question for older climbers

I know that everyone will age differently, but was wondering when individuals start to see a decline in power and power-endurance.

I am just wondering since myself I am now turning 46 and climbing fairly well. I've also gotten stronger each year and am jumping on some fairly hard cracks (in the .12 and .13 range). Should I expect a plateau and have a slow decrease as I enter my 50's, just before, in the late 50's, 60's.....? Not that it will change anything, since I am hoping to stay injury-free (as said before, have had 1 climbing injury in 35yrs+), and hope to keep a decent level of fitness, and I act like a 14yr old (ok, thats just the maturity of a 14yr old). Just wonder when people other people have seen the plateau.

I know Donini leads 5.12's in his mid-60's, Ramsey is climbing hard in his early 50's. Are they just mutants or genetically gifted, or is most of the decline more due to injuries, loss of passion, the normal responsibilities we all have,......?

I didn't notice any lose of strength when I turned 50, just a little trouble keeping the weight off. I never climbed real hard 11b/c which I'm still doing, just a little slower now. The one big differance I see is when I take a few weeks off I notice it takes more time to get back up to grade than before. I'm looking forward to climbing as hard when I reach 60.

Go to the Boulder Rock Club's website and take a look at the recent comp results. (Competitors were grouped by age.) It's largely a matter of luck -- not just injuries, but genetics, because arthritis can really sap your strength.

I'll let you know when I get there. But injuries aside I think your mental attitude and how you treat your body have a lot to do with it. My father in law is 60. He rides 5 horses a day, plus runs anywhere from 3-10 miles depending the day (he's done several marathons- runs a 6 minute mile). On top of that he lifts 3 days a week. The guy is an animal. I took him climbing a few times and he impressed me. He eats well and takes a multitude of natural supplements.

I'll turn 40 this year and hope that I can still walk when I'm his age. Mind over Matter!

I was still climbing as strong as ever into my late 50's. It was a serious shoulder injury and a year of not climbing that adversly affected my overall fitness.

Getting older generally seasons a climber, but with a crippling bone injury like I have, can change the way you climb to some degree..once a climber, always a climber.

I'm reminded of an article in Climbing almost 10 years ago, about climbers continuing to climb as they got older. My climbing partner at the time said, "my kids are older than everyone in that article." It seems like everyone's opinion about what constitutes old is a little different.

Broke ankle (first break of any kind) at age 56, and the recovery was too long. thus I got out of shape and have also lost strength with age now at 60. So I just enjoy the routes I like to do and don't push the numbers anymore which kinda leaves me without a climbing partner most days in the ever competitive world of the Red River Gorge where 5.11 is considered the low end of acceptability for climbing partner.

Oh and for the cartoon above, my read was that it was HIS impression of his reflection of a past live, and still lives in that world where he could be the hardman on the cliffs. Not a manequin in the store that sort of looked like him.

Without any sort of debilitating injury its all in your head. I never climbed that hard compared to many but at 56 I can still climb as hard or harder than ever. I just don't have the psych that I did when I was younger. Part of that is living and climbing in the same area for 36 years. You just don't get that excited about doing the same old routes and approaches. If you keep your interest you can climb anything you want.

Hey, I resemble that cartoon.

Must have been a self portrait. Ha haha ha.

Hey Philo--that store sign should say Immemorial sale!!!!

hee hee hee. . .hope you're doin' gud!!!!

For a good general discussion on older climbers see this MP thread from a couple of years ago: mountainproject.com/v/gener…

At age 50, I feel that I am climbing better and at higher grades than I have every in the past and I have been climbing since I was in my twenties.

The problem in becoming physical endurance and injury prevention. I am starting to go from one injury to another, which is affecting the training and climbing.

There are no benefits in getting older.

AB

I'm 65. Just done my first 5.12b after 17 years climbing. I still feel as though I'm getting stronger but at some point the slide must start. I think injury can be the turning point for many.

