Sport and Trad, Tuff and Granite

Warning: I've done nothing but rock climb all week.

Sorry if you're getting tired of climbing photos...

With warmer weather I joined some new friends for a day climbing in Pine Creek Canyon. Still some snow in areas but the rock was all dry.

3 of us spent the entire day climbing a single pitch. To be fair, the pitch is 180 feet tall... And it's a beauty. Think crack traverses, hand jams, laybacks and a chimney finish. All the stars!

Sheila [5.10a/b]

Here you can see Sarah belaying at the base, and Eric almost at the anchors way up there.

And here's Belyn and Brian climbing a classic 4-pitch route, Rites of Spring [5.10d].

With warmer weather and less wind, a fire was finally possible. The almost full moon was lighting up the tablelands and the Sierras magnificently. 

Professional climber Katie Lambert gave a talk/slideshow at the brewery in town. It was awesome hearing her tell all sorts of fun and exciting climbing stories.

Sometimes the sunsets in Bishop are worthy of taking cell phone photos while driving...

Another day in Owens River Gorge. Tried out a classic line in the Eldorado Roof with Brian: Looney Binge [5.12c]. While all the moves are doable, the endurance required for this line is unfathomable.

Ran into Dave and Jasmin, whom Camille and I had met and climbed with down in Mexico. So I spent a day climbing with them in an area called Little Egypt, which is known for hard crack climbing on somewhat sharp, crystally granite. We got physically worked! And it felt great!

Porch hanging with new friends while watching the sun set behind the Sierras is one of those moments that makes you wonder why you would ever want to leave a place like this.

Car Cooking: Car Hibachi

First attempt at an onion volcano: success!

Highballs and Stuck Saturns

A highball a day keeps the head game at bay.

This is the Southwest arret of Grandma Peabody [5.9]. Not pictured, the 5.6 downclimb that was almost as difficult.

Credit: Sara McFadden

Credit: Sara McFadden

Credit: Sara McFadden

On another day I went to Owens River Gorge with another Sarah to climb Towering Inferno, a 5-pitch 5.11b. It was a spectacular line. If you squint, you can see Sarah at the end of the first pitch, a massive traverse above the cave.

Then Sara left for Utah. Then I got a really bad cold. Then it rained for 2 days. Then I drove my Saturn on top of a rock such that the front wheels were dangling in the air. The last time I did that I was 16 and driving my Mom's car. She was quite upset. This time I have to be upset with myself. I had no plans for the rest of the day so this proved to be a solid way to pass the time.

Lots of jacking up the wheels, adding rocks, jacks falling, frame slamming back on the rock, cursing and drinking beer. 2 hours later the Saturn was free again and I was ready for bed.

Then the next day the sun came out!

There is a women's climbing festival in town this weekend which means the crags will probably be busy. I think I'll spend some time on my website. And maybe another car cooking video!

Bouldering is Hard and Fun

Not much to report here. Still climbing lots of boulders and taking in all that the Eastern Sierras has to offer.

This is a view of the Happy Boulders from the top of the table. Lots and lots of rock to climb.

Sara and I also spent a day climbing sport routes in Owens River Gorge. They were nice and tall and lots of fun. Will definitely return there soon.

There was a huge dust tornado near the Happy Boulder parking area. I've seen a few dustnados in my day and this one was by far the largest. It was in an area that experienced a large wildfire about a month ago. The wind was picking up all of the ash that was left behind from the fire. I felt like a storm chaser driving around trying to find a good angle.

Bishop!

Checking in from Bishop, CA. Been wanting to visit here for years now. The weather is grand and the views are majestic. It's nestled in a valley between the Sierras and the Whites. With plenty of free camping options on BLM land as well as awesome bouldering, sport and trad climbing, I can see myself spending some decent time here. 

Sara and I have been bouldering the last couple days. First at the Happy boulders on volcanic tuff then at the Buttermilks on quartz monzonite. The difficulty of the classic lines here is humbling and I'm actually feeling inspired to try hard and get stronger. We'll see how long that lasts!

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Little Egypt to explore some of the trad climbing in the area which I'm very much looking forward to!

Vegas Life

After dropping Camille off at the airport I had a day to myself. I spent most of it trying to figure out how to do things on my own again. An adjustment period for sure. I'm trying to continue cooking good and healthy meals but she did it so much better!

My Uncle Mark flew into town from Boston so we could spend some time together as well as see my Great Uncle Jack (His Uncle). Here's the 3 of us in the hotel room.

Our hotel room for the first night was far from modest (my Uncle's choosing as I've never even set foot in a suite like this before).

We spent 5 days together, mostly catching up. Unfortunately my Uncle is very sick at the moment. Thankfully I was able to provide some assistance and hopefully he is on a good course toward recovery.

After he flew back home I made my way back into the mountains. Being on the strip for 5 days was pretty much my limit for city life.

Since then I've been working a lot on building a new website to showcase my photography as well as my programming skills. Yup, I think I'm going to start looking for jobs soon and I kind of need a portfolio. It feels really good to be programming again.

Been climbing with Sara a lot as well as her friends Jordan and Jess. We climbed some hard sport routes and bouldered. This boulder is called Porkchop for hopefully obvious reasons. Photo: Sara.

For our rest day we decided to climb Solar Slab, a 1,700 foot tall 12-pitch 5.6. With a 45 minute approach, 2 hour climb and 2.5 hour descent it wasn't exactly a good rest day activity. Either way it was a blast. In this photo below, Solar Slab is the big white wall on the right side of the left-most canyon (did you follow all that?).

A 3-pitch 5.3 gully at the beginning got us nice and warmed up.

This is maybe halfway up the route. Some interesting and fun laybacks.

The 200 foot crack towards the top was solid and kept us quite focused.

The summit! Photo: Sara.

There were many descent options, but most required a rope which we were lacking. We found a good option that required some 5.5 downclimbing, climbing back up, shimmying down chimneys and finally descending a large low-angle slab. Somehow we didn't get lost and were back to the car before 2:00!

Sara and I are both getting a little antsy and might head to Bishop, CA in a couple days for some bouldering in the East Sierras. Stay tuned!