But you may have to work a little harder at it.

In 1973 I was sixteen with only a few things on my mind, (mostly) climbing and making gear for climbing. Staying in shape was easy back then. You didn’t need to work out for climbing because you seemed to always be on the rock. The making gear part was more a novelty back then but sure won over doing my school homework. I could actually visualize there was an occupation looming somewhere in my climbing future.

School was just a stone’s throw from great bouldering at “Pirates Cove” in Corona Del Mar. I was fortunate to have a couple of understanding teachers who would actually let me cut class and go and get my morning workout. I was bouldering as much as I could because I was determined to climb “Valhalla” at Suicide Rock in the San Jacinto Mountains. It still stood unrepeated since the first ascent and was repelling strong teams. Jim Ericson and Scott Stewart from Colorado, who had just a few days before bagged the prized FFA of the crag’s “Insomnia Crack”, had given it their best effort.

 
There were others of like minds who had set their sights on that climb. At that time it was the new standard. It was a chance to personally test the sum of all your preparation, to measure yourself against the generation before you.

 
When Valhalla was finally repeated, it all happened in rapid succession. I was fortunate to pull off the Sixth ascent leading all three pitches and a week later following Terry Emerson up the Seventh. This one climbed formed the basis of a lasting bond for many of us that still continues to this day.

Me back in '73 following Terry's 7th ascent 

When I founded the “Gramicci” Company in the early eighties my focus switched to the making gear for climbers and it demanded more and more of my time. The act of climbing itself became more difficult to keep up with and staying in the kind of shape it required proved daunting with a growing business and family.  The following years I would get out on the rocks with my kids, showing them a world of challenge in the outdoors. It felt that the globe trotting days of climbing the best routes were to be just memories.

A few years back I thought it would be great to climb Valhalla again before or on my fiftieth birthday. However that date soon passed. There is truth in the saying that time goes by faster the older you get.

Through time I have found that good things can happen when you don’t try so hard. Your mind is in a different space, not weighed down with expectations and the pressure of failure. Look back to the times when you simply summed up a great experience to, “I was having a good day” or “I was feeling good that day”. Those are the moments you try and duplicate but are again elusive because you’re trying too hard once more.

 
My chance to climb Valhalla once more came a few weeks back when my Son felt it was his time. Fantastic I thought, even to follow it would be a treat. I would be able to test myself again, this time against my youth of ‘73.

We got to the base of the route in the late afternoon around 4:30. I told Ian it looks like I’ll  lead the first and third pitch leaving him with the crux second pitch. Racking up in silence I try to clear all the notions of “what if I can’t do this” so I try to focus on nothing. In the end the only thing that really put my head on straight was getting to the top of the first pitch. Anchored in and my shoes loosened I brought up Ian.

 
Looking very powerful he arrived at the belay very quickly. With his adrenaline pumping he hadn’t noticed he had opened the tip of his finger on a sharp flake below. As he started up the second pitch it opened even more making it difficult to hang on. Seeing the disappointment in his eyes he returned to the belay.

Without giving it much thought I tightened up my boots real well and told him I should give it a go since we were there.

Ian sizing up the crux on the second pitch 

When I got out to the first bolt I looked up, saw where I needed to be and before I knew it I was clipping the second bolt with the crux behind me. Looking back at my wide eyed son I heard him say “Damm Dad, you looked like you did that before” With a big smile I reply, “yeah just a few times"; Who knows, maybe after thirty five years there was still some remnants of the moves deep in my subconscious waiting to be useful again. At this point it was just like the first time all over. Here I was, over fifty and having a momentary feeling of being sixteen again. Continuing to the belay I reveled in the quality of the rock and the  remainder of the pitch.

 
Ian put up with his bleeding finger and refused to let me lead the third pitch. As I followed the last pitch I notice its run out in spots and comment on what nice job he did with the lead. When I get to the top I can see he is a little bummed since he really wanted to lead this route on-sight. He told me it was still good he got to do the route with me anyway.

 
I told him the best part of all this is that he gets to come back and do it again.

Post Edit:

In the late afternoon of June 19 we find ourselves hiking up to get in a climb before sunset. I’m thinking of the climb “Hot Buttered Rump” but Ian had a different plan. As the trail diverges he exclaims he wants to do Valhalla. I smiled and thought that was pretty spontaneous and the only argument I could come up with was there was less than two hours of light. That didn’t dissuade him.

As we rope up, he wants to lead both the first and second pitch. I told him with today’s long ropes he might as well link them into one pitch. And so he did.

It’s always special to see someone become so excited to have push themselves so far and succeed. The smile on his face lasted all evening on…

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Ancient Gold, You Can Always Go Back