We left Oregon just before the bad weather hit two days after Christmas. It took two full days to drive down to Bishop. The van performed admirably considering we hadn't driven it in over 3 months. We arrived at the Pleasant Valley climbers campground (called "The Pit"). It's a cheap little campground that has no water, and pit toilets but is only $2 a night per car. There is plenty of free camping at the Buttermilks which is significantly more scenic, but the vibe here is positive and the concentration of sites helps limit the impact from having so many campers. From here to the climbing areas it's only about 4 miles to the Happies, 5 to the Sads, and about 20 to the Buttermilks and only 25 miles to five natural hot springs!
We spent our first week here climbing as many classic lines as possible. It was a very productive week. Cassie has had a nemesis climb here for over a decade that is supposedly only a v2 called "Big Chicken" at the Happies. It's a very stout line that is steep and tricky. We've seen many a climber fail on this climb that we would normally consider a warmup. She got it her first try which was very good and shows she has improved a great deal. We tried Solarium which is a v3 in the old guidebook but is now v4 in the new guide. It's a techy but powerful problem that took me a few goes to figure out the correct beta to get the good sloper at the top. Quite a picturesque problem. We both hopped on a super-classic line called "The Hulk" which goes at v6. I sent in a couple of tries. Cassie did quite well on it also, though the crux move is a long reach. It definitely seems like she could finish it soon. Cassie also sent Ketron Classic (v4), I climbed Sucker Punch The Happies are great volcanic tuff climbing that has generally quite positive holds. There are patina edges that make some problems super fun to climb at even the easiest grades. We've spent a few days there already and have a ton of projects to finish such as The Gleaner v6, Disco Diva v8, Rave v7, as well as many others we haven't had time to even hop on yet.
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| The perfectly formed - Solarium v4 |
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| Matt wishing the slopers were better on Rave v7 |
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| The Gleaner - v6 |
We've also been to the Sad boulders. Some of the volcanic climbing is scoffed at by people who really enjoy the Buttermilks, but we've found all three areas to be equally good climbing for different reasons. The Sads have some beautiful cave problems that stay cool all day, plus some great v5/v6 problems. I finished Molly (v5) yesterday as well as Anti-Hero (v5) and we both worked Rio's Crack (v6+) with our new friends Inus and Ruth. They are from the UK and are both very good climbers. It's great to continue meeting such wonderful people om the trip. We've climbed with them a good deal and really enjoy their company.
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| Cassie trying Rio's crack - v6 |
The Buttermilks are certainly positioned in a very beautiful setting and are incredibly striking lines on granite egg shaped boulders. It's home to some of the hardest boulder problems in the world. Cassie and I have sent a climb that shut us down on a previous trip here 4 years ago. It's called Iron Man Traverse (v4) and is a wonderful traverse (that's saying something since most of the time I hate traverses). We also climbed Birtday Direct/Center (v3) which is a tricky problem up a vertical face. Quite techy that one. Then Cassie stepped it up a few notches and sent Green Wall Center v6 in only 3 or 4 goes. Very impressive to climb that grade in such a small number of tries. That makes her hardest granite send to date!
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| Cassie on Birthday Center v3 |
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| warming up on the Hero Roof |
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| Ruth on Sheepherder v2 |
We're climbing a ton so don't have a huge number of pictures, but we've shot a ton of video that should help us put together a good bishop video sometime in february.
Today is a rest/shower/blog day. We're doing a bunch of research on plane tickets for the next segment of our abroad trip which should start in early-April.
