whether I will ever recover to climb again after the second I don't know.
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Old_lady
Oct 3, 2011, 9:45 PM
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Glad to see these posts! I started climbing at 40; I'll be 60 in a couple of weeks. I've never been a great climber and don't lead--I top rope and follow trad when I get a chance. Sadly not climbing now due to shoulder impingement, which is slowly getting better with physical therapy plus exercises prescribed by the therapist. I hope the shoulder will get solid enough that I can continue climbing.
I know one female climber in my area who is older and a far better climber than me.
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smallclimber
Oct 4, 2011, 1:15 AM
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Good for you. Thats definately an inspiration for a "middle aged" climber like me.
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Old_lady
Oct 4, 2011, 2:17 PM
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Smallclimber--best wishes to you, the new baby, and the rest of your family. I hope you find a way to juggle family, climbing, and the rest of life. If climbing gets squeezed out for a few months or a year or two, you can start climbing again later--maybe with kids when they're old enough?
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wendella
Jan 11, 2012, 1:39 AM
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Just read this and thought i would post a reply. I'm 40, and I have two good friends I climb with (female) who are about 55 and 61. The sixty one year old is the peppiest in our group. She's been through a few health scares (breast cancer, gallbladder removal, etc) but she just so damn full of life. She climbs outside whenever she can and has made it her goal to become as knowledgeable (and safe) about trad climbing as one can be. None of us climb hard - the most I climb in the gym is usually a 10 - and we do have to take breaks when body parts start hurting and don't work to spec (knees, shoulders, fingers, elbows...). But all-in-all this definitely seems to be a sport that can age with you. :)
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photonicgirl
Mar 15, 2012, 3:21 AM
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I'm 52, I don't lead 5'8 gnarly like I used to, but I can still climb up to 5'10. I think I'm in better shape than ever and having quit drinking five years ago, my liver is happier too :)
Bike, hike, snowboard, climb, farm, yoga, animals (llamas). It's all good.
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Kerry_NC
Apr 30, 2012, 5:00 PM
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Hi ladies!
I will be 40 this summer. I started climbing in January this year, in the gym. My boyfriend who is an avid climber and has been for 20 years, told me he wanted to go to Red Rocks for his 40th birthday, in March (he had been 5 times, but not in several years). So I told him if he could teach me to climb multi-pitch routes by March I would take him to Red Rocks for his birthday.
Well he succeeded! We started in the gym, and were climbing outside by the end of February at Pilot Mountain and Moore's Wall here in NC..brrr..those were some cold weekends.
We spent 9 days in Red Rocks climbing the end of March. I've moved from never having climbed to having climbed up to 5.9, multi-pitch routes, including a couple slightly nerve racking hanging belays, some crack climbs, etc.
We are headed to Summersville, WV the end of May for a long weekend of climbing. Training for that now with weekly bouldering and climbing around NC.
I have a 7 yr old son, but have not brought him into climbing yet..he is to ADD. Hoping to start him this fall in the gym.
How long..as long as I can. :-)
Kerry
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gblauer
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May 3, 2012, 2:41 AM
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Welcome to climbing!
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Kerry_NC
May 3, 2012, 1:26 PM
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Thank you! 
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ChaChaHeels
Aug 3, 2013, 3:09 AM
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It's reassuring to hear from other 40+ climbers, especially women. We are a rare breed. I started a few years ago at 50. I do at least 5 hours of hard exercise weekly in regular gyms and hiking to keep flexible and strong. Physcially my worst foes are hot flashes. Besides feeling like you're standing in front of a huge fire, you'll get a rapid heartbeat. It only lasts a minute, but when they hit on the rock, or steep approach hike, I gotta find a rest point quick! I like the sport and climbers tend to be good people. I'll quit when it no longer feels safe-physically or mentally.
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lilvicks22
Aug 9, 2013, 6:23 PM
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I climb with my mom and she's 53...
Having a mom who climbs, I love how rock climbing spills into our non-climbing days--must begin all shopping spree with a stop at EMS for new shiny gears, arguing whose turn it is to climb the kitchen cabinets for those out-of-reach chinaware, etc. We even managed to convince my dad and convert the attic into a climbing cave. LOL 
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gblauer
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Aug 10, 2013, 3:06 AM
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I love climbing with my 24 year old daughter. It's such a treat to hear "On belay, Mom".
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lewisiarediviva
Oct 5, 2013, 1:48 AM
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I'm 42 and I seem to go through phases of climbing. I started climbing in 1993 at the latest. Climbed for a few years and then life got crazy. We started again around 2002 and climbed through 2007 and then the economy crashed and we moved and it has just been crazy.
I had been thinking of rockclimbing.com as a long lost friend when suddenly I received an email about one of my watched threads that hadn't seen any action for years. I think I'll be doing some exploring and some serious investigation of my gear and get back on a rock.
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matterunomama
Nov 2, 2013, 12:49 AM
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Im 60. I have been climbing for the last 7 years. I will never be particularly good; I have devolved from being a 5.10 indoor climber to sport leading 5.8, but I enjoy it for what it is. One of the sweetest things my son ever said to me was "mom, you are awesome" after seeing me lead a 5.9 and acknowledging that for me, the fear factor was equivalent to his 5.12. I hope to climb to 70 and beyond, even if I am not Fred Beckey.
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Karinsmayo
Feb 18, 2014, 9:40 PM
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Hi awesome climbing ladies! I just read this post and thread and I'm happy to see that there some old ladies as me, 43, and older, still climbing and passionately keep going on.
I started about 3 years ago and it helped me a lot for recovering from some big health issues, keeps me focusing of 'keep on moving' and fighting my disease as I've to live with it. Until now I managed to get up to 5.9, even though I had to have a lot of health related breaks in between, but that's ok, bcs the fun of climbing and challenging myself is the pace, which makes me go.
A year ago I've infected my family with the climbing virus and we're now a 3 / 3,5 generation climbing family: my bro (45), my dad (76 started with 75!), my niece (21), my other niece (5)
It's so awesome!!
My dad and my bro just started with lead (everything indoor) and I can't wait to go with them together outdoor.
Unfortunately the live far away, but every climb together makes up for it 
Girls be safe, go on climb and show the guys how great we can do
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gblauer
Moderator
Apr 5, 2014, 2:36 PM
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Welcome! I wish I could say I was in my 40's! Well into my 50's I am enjoying climbing today, just as much as when I started.
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dingus
Aug 6, 2014, 9:30 PM
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A bunch of women, bragging about how old they are.... :)
LIARS!!!!!!!
Hah. Kidding. I'm 53 here and still confused about my gender. I'm about as broke up as a person can be and still manage to climb.
I love the resurrection of this thread.
My climbing partner is significantly younger than me. I can still kick her ass though, on lead, on the approach, pretty much anywhere vertical.
But in the City? Its her whipping my ass instead.
(... and I like it)
;)
Thanks for the thread
DMT
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satch
Aug 18, 2014, 7:24 PM
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My partner wouldn't respond to this thread, so I'll take a risk and respond for her. She's 47, has two kids around college age and started climbing 8 years ago. She was overweight before that and has lost 100 lbs.
I can't even get off the ground on her hard projects now and she carries a big pack in the mountains. We're currently on a year-long climbing trip that also works in skiing, ice climbing and mountain biking. Her preferred routes are multi-pitch moderates in the mountains. While each area we visit will be it's own peak experience, the trip ends with 2 months in Chamonix.
In my view, the beauty is that she just has lots of fun, can be fully in the moment and loves life.
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gblauer
Moderator
Aug 19, 2014, 7:59 PM
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what a lovely post. Good luck with your travels.
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