2Nd Annual Thanksgiving in Bishop/Trad climbers go sport climbing
Having Thursday and Friday off of work for Thanksgiving normally get the hordes of California Weekend Warriors to commit to a big trip. When I lived in Portland it was always a trip to Smith Rock. Now that I'm in California, this is the second time I've headed to the Eastern Sierra to celebrate with a long weekend of climbing and campfires. This year I added an extra day by taking Wednesday off and it was worth it to have the Gorge virtually empty before the crowds rolled in. Jeff and I rolled out of town on Tuesday after work and rolled into the Pinyon Pines just north of Owens River Gorge (ORG) at about 2 am. As soon as we pulled off 395 and on to the dirt backroads we stopped and popped open a couple road sodas before continuing on.
Day One:
We got in late on Tuesday so I didn't really expect to wake up at a reasonable time. Sport Climbers don't do alpine starts, right, I thought to myself. Regardless, my eyes opened a bit after 6 am and excited to see the mountains (and have a piss), I stuck my head out of the tent. What I saw was the most amazing sunrise I've ever seen. "Holy shit Jeff, get your ass up!" I grabbed my Nikon and shot over a dozen photos before relieving myself and crawling back into my bag.
I opened my eyes, this time at a reasonable hour and Jeff and I went to work on coffee and breaky burritos. The plan was to hit the Upper Gorge which was a five minute drive from our amazing campsite. It was just Jeff and I on Wednesday since everyone else was supposed to drive in Wednesday night or Thursday morning. At Upper we hiked over to Gotham City Wall and started up Superfly. Jeff and I have very different ideas of warm-ups but the first pitch was definitely not 10c so it worked well. If the first pitch was good then the second was great and the climb definitely earned the five star rating. We then moved over to Double Flapper so I could get my lead head on. Next we worked one climb to the left and jumped on Graninite 11b. This climb has to be my favorite sport climb ever. We then worked our way down to the next wall and jumped on ORGasm, and Slackjaw. ORGasm is probably a close second to Graninite and was an utterly amazing climb. Fingertip liebacks for the first half that were completely solid and felt completely unstable. Slackjaw was a cakewalk chimney until the tricky last move forces you to think a bit.
We finished the day with Jeff jumping on and flashing up Flex Your Head 12b. The man's a beast I tells ya!
We got in late on Tuesday so I didn't really expect to wake up at a reasonable time. Sport Climbers don't do alpine starts, right, I thought to myself. Regardless, my eyes opened a bit after 6 am and excited to see the mountains (and have a piss), I stuck my head out of the tent. What I saw was the most amazing sunrise I've ever seen. "Holy shit Jeff, get your ass up!" I grabbed my Nikon and shot over a dozen photos before relieving myself and crawling back into my bag.
I opened my eyes, this time at a reasonable hour and Jeff and I went to work on coffee and breaky burritos. The plan was to hit the Upper Gorge which was a five minute drive from our amazing campsite. It was just Jeff and I on Wednesday since everyone else was supposed to drive in Wednesday night or Thursday morning. At Upper we hiked over to Gotham City Wall and started up Superfly. Jeff and I have very different ideas of warm-ups but the first pitch was definitely not 10c so it worked well. If the first pitch was good then the second was great and the climb definitely earned the five star rating. We then moved over to Double Flapper so I could get my lead head on. Next we worked one climb to the left and jumped on Graninite 11b. This climb has to be my favorite sport climb ever. We then worked our way down to the next wall and jumped on ORGasm, and Slackjaw. ORGasm is probably a close second to Graninite and was an utterly amazing climb. Fingertip liebacks for the first half that were completely solid and felt completely unstable. Slackjaw was a cakewalk chimney until the tricky last move forces you to think a bit.
We finished the day with Jeff jumping on and flashing up Flex Your Head 12b. The man's a beast I tells ya!
Day Two:
That night, Jeff and I sat by the fire, trying to warm ourselves despite the 20 degree temps. I think that's why we found the bottle of rye half empty the next morning. Anyways, no one showed up by the time we went to bed and this time when I woke up at 6 am for another amazing sunrise, we found the camp had ballooned into a tent city (top photo). This time however, I didn't go back to bed. Instead, I put on my running shoes and an inadequate number of layers and started out for a cold and crisp run at altitude. Very refreshing! Luckily I returned to warm coffee and the cheers of friends calling me a fucking crazy man. Indeed. I sponge bathed as Jeff busted out his specialty burritos and Wells, Jeff and I headed out to the Happy's for a day of bouldering.
We decided to head all the way to the back side and work our way up so we started on Slight Inducement which had a wonderful V2 rail and then went over to Cry Baby boulder. Jeff and I both nailed Gamekeeper Clifford which is a V4 sit start on Cry Baby before walking over to the Solarium area to join the crowds. I've had two or three previous trips to the Happy's and each time Solarium shut me down. This time however was different. I made the move that had shut me down previously and it felt super solid. At the same time, Jeff made The Hulk V6 look like a children's jungle gym as he waltzed up it on his 7th or 8th go. After that we had lunch and beer thirty back at the parking lot to take a break.
When we started back up, we aimed our sites on Hard Crack and Atari. When we got to them however, we looked at the landings, looked at each other and then Wells broke the silence saying "I'm not gonna fuck up my ski season this year." The Hard Crack had my name all over it. It was a V4 beautiful splitter crack twisting up the rock like a snake with about 5 or 6 ring-lock moves before for you get to a section of perfect hands to finish out the route. It took everything I had not to jump on the problem. Basically if you fall you break something and I just didn't want to do that. I knew I wouldn't fall but just didn't want to risk it with a V4.
After that we spent the remainder of the afternoon ticking off Monkey Hang, the Weekender and a few other climbs right in that area that I had done before.
That night, Jeff and I sat by the fire, trying to warm ourselves despite the 20 degree temps. I think that's why we found the bottle of rye half empty the next morning. Anyways, no one showed up by the time we went to bed and this time when I woke up at 6 am for another amazing sunrise, we found the camp had ballooned into a tent city (top photo). This time however, I didn't go back to bed. Instead, I put on my running shoes and an inadequate number of layers and started out for a cold and crisp run at altitude. Very refreshing! Luckily I returned to warm coffee and the cheers of friends calling me a fucking crazy man. Indeed. I sponge bathed as Jeff busted out his specialty burritos and Wells, Jeff and I headed out to the Happy's for a day of bouldering.
We decided to head all the way to the back side and work our way up so we started on Slight Inducement which had a wonderful V2 rail and then went over to Cry Baby boulder. Jeff and I both nailed Gamekeeper Clifford which is a V4 sit start on Cry Baby before walking over to the Solarium area to join the crowds. I've had two or three previous trips to the Happy's and each time Solarium shut me down. This time however was different. I made the move that had shut me down previously and it felt super solid. At the same time, Jeff made The Hulk V6 look like a children's jungle gym as he waltzed up it on his 7th or 8th go. After that we had lunch and beer thirty back at the parking lot to take a break.
When we started back up, we aimed our sites on Hard Crack and Atari. When we got to them however, we looked at the landings, looked at each other and then Wells broke the silence saying "I'm not gonna fuck up my ski season this year." The Hard Crack had my name all over it. It was a V4 beautiful splitter crack twisting up the rock like a snake with about 5 or 6 ring-lock moves before for you get to a section of perfect hands to finish out the route. It took everything I had not to jump on the problem. Basically if you fall you break something and I just didn't want to do that. I knew I wouldn't fall but just didn't want to risk it with a V4.
After that we spent the remainder of the afternoon ticking off Monkey Hang, the Weekender and a few other climbs right in that area that I had done before.
After the day of climbing at the Happy's, the three of us headed back to camp to resupply before heading north to the Benton Ranch Road area hot springs. A favorite of mine is Shepards and that's where we were going. When we got back to camp however, this girl, who in the not too distant future, we all came to realize was a fucking crazy off her rocker mutch Berkeley girl. She asked if she could join and I wish we would have known better. She drank all of our wine, ate everyone's food and was just generally nuts. After Jeff and I left for Gold Wall on Sunday, apparently the entire group went out for breakfast. When the check came she went for her purse and started pulling out gum and tarot cards. The girl had no money and didn't think about that before ordering whatever she had to eat. Crazy sauce! Luckily we came back from the hot springs to find a huge Thanksgiving meal complete with turkey and triple-bourbon pecan pie. Yum!
Day Three:
On Friday we headed back to Owens and this time we went to the Central Area. We started at Social Platform Wall and worked on Orange Peel 10c, Bone Up 10d and Skeleton's in the Closet 11b, all Jeff leads. We moved a bit left and he put ropes up on Expressway 11c and Darshan 12b while I led up Nirvana 10a and set up a direction and top rope on Feudal Beerlords, a beautiful 10d finger crack. Lord I wished I had more than three pieces of gear with me to lead it. It was really good. By this time, Kat and Shannon had joined us after hitting up the first pitch of Towering Inferno and finding it too crowded. They worked on a few of the ropes we had up before we cleaned everything up.
Friday evening we again hit up Shepards. Shannon and I, being the junkies that we are, needed to get a run in first. We parked at Shepards and once again regardless of the 20 degree temps, dawned shorts and running shoes and hit the road. When we got back, we found seven of our group already in the tub. Two more and I think we now have the world record for how many dumb-asses you can fit in Shepards Hot Spring. Elbows to assholes but the wine and cheese were being passed around and the tub was hot so I didn't complain.
Day Three:
On Friday we headed back to Owens and this time we went to the Central Area. We started at Social Platform Wall and worked on Orange Peel 10c, Bone Up 10d and Skeleton's in the Closet 11b, all Jeff leads. We moved a bit left and he put ropes up on Expressway 11c and Darshan 12b while I led up Nirvana 10a and set up a direction and top rope on Feudal Beerlords, a beautiful 10d finger crack. Lord I wished I had more than three pieces of gear with me to lead it. It was really good. By this time, Kat and Shannon had joined us after hitting up the first pitch of Towering Inferno and finding it too crowded. They worked on a few of the ropes we had up before we cleaned everything up.
Friday evening we again hit up Shepards. Shannon and I, being the junkies that we are, needed to get a run in first. We parked at Shepards and once again regardless of the 20 degree temps, dawned shorts and running shoes and hit the road. When we got back, we found seven of our group already in the tub. Two more and I think we now have the world record for how many dumb-asses you can fit in Shepards Hot Spring. Elbows to assholes but the wine and cheese were being passed around and the tub was hot so I didn't complain.
Day Four:
On Saturday we again hit up the central area. I started the day by leading up Fear of a Black Planet 10a, however I forgot my shoes in the car so I had to run back up the approach trail to fetch them; and anyone who has done that trail knows that you don't want to do it twice. Fear of a Black Planet was fun but Tianaman 10c and Yellow Peril 11a on the Great Wall were phenomenal. Pumpy as all hell though and by day four we both got pretty pumped early. Regardless of our pumped out forearms, Jeff had his eyes on Venom 12c which we could see on the Solarium Wall just down trail from Great Wall. Watching him work some of these moves was impressive to say the least and I think I learned to truly appreciate hard sport climbing a little just by belaying him. I had it a go and despite the constant flail, hang-dog and a little yarding(don't tell), I made it to the top of the route, completely impressed that Jeff flashed up it with no beta what-so-ever.
We returned to our campsite that night in Pinyon Pines to find a note from the ranger. It said that we didn't have a permit for the fire and that we would get a ticket of $550 for that and for having our shit everywhere. We had over 20 people in that site so it was in fact a mess. We rallied however and headed back towards Crowley to a campsite called Holiday near the Rock Canyon Sno-Park. It was actually a super legit site with picnic tables and fire pit grills. Might just be the site of the Third Annual Bishop Thanksgiving Trip.
On Saturday we again hit up the central area. I started the day by leading up Fear of a Black Planet 10a, however I forgot my shoes in the car so I had to run back up the approach trail to fetch them; and anyone who has done that trail knows that you don't want to do it twice. Fear of a Black Planet was fun but Tianaman 10c and Yellow Peril 11a on the Great Wall were phenomenal. Pumpy as all hell though and by day four we both got pretty pumped early. Regardless of our pumped out forearms, Jeff had his eyes on Venom 12c which we could see on the Solarium Wall just down trail from Great Wall. Watching him work some of these moves was impressive to say the least and I think I learned to truly appreciate hard sport climbing a little just by belaying him. I had it a go and despite the constant flail, hang-dog and a little yarding(don't tell), I made it to the top of the route, completely impressed that Jeff flashed up it with no beta what-so-ever.
We returned to our campsite that night in Pinyon Pines to find a note from the ranger. It said that we didn't have a permit for the fire and that we would get a ticket of $550 for that and for having our shit everywhere. We had over 20 people in that site so it was in fact a mess. We rallied however and headed back towards Crowley to a campsite called Holiday near the Rock Canyon Sno-Park. It was actually a super legit site with picnic tables and fire pit grills. Might just be the site of the Third Annual Bishop Thanksgiving Trip.
Day Five:
We woke up beat. The plan was to hit up The Buttermilks for a semi-rest day but since we were so far north, we came up with a better plan. Diane (Jeff's new girlfriend) and Erica who I met in Yosemite a month earlier, were climbing at Gold Wall in Jamestown and the plan was to meet up. Erica is about as cute as they come so I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to see her again, even if I was on the other side of the Sierra Mtns.
We made our way over Sonora Pass which was amazingly open, thank you drought. Jeff climbed a route or two but I pretty much just belayed Erica for that Sunday afternoon, my tongue hanging out like a puppy dog as she crushed on some hard 11d overhang.
All and all the weekend was good. The only crack I saw I didn't even get on and I left with a new appreciation for sport climbers....even if they are Candy-Asses :).
We woke up beat. The plan was to hit up The Buttermilks for a semi-rest day but since we were so far north, we came up with a better plan. Diane (Jeff's new girlfriend) and Erica who I met in Yosemite a month earlier, were climbing at Gold Wall in Jamestown and the plan was to meet up. Erica is about as cute as they come so I just couldn't pass up an opportunity to see her again, even if I was on the other side of the Sierra Mtns.
We made our way over Sonora Pass which was amazingly open, thank you drought. Jeff climbed a route or two but I pretty much just belayed Erica for that Sunday afternoon, my tongue hanging out like a puppy dog as she crushed on some hard 11d overhang.
All and all the weekend was good. The only crack I saw I didn't even get on and I left with a new appreciation for sport climbers....even if they are Candy-Asses :).