Part IV : Bishop - Last Chance Happies

(Continuation from Part III : Bishop - All About the Happies)

We woke up on our 4th day, to ominous grey skies. As we've already seen from the previous days where we were in temperatures in the 30s one day to 80s another, it was not too much of a surprise. It was time to pack up camp before the winds and rain started.

Definitely was a disappointment thinking our climbing trip was ending early. Roger was contemplating leaving since forecast called for mainly high winds up to 50mph, and some rain. However, we know forecasts can't ever be trusted. There was slight rain in the campground valley area, but it stopped and a faint rainbow appeared. Good sign.

We took the morning off and went for breakfast at the popular Erick Schat's Bakery. If you are ever in Bishop, this place is made to ruin your diet with high amounts of carb and sugar consumption! Geez!

After eating all that, we decided at least to hike in to the boulders to at least burn off some of those carbs. The clouds had parted and sunshine was starting to beam through. If the winds were intolerable, we could turn around and come back down. Matt had successfully completed Monkey Hang the day before, and I thought I had a shot if the opportunity to climb it came up again.

Heading to the trail head once again...

The winds were pretty brutal up at the boulders. Sand every where which made it hard to see at times. Note for next trip, we need to bring clear goggles. We mainly hung out at Slowdance Cave area where I worked.. and kept failing on Monkey Hang. In the late afternoon, we spent time at the Son of Cladius Rufus, V5**, a project for Roger.

Kids worked in their bakery/restaurant early in the day, but spent the afternoon enjoying the winds. Gotta love their creativity and ability to have fun in all sorts of weather.

Kids playing and Roger working the extremely difficult mantle move to get over the ledge.



It was an early departure from the boulders that day... only so much whipping winds and sand-in-your-eyes that we could handle. We called it an early night and hoped for our last chances the next day.

On our last day, we went... you guessed it.. back to the Happy Boulders for our final attempts at completing our projects. The kids were tired now. They used to be the first ones blazing the way up the trail, now they were lagging behind. Liam kept stumbling over his feet. The skin on my hands were shredded with dried blood here and there. Muscles were sore, and nice bruises had formed. This was our last chance to conquer.

We started off on Monkey Hang, and I just COULD. NOT. DO. IT! Sigh. So we moved on to Cladius Rufus. Ryan got it!

Ryan on Son of Claudius Rufus, V5**



Roger worked and worked it. Got all the moves figured out, but couldn't link it all together. Both him and I were resigned to conquer our climbs next time.

As light was dimming and temperatures started to drop, we made our way to leave Happy Boulders, passing by Monkey Hang one... last.. time. I was tired and already accepted that would not complete Monkey Hang on this trip.. but I gave it one more try. As Roger put it with the chill temp kicking in... "this was sending conditions". He was right.

Connie on Monkey Hang, V3**



SUCCESS!!!!!

Perfect ending. I can't THANK enough Ryan - for helping to figure out the beta that worked for me and spotting my falls over and over and over again.. Roger - for taking videos and/or spotting me over and over and over again... and for both of them that kept encouraging me to "try again" or "work out the beta" even after I said "That's it. I'm done!"

Glorious dusk view as we were leaving the Happy Boulders for the last time... and with a faint showing of the crescent moon.

Bye Bye Eastern Sierras! We miss you already!

Our group photo at the end of the trip (missing Matt, he had to leave a couple days earlier).

And on our drive back home, on a beautiful, clear, sunny day, we had a good view of Mount Whitney.

The End... for now.

Part III : Bishop - All About The Happies

(Continuation from Part II : Bishop - The Happies)

The first couple nights were spent in a motel. Then we switched over for luxury camping. I say luxury because our intentions were to snag a campground at "The Pit", which is a no-frills $2/night camp site. But there was no sites available, so we had to find another campground that charges $35/night.. but look, we have LOTS of space, a stream, and picnic tables to use!

Kids were extremely excited about camping. They love camping! They would like it more if we actually used the campsite (aka fire, smores, etc)... but they seem content enough with sleeping in a tent.

