“The Aging Climber” Project

What: A book, at least 80 pages in length

Target audience: Rock climbers who feel mid-life-ish or older

Purpose: To be informational and inspirational by sharing the joy of climbing from an older and sometimes wiser climber’s perspective.

Target publication date: September 2010


Working book title: The Aging Climber

Proposed Contents:

Chapter 1: Are you an “older” climber? Read on…
Intro
Test: You are an older climber if…
Research on aging in general

Chapter 2: Lifers
Climbing as a lifestyle
Why lifers keep climbing as they age

Chapter 3: Mid-life n00bies
Why did they take up climbing?
Risks, family responsibilities, and time commitment

Chapter 4: So you still want to climb 5.12?
What goals do mid-life newbies strive for?
What goals do life-long climbers set for themselves as they age?

Chapter 5: Tips for interacting with “younger” climbers
Buy new gear
No talking about the good-old days
Feed them and transport them, if needed
Share your expertise liberally

Chapter 6: Training schedules for aging climbers (Needs research)
How the body and the mind change with age
Research on aging athletes
How to implement this knowledge in your climbing

Chapter 7: Health issues for aging climbers (Needs research)
Will climbing do you any good?
What’s bad about climbing for the aging body?
Dealing with overuse injuries

Chapter 8: The final chapter
What do you say at your climbing partner’s memorial?
What do you want them to say on your tombstone?


More about the book: My vision for the book is that it will be informational as well as inspirational. I’m striving for a fun, even cheeky, tone, unless the topic is a serious one.

I imagine weaving the text of the book around a collection of personal stories written by “older” climbers such as you. Will you write a personal “adventures-of-the-older-climber” story concerning one of your core experiences with aging and how it influenced your climbing? I think it would be a lot of fun to collect and share our anecdotes of what kinds of issues have come up and how we mastered them.

What do you think? Please, give me feedback. I've created a thread on rockclimbing.com (see links) for general discussion, and use the comment feature on this page to give direct input on book content.