Boulderlust: Bishop April 2014

Hey guys!

I'm back from my 2nd annual Bishop trip! This time I went with my girlfriend, the illustrious Aubrey Jenkins. It was really nice to share the "climbing trip experience" with her as it was her first time climbing and camping for such an extended time. It didn't take us too long to get our cooking and cleaning systems down. At home, it generally goes that she plans meals and I assist as sous chef and dishwasher. We basically incorporated the same system at the PV Pit while staying there.

We did a lot of climbing and a lot of cribbage playing. It went that we would climb in the morning when it was still cool out and then rest in the afternoon heat at the Black Sheep playing cribbage and reading books. I picked up Vonnegut's posthumously released set of short stories "Look at the Birdie," which I found quite hilarious and a delightful read. I have loved reading satiric short stories for a long time since I picked up Roald Dahl's adult short stories "The Umbrella Man and Other Stories." I highly recommend both if you like morbid humor.

This was my 3rd and by far most successful Bishop climbing trip. I have struggled climbing big number problems in Bishop for one reason or another. Sometimes my skin is a big limiting factor, and other times it's been injury (elbow tendonitis). This was the first trip that I felt fit and relatively injury free and it felt so good!

This trip I only had a few climbs that I really wanted to and knew I could do quickly. The first being Acid Wash, which I had projected last year and did from the jug rail. I knew that I would be able to cruise it quickly and with little work this year. The second was Beefcake in the Ice Caves at the Sad Boulders. That climb I had also projected but had trouble linking the bottom and the top. It is by far my least favorite piece of rock, but it is pretty wild that it featured so much for that angle. The third was Center Direct, but I was less sure of my ability to do the one really hard move on it to the last right hand crimp. Lastly, my nemesis in Bishop, Soul Slinger.

First hard move of Soul Slinger V9.

This climb I have tried every trip I've gone and there is one hold on it that feels utterly impossible to use. As my friend Keath told me before the trip, "you have to pretend like you're holding on to it and you'll do the move." That was basically what I ended up doing on a really windy day in the Buttermilks, as well as using slightly different foot beta (I brought my right foot up to the highest incut instead of the right hand incut).

Finally committed to the jug.

My right foot goes where my left hand is
after grabbing the terrible nothing hold straight above me.

Yay topout!

As soon as I was able to perch on that foot, and stick the next right hand pinch, I finished the climb. But I eyed down the finish bucket for what felt like almost 30 seconds before I finally committed to it. The feet I were on felt so low and the next set of feet felt too high to use, so I found myself paralyzed to commit. It was pretty wonderful to finally finish this beast which had shut me down for so long. I was feeling strong!

After the buttermilks, we went to the Happies and Sads where I had a few projects to finish up. I also knew that Aubrey would enjoy the rock climbing there as the Buttermilks can be pretty harsh for new outdoor climbers. The volcanic rock tends to yield more holds and gentler top outs than the Buttermilks, though there were a few climbs that Aubrey had to still pull committing moves on up high. I was so happy to see her succeed and push herself out of her comfort zone!

I was really close to finishing Beefcake and Acid Wash, so those were the first objectives for me. Beefcake took two sessions to put together and it was incredibly pumpy for me. The rock is solid in the ice caves, but the holds are rather unattractive in my opinion. Weird pockety holes and bumpy stone. Not nearly as clean as the holds in the Buttermilks or more exposed rock in the tablelands. Acid wash went down the first session with little fuss. It felt really good to put that climb together so easily after feeling like it was difficult last year.

With most of my old projects done, it was time to find new things. I had heard really good things about Kill on Sight and it is right around the corner from Acid Wash. I figured out the toe hook move as seen below and the undercling rather quickly, but then had a really hard time loading the undercling and releasing the toe hook. After discussing some beta with an old Swiss crusher (not Fred, but I met him in the buttermilks!) who was road tripping he helped me use the right foot to get my body higher up into the undercling. After figuring that out, I went back a day or two later and put together Standing Kill Order V11. Now I just had to figure out the sit moves and I would do my first 12!

Toehooks and tension

Kill on Sight is described as starting with a left heelhook in the guidebook, but my philosophy on starting rock climbs (which is already a very contrived sport, come on people) is to use the start holds given and what ever feet feel comfortable then climb through what holds are accessible to the top. I chose to start Kill on Sight with a right dropknee and used a sharp but incut crimp before going into the stand start rail. This felt natural and comfortable to climb, though I didn't believe that it bumped the grade up. If anything, I think the stand is probably an easy V11 and the sit is a hard V11. Anyway, I was psyched to do it from the natural seated starting position and felt like the whole problem climbed really well. I love toehooks!

Kill on Sight V11/12
Mega dropknee!

I wanted to get back to the Buttermilks to try Center Direct, a V10 I thought I could do on the Grandma Peabody boulder, but I also wanted to see if I could try Haroun and the Sea of Stories on the downhill side of the Fly Boy boulder. It is such a steep, tall and majestic line that you can see the holds of from the parking lot. Every time I went up to Fly Boy, I would stare at it and think that someday I could do it. I was particularly motivated to try it after watching an old video that Jimmy Webb took of Brian Voges climbing a bunch of hard lines in Bishop. He flashes Haroun in it and makes it look so beautiful. Here's a link to it on vimeo. After some tricky moves involving a heel-toe cam and a directional pinch, you get to the crux of the climb Fall Guy which is a weird to generate snatch move to a good incut. I fell here a number of times before finally sticking it. I had to generate most of the momentum with my upper body instead of legs because the feet were so high and didn't quite push in the right way. Then you hand toehook match (I love toehooks!) and do some pretty mellow moves between good incuts. As you get higher, the holds get better, though the moves are a bit bigger. All in all, it makes for quite an adventure to the top of it. There's an awesome incut flake right before you do the last few moves that you can shake out on and recompose yourself for the finish. This was by far the best and most exciting rock climb I have ever done and I was so thankful for Aubrey and our campground friends for hanging out with me while I tried it. Here are some photos Aubrey took of the climb and following this is a link to a video I made of three of the climbs from the trip, Center Direct, Kill on Sight and Haroun.