Climbed much the same as in my youth around 5.10. Saw some physical decline at about 73,but age did produce less fear of running it out.The above refers to trad climbs not sport (or pure crack climbs).However I did keep off indoor climbing walls (never been on one) , and always climbed off the couch.The only training hiking, biking and walking the dogs.I believe in energy conservation.

Totally agree with Blissab. Injuries can be a challenge, and they take longer to heal. Weight is also a challenge, but can be overcome with effort.

When I interviewed 50 athletes over age 50 for my book 50 Athletes Over 50, they said their biggest key to success was being consistent, not getting too far out of shape. They said that it's just too hard to claw their way back.

I'm 70. Lost two years to an ACL rupture, surgery, and rehab. (Which is not to say I didn't climb for those two years---I did, after about eight months---but at a reduced level.)

It has turned out to be a real struggle to regain a decent level of hand endurance. On steep climbs with no rest (which would be everything in the gym and many harder routes outdoors), I just can't hold on the way I used to, and this is in spite of a fairly vigorous training effort, aimed as specifically as possible at this particular type of weakness. (For example, sets of 10 foot-on hangboard hangs, seven seconds on, three seconds off, mimicking the accumulated load of ten consecutive strenuous moves, with the foot-on load calibrated to produce failure for me near the ten rep point.)

This is partially a matter of genetics. I sometimes climb with another seventy-year old who has had their own share of injuries and rehabs and still has much more hand endurance than I do. On the other hand, I am way above some of my other septuagenarian friends in this department. We're all active and not overweight (by much).

Mental attitude is of course important but will only take you so far. The idea that it's all in your head is a lovely fiction---would that it was true! In addition to genetics, I suspect a lot depends on your base. Donini has climbed 200 days a year, year in and year out, without any significant injury, and that's part of why he's cruising 12's at seventy. I, for example, have non-climbing interests and responsibilities that consume time and attention and that I fully enjoy, and have climbed perhaps half that much for quite a while now.

So, at the end of the day, I think the realistic response is that you won't know how you'll fare until you get there. When you do start to notice decline, as you will inevitably no matter what, the question will be whether you enjoy climbing at whatever level you can manage or whether you can't stand not being able to do what you used to do. I know folks in both camps.

Sergey Tarasov just placed 3rd at Busteni, Romania in the Ice World Cup series, he's 47.

I just sent Octopussy yesterday at Vail, CO and I'm even older than he is.

Climb with as many young beautiful talented women as possible, you'll never get old...

Oh, and train everyday.

There's injury and then there's worn out. At some point you will flat out wear out some body parts then you will notice a decline.

So I am the OP, but 2.5/3 yrs on. But to the author of 50 athletes over 50. The whole idea of its too hard to claw your way back, to me seems like a cop-out. I am now 48- within about a month I'll be 49. I know about coming back.

Since I originally posted the question I slipped just minutes before catching a flight, breaking my leg (and then proceeded to walk 2 miles before getting it casted. Diligently did weights while in a caste, and my first lead afterwords was a 5.12 crack. I didn't know it at the time but at the time I broke my leg, I had shredded my right meniscus. That year in mid-June had knee surgery and traiuned what I could, so my first lead after that was a 5.12b tips crack. Less than a year later, in a biking accident I had multiple fractures between C4 and C7 in my neck leaving me partially paralyzed. After surgery, I could lift a total of 5lbs because of some neural deficits. A lot of PT (after surgery to correct the damage), a lot of training, and more pain than you can image I am back to doing pullups with 45lb weights (unfortunatelty not the 145lb pull ups I was doing before my accident. I am back climbing 5.12 cracks and working on 5.13 cracks again. Not easy and more pain than I really wished for but I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Its not like I have all the time in the world either. I am a fulltime single dad, and take raising my girls very seriously, a fulltime scientist, and am in a relationship which I take seriously. Believe me, I don't have tons of time, but to say its too hard to comeback is a total cop-out.