(photos by Roger)

Going to the Happy Boulders again. Third day was, by far, the best weather.. maybe even too hot for climbing, with temps hitting the 80s. But it was a nice change to have warm weather.

High temps = shirtless climbing!

Kids got a hold of the camera and started taking photos of each other (I only posted the two cute ones.)

(photo by Liam)

(photo by Emilia)

Family time hanging out at Ketron Classic.

(photo by Liam)

Liam working a heel hook.. and Emilia's photog fingers!

Emilia gets an A for effort, but um.. yeah.. not sure that's going to help her up the route.

Didn't get many climbing photos or video this day. We spent some time exploring other areas of The Happy Boulders - Ketron Classic, Serengeti, the Hulk, etc. It was simply a nice day to wander.

Roger captured the night time glow from our tent. The warm temperature made this night a comfortable night to sleep outdoors.

(photo by Roger)

(to be continued...Part IV : Bishop - Last Chance Happies)

Part II : Bishop - The Happies

(Continuation from Part I : Bishop - The Sads)

The 2nd day turned out to be comfortable temperature. It was warm with a slight chill in the breeze, but was still a nice day to be out. We made our way to the Happy Boulders, which was about a mile away from the Sads trail head.

Kiddies above Acid Wash Cave (bottom right corner)

First stop was by the Slowdance Cave area where there are climbs of various levels all around. We warmed up on an easy, minor highball V0+ route called Strange Quotations. It had a fantastic view of the Eastern Sierras.

Strange Quotations V0+

(shot by Roger)

Matt's video on Strange Quotation gives a good general feel of the area.



Below is a view of the Slowdance Cave area. The far back/left of the photo is Strange Quotation Boulder. Then the boulder in front of that with a guy hanging off of it, is the Monkey Hang Boulder. The boulder to the right is the Slowdance Cave, and the backside of Slowdance Cave (not shown) is Acid Wash Cave. There are about 40 climbs all in this area.

We ended up spending quite a bit of time in this area.. we kept coming back daily so Matt and I could work and try to complete Monkey Hang. Roger flashed it on first try. Ryan wasn't interested in it and had his own route he was scoping out, Acid Wash.

This area did, however, turned out to be a good shelter from sun and from whipping high winds. The kids also loved the nooks and crannies they found here, which allowed them to work on their own "project". The kids came up with a great entrepreneur idea, to open up a specialty bakery and restaurant selling various flavors of dirt stone pies. They spent the rest of the week creatively developing that idea.

Video of their works of art.



They made new found friends, and fast recruited them to help make creations.

In fact, by the end of the week, the kids were the most popular people out there. They knew everyone, and everyone knew about their cakes. The climbers would order from the imaginary menu. The kids would call out a number and hand out their creations. One climber even ordered a custom rock cake for his upcoming wedding. ;)

Liam Climbing Around



Bishop is quite popular for climbing, esp this time of year. Schools are out on Spring Break. The area is well-known and relatively easy to get to and find things. The crowds weren't too bad, but there will always be groups of climbers that come and go. Here is Ryan getting a feel for Acid Wash Right, V7***. I did a wide overview first, so you can see the scene of other climbers watching, waiting their turn, resting, etc. This is a lot of how climbing is. We may get an idea of how to make a move by watching how others do it. Then people take turns trying their climb. Typically there is a lot of support and cheering that goes on too when people make progress.. or the opposite with a lot of cussing. =P Either way, there's a full spectrum of working a project. It's 99% failure, and requires only 1 time for success.

Ryan on Acid Wash Right, V7***



While Ryan worked on Acid Wash, Matt and I worked on Monkey Hang. Roger moved on to try Weekender, V4**. Roger's gotten stronger in this trip, as he smoothly and confidently flashed this one too!

Roger on Weekender, V4**



Ryan also flashed Weekender, but somehow we're always missing capturing his ascents. He went up Strange Quotations, and nobody even knew. He did the Weekender while the camera was still packed away. His first go, and almost ascent of Anti-Hero... not captured. His top of Seregenti... nope. His best Hulk, nope too. Poor guy.. no evidence, no proof. Promise I'll take more videos of you next time!

