Eastern Sierra sunrise from the volcanic tablelands
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Tom Grundy's Bishop Winter/Spring 2012 Trip Page
After the winter OR show and a few more days in SLC I headed to Bishop in late January for some bouldering. On the way I got a flat tire with a big staple through my sidewall. Unfortunately this was deemed unpatchable so I got to get another new tire for my truck. Then I finally was able to head out for a bit of bouldering.
cows in the Owens River floodplain
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Owens River oxbow with mountain reflections
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I mostly bouldered at the Happy and Sad boulders on the volcanic tableland. Although there were a few too hot days I was mostly happy to be warm and if it was too hot in the sun it usually wasn't in the shade. Also I was starting from not climbing in a while, so it was fun to work my way back up through the grades there. I managed to get a few days of climbing in at the Owens River Gorge, but that was mostly to attempt to keep some small level of endurance. Another nice thing about climbing in Bishop is that I am pretty much guaranteed to run into people I have met before (either in Bishop or somewhere else). This year it varied from locals I had met elsewhere and people from Kentucky to someone from Calgary I met in Thailand. For much of the time I climbed with my "Canadian Family", Matt, Will, Andrea, Jase, and Steffi.
Matt on "pow pow" with Andrea spotting
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Andrea on "September's here again"
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Matt on "action figure" Will supervises/spots
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For a "rest" day I helped Tim jackhammer out a bunch of big rocks set in concrete. Without any rebar the jackhammering was pretty satisfying but moving the pieces afterwards was still exhausting. I also teamed up with Julie for some tasty Malaysian food with roti and curry.
Tim works the brute
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Lisa on "Will's Arete"
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Lisa grabs for the sun
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I didn't camp at just one place but moved about. Among other places I camped on the tablelands, in town, up above the gorge at the pinyons, and out above the buttermilks. I used to camp at the pit whenever I was in Bishop, but now that they charge per vehicle it is much less attractive to me. As usual I had too much stuff in my truck (the bouldering mat really takes up a lot of space). I got pretty good at moving stuff from the back to the front to sleep, and I figured out how to squeeze enough into the front seat - it was a bit like a 3d puzzle. It was easier when I wasn't camping in town because I could just leave things sitting out on the ground if it didn't look like rain.
just another day in paradise - in the parking lot
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I got up early a number of mornings hoping to get some nice pics of a sunrise with lit up clouds and mountains. There were a number of mornings I got up early for lackluster sunrises or nice sunrises but clear skies. Unfortunately the morning that I was awake and it finally happened I was at the Vons/Kmart parking lot. I still got a pretty good photo, but I had to remove some lights and signs. I also spent a bit of time trying to get pictures of birds. I got a few hawk pictures and then spent some time as a duck paparazzi (I figure I can get more practice in faster with the ducks). The next time I got a chance with some more hawks maybe I was a bit more on top of things. It is easier to get bouldering pictures than roped climbing pictures, especially compared to just climbing with one other person. Mostly I was just trying to boulder though and the photos were an afterthought. A few days I did bring out the tripod and tried to get some self portraits with the timer.
gull attacks (a duck with bread)
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sunrise from near Bishop - with a little PS help
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sunrise from Bishop - the Vons/Kmart parking lot
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red-tailed hawk
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red-tailed hawk flies off
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here I am on "china doll"
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climbing "solarium"
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Owens River floodplain with less of a sunrise than I wished
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Yuki on "rendezvous with an alien"
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Yuki on "rendezvous with an alien" again
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Matt on "the clapper"
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Matt on the Grandma Peabody boulder
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ramp in front of a disgruntled sign maker's house
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One of the nice things about camping out for a long time is watching the changes in the sky. The cycle of the moon is the most obvious, but this year we were also treated to Venus and Jupiter in the evening sky. It was quite striking how quickly they moved compared to the stars and each other. It is easy to see how they stuck out to the ancient humans watching the skies.
sunset over the Sierra
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Moonset
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a sliver moon
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the Moon and Venus (and Jupiter that you can't really see in this pic) in a line
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Matt on "pinch arete"
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Matt cooks w/ Venus and Jupiter above
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There seemed to be a lot of Canadians down in Bishop for the sunshine and dry rock. Many of the days I seemed to be in the minority as a US citizen. The last week it seemed like the entire population of Squamish was down in Bishop. It seemed like every time I walked around a boulder there was another group of Canadians. I think they just got sick of the rain up there.
Jase on "strength in numbers"
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Will on "Mr. Witty"
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Django grabs the finishing hold on "Mr. Witty"
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sore fingertips from bouldering
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This seemed like a very light snow year, especially compared to last year. There were a few storms that hit the buttermilks while I was there, but nothing that stuck in town or on the tablelands. I would say that the weather was mostly excellent while I was there - the end of January through mid March. There were a few days with gale force winds and some days that were a bit hot or too cold, but often the forecast was correct and we planned to rest those days. It was a much better season for climbing than skiing, that is for sure. The last weekend I was in Bishop I got a chance to go skiing though. I joined Laura and her friends for a day at Mammoth. There was about 2 feet of fresh snow so I rented some powder skis. The skiing was very nice, especially the first few runs when we got some fresh and lightly tracked snow. As the day continued the snow got more tracked and the wind picked up and visibility decreased to near zero at times. The snow blowing off the Sierra Crest afterwards was most impressive and I was bumming I didn't have my camera with me. We followed that up with a most excellent St. Patrick's day dinner that involved corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and bacon.
spring comes to the Eastern Sierra
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After skiing I was going to head straight to Indian Creek, but the weather was bad enough that I was worried about the drive. Also my new Evolv climbing shoes had just showed up and since they had a tight downturned toe I wasn't going to be using them for crack climbing. I took them out to the Happy Boulders to test out. They worked quite well for most things I tried, although I still managed to get a horrendous bloody flapper on one finger from the pocket on "the gleaner". Luckily I was heading to Indian Creek so I didn't really need that skin anyway. Unfortunately I had a few scrapes on the backs of my hands from really poor dyno attempts that would prove painful at the creek.
Cat on "Morning Dove White"
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Cat again - she got it that day (her first V7)
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I got a flapper to end my Bishop climbing (thanks for taking the pic Cat)
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If you have been reading my blog you will recognize some of these pics from the bishop blog posts bishop 1, bishop 2, bishop 3, bishop 4, bishop 5, bishop 6, bishop 7, bishop 8, bishop 9, bishop 9, bishop 10, bishop 11. There is quite a bit of overlap but I try to make the trip reports here more comprehensive.
Mount Tom at sunrise from near the Buttermilks
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