Will Gadd is my hero. The dude is 57 and still climbs, and was climbing hard at my age.

Another Canadian, Barry Blanchard made a comment about his younger years that has become more relevant to me now. He called his youthful climbing years his “invincible years.” After all, he went boldly up North Twin. When his testosterone decreased, he still climbed, but some of the risk of the high level of climbs became stakes that exceeded his tolerance. Aging isn’t just about fitness.

It goes without saying, I have always read and wrote more about the mountains than I ice climbed, bouldered, and pulled plastic. Now finishing my 45th trip around the sun, the old struggle to climb better and harder has become a struggle to climb at all.

Fitness is the hardest part. Maybe it always has, for someone that has made a career of advocacy for better housing opportunities. I am not swinging a hammer, I am reading, analyzing, writing, and in meetings constantly. I have always been a skinny, high endurance guy that, other than running far, didn’t train. I remember having to prioritize core workout about five years ago, and I was able to make the swift, though not quite dynamic, moves boulders that I saw less and less. I should have taken that as a sign.

I do maintenance exercises, walk (a lot), ride my bicycle, and lift weights. They do well for me. I can run upstairs with my briefcase at the state capitol, move file boxes, keep good posture, and I have energy throughout the day. However, I tried a high intensity workout for three weeks to help me build up to climbing strength. It brought back the asthma I suffered from as a kid. I had pleasantly forgotten the struggles of making the starting squad of soccer and basketball in high school. I tried to muscle through, but doing that kind of workout early in the morning, gasping for air and grasping for my inhaler, in the dark is miserable and lonely.

I realized that grip training and core training was going to do me more good. And did you realize that doing a full and proper pull-up was an accomplishment? I used to do at least five and earlier 10 at a time, not with ease, but with form. I was starting from zero earlier this year. I added farmers walks and some weight rolls to my strength routine.

But, like I said, fitness isn’t the only barrier to climbing. Weather windows have always been a thing for a climb. When conditions are right, you go. But weather means something different now. I suppose I should just use the broader word: Conditions.

Now, the conditions mean the alignment of the stars, which are the stars of work, family, and maybe a climbing partner. Usually, they do not. Several times, I had an evening work meeting that I could flex my time for, and it would have been a great window to go alone and boulder, but sometimes a greater need to help move the kids between activities and help Natalie became king of the hill.

I say this a lot, but it’s still true. While hiking and golf can get me up and moving and be joyful, they don’t compare to the feeling of being in the moment, really present, and accomplishment through climbing. And I don’t mean reaching the top, I mean progress and puzzling over problems, moves, and routes. It quiets my anxious mind and connects me to an ethereal higher world unlike anything else. Things are clear. Afterwards, I’m euphoric.

Do you ever experience something like that? I bet Will Gadd does and I bet Barry Blanchard still does, even well after his invincible days.

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