A side tangent -->

After Matt and I had given up on Monkey Bar, we were trying moves on the Weekender. A gal with her Australian shepherd came by and checked out the climb. The kids immediately took to her 9-month old puppy, Brody. This gave her a break and she asked to join us on the Weekender. She flashed it while I admired her muscles. Ryan came over and chatted, she looked familiar to him. Turns out she is Bobbi Gale Bensman! A world class, professional rock climber, a pioneer for women's climbing, setting records and pushing the boundaries of women's achievements from back in the 80s.

Here's a photo of her the following day at the Buttermilks on the tallest boulder in the country (50 feet high), on Grandma Peabody's Southwest Arete, 5.9-, 4-star rating! Now THAT's a highball.

(photo from Bobbi's Facebook page.. cause I am one of her 3,000+ friends now! =))

And back to our story -->

Meanwhile, as the sun started retreating and the daylight faded, the kids had been busy working all day. Before we headed down the mountain, we joined the kids in a feast they prepared for us. Two table settings for 3 people each of stone plates and sticks/stones silverware, and several courses of fine dirt and rock dishes. For Roger, they even made kale dirt pie (note the green shreds of shrubbery atop the rock).

We came across this awesome rock formation as we were headed out of the boulders. It has such unique contours, Emilia naturally just climbed it.

(to be continued...Part III : Bishop - All About The Happies)

Part I : Bishop - The Sads

It is, I'd say, one of the highlights that every single one of us looks forward to.... yet it is very taxing to juggle schedules, take time to plan, and even endure. This year's climbing trip was exceptional, as they always are. We spent a week in the Eastern Sierras, in a little, well-known town called Bishop.. roughly 4,000-6,000 feet in elevation. Many a folks know Bishop as a pit-stop town on the way to Mammoth or Yosemite.

Backdrop of the Eastern Sierras

(photo from Roger)

Planning was no different than the hecticness of times before. There is always a mad rush to get my day job work done along with mad rush to make sure we have everything we need to handle unexpected weather and temperature changes on mountain terrain. It leads to burning the candle at both ends, so to speak, and by the time the trip starts, I am already exhausted. But there is something about being in the great outdoors, in all its natural majesty, that makes the trivial of daily life insignificant. What we are left with is simply right then, right there, and with each other.

Kids Sitting and enjoying the view of the boulders

There are also always room for improvement with planning and preparing, tips and notes I make from our last trip. It was time for the kids to have an upgrade in their pack, as well as for them to carry more of their own gear. No more toys, but the trusty ol' shovels are a must.

Kids new packs are ready to go

I plan our packs like I would if we were backpacking. Things need to be light-weight, compressible, and functionally effective. I pack to handle freezing cold temperatures or heat, rain or shine, with layers of light-weight clothing - fleece jackets, wind shells, and waterproof jackets, gloves, hats, and the best clothing invention ever, a Buff. A couple of days we dealt with 30+ mph winds whipping us and temperatures in the 30s, combined with wind-chill factor.

Some of our gear...

Loading up... in a lockable storage container Ryan built specifically to safeguard our gear.

(NOTE: He BUILT it.. last minute, in 2-3 days!)

There are several areas in Bishop for climbing. The areas on our itinerary were the Happy Boulders and the Sad Boulders, clusters of natural volcanic tableland formations with climbs of all grades and fun to be had for all levels of climbers.

Driving on the washboard path to our destination

It's great because on this trip, Roger and Matt, joined us for the climbing excursion. (If you dig back to many our of climbing outings, whether it be on trips or gyms.. Roger will be there. He's like the 5th member of our family.)

With the 4 of us and 2 kids, our abilities ranged. We had a plentitude of crash pads, spotters, and friends.

The first day, we hit the Sad Boulders. Temperatures started off mild and nice, with some sun and a breeze. We warmed up