Roadtrip Weeks 29 – 33: Bishop, California
As I mentioned in the previous post, after Hueco Tanks I made the 15 hour trek to Bishop, California. I did stop in Joshua Tree, but only for a couple days and rather to rest up and enjoy the scenery than to really climb.
I was excited to roll into Bishop. I had been there years ago, when I had first started to climb, and it was nice to come back with a little bit of climbing knowledge. Pictured are The Buttermilks. Photo by Frank Wu.
During the time I was in Bishop, I saw a handful of SLC’ers who had come out for a long weekend. It had been a long time since I had seen the SLC crew! One weekend Travis and Wen made the drive and we spent all weekend climbing and laughing. It was fabulous! Here is Travis working the moves of “Saigon”.
Both “FlyBoy” problems, the stand and the sit, are absolute must do’s. The sit for sure was my all time favorite problem in Bishop. It truly was fantastic!
A lot happened on this particular day. Tim and I sent the “FlyBoy Sit”, while poor Steve fell from the lip and broke one ankle and horribly sprained the other. Two days later I sprained my ankle on High Plains Drifter. The result? Steve and I had plenty of time to hang out, sip tea and become excellent friends. I am off to visit him and Tim in Leeds tomorrow. =)
Another fabulous line, “Morning Dove White”, that starts in a sequence of pockets then finishes on what I hear is a heart fluttery top out. Unfortunately I sprained my ankle before I could properly work this one… bummer, as I really liked the line. Pictured is Jason. Photo by Frank Wu.
Me on “Disco Diva”. I didn’t make it much farther than where I am pictured. Ha ha! Photo by Frank Wu.
My two favorite shots from my road trip were both taken by Frank Wu. The boulder in the picture above also has a v10 dyno line on the right side. This guy climber was consistently trying it, finally sticking the line at the moment that Frank captured this shot. Unbelievable! Can my dog be any more unimpressed? Thanks for the photo, Frank.
Me on a tall v1 (I am currently forgetting the name). Photo by Merrick Ales.
“High Plains Drifter” was one of my favorite problems. The problem ends about 20+ feet up, but most people top out the whole boulder, down climbing the crack on the right side. I loved this problem, but did not send (falling from the start of the crux). I instead just took away the below sprained ankle. Photo by Frank Wu.
I thought the sprain was quite mild, this picture being taken the morning after it happened. Yet as I write this blog post it has been 7 weeks and my ankle remains a cankle.
This boulder isn’t in the book but houses a handful of excellent problems. Here is Sunset Head working the crux of the most right problem.
MP on “Checkerboard”. Aesthetic line, but quite reachy for us short folks.
Me working the moves on “Devoted”. Picture by Dan Brayack.
Fellow climber (whose name I did not catch) working Moonraker. I really loved this problem because it required all these fancy moves plus the crux was the ability to slow down this epic swing. One of my most fun days in Bishop was with a crew of friends, all working this problem and jamming out to old-school hits like ‘YMCA’ and ‘Come on Eileen’.
And of course, a blog post about Bishop must include a picture of the Ironman Traverse. A tricky v4 regardless if you know the sequence. Picture by Dan Brayack.
My Bishop “office” and fellow co-workers. =) Steve, on the left, is home in Leeds and I am off to see him tomorrow. Aaron, on the right and closest to the camera, is back in Kentucky for a few weeks longer before hitting the road again. And I am not sure where Dave, sitting behind Aaron, is currently located.
I met this crazy kid, Michael Pang, on my last few days in Bishop. He was hilarious! A climber, fellow working professional, who still loves to sleep in his car and happened to be camped in the same parking lot that I was in. Ha ha. I’m hoping to catch up with him when I get home.
I met a lot of great people in Bishop. On this particular day I was supposed to be resting, but went out climbing solely for the reason that Prairie was in town. Prairie and I ended up never catching up, but I made friends with an awesome group and ended up having one of my best climbing days. Best of all, at the end of the day my cheeks hurt more from laughing than my fingertips from climbing. Photo by Jeff Fox.
After 8 months on the road and 5 weeks in Bishop, the fingers started to look quite gruesome. I like to pretend like guys find this attractive.
Tags: Bishop, California, climbing