Bouldering in Bishop: March 1 – 5, 2011

Five days of bouldering the stunning lines of the Buttermilks, Happys, and Sads has left me in a somewhat bittersweet state of mind. Sweet because the climbing has been, simply put, amazing. Sweet because climbing there moved me along the path on my personal journey to overcome some of my bouldering hurdles/demons…among these, sending some of my tallest (by far) problems to date (and not having a complete melt down mid-way through), working on the mental aspects of my climbing such as not putting limits on what I think I can accomplish (despite this I still had a number of unexpected and very enlightening instances where I initially doubted my ability to work a problem or move but when I actually put effort into it the results were significantly better than expected), as well as the simple joy that comes with climbing a lot of extraordinary rock and sending some classic lines. Bitter because it feels like I was just getting into my climbing groove when I had to leave, because there were still so many incredible boulders I didn’t even get to see, much less get my fingers on, because there were so many projects left unfinished (but that just means I have to come back which, after all, is not a bad thing)!

The climbing in the Buttermilks and Tablelands is radically different but superb in their own unique ways. The Buttermilks are characterized by long, pure, often technical and beta intensive climbs up stand alone quartz monzonite boulders. The Happys and Sads are a jungle gym of rock and boulders – a veritable climber’s playground. The bouldering in the Tablelands tends to be more athletic, bigger holds and bigger moves with varying beta depending on climbing style, height, etc. However, not only is the climbing in Bishop remarkable and varied, but the scenery itself is stunning. The broad vistas afforded from the Buttermilks and the rim of the Tablelands across the breadth of Owens Valley, flanked by the snowcapped Eastern Sierras to the west and White Mountains to the east outlined against a huge blue sky is worth the journey to this majestic land in and of itself.

To add the obligatory hilarity that is a prerequisite for any climbing trip we piled six people (Eric, Jehs, Gus, Patrick, Katy and myself) into one cheap hotel room at the seemingly notorious Thunderbird Motel for five days straight. Sleeping arrangements were interesting – three to one queen sized bed, two in the second bed and me on my sleeping pad and sleeping bag across the floor. Luggage, food, clothes, climbing gear, towels and electronic gadgets strewn across the room in haphazard disarray added to the general chaos. Many trips were made to the delectable and locally famous Erick Schat's Bakery with their 35 cent day old baked goods shelf! As an additional perk we met up with Micah, Stella and Sarah whom we climbed with at some point every day of the trip. Micah served both as our local tour guide, personal climbing coach and spotter extraordinaire! We also met new friends along the way including a group of climbers hailing from Norway; these we met at the local climber’s camp descriptively called “The Pit” one evening on our way to soak in one of the regions many natural hot springs. We ended up having such a splendid time chatting with them that the trip to the hot springs was abandoned and the evening was spent around their camp fire drinking Tecate, passing around a huge bottle of wine, and swapping stories (some among our group consumed substantially more liquid refreshment than the rest of us which led to a fair number of entertaining stories and the obligatory hangover the following day)! In the end it was exceptionally inspiring and rewarding to see everyone climbing so well…to see projects sent, hard lines on-sighted, the effort, blood, sweat and tears everyone put into personal favorite climbs and new friendships forged!

On the last day of the trip I managed to send Fly Boy Arête (V5) on my final attempt! I have to thank Micah for talking us into checking out the Fly Boy boulder in that final hour Jehs and I had left in the Buttermilks, and again for convincing me to have that final go on it before packing up to leave. It was in incredible feeling to walk away with that send in my pocket! Jehs and I then had an enjoyable and leisurely journey back down south to Los Angeles making a stop at Gus and Nancy’s roadside stand along the way for some local honey and various samples of tasty goodies! Thanks to Jehs I was able to enjoy a totally new culinary experience once we reached LA as we dined out at an amazing little vegan restaurant where I sampled vegan chicken wings (delicious…and they even had a little drumstick looking “bone” and all), drunken noodles with vegan chicken, and to finish it off vegan carrot cake! We then had a bit of an adventure returning the rental car and getting back to the hotel but a long soak in the whirlpool bath tub and a gloriously comfortable feather top mattress provided the perfect ending to a wonderful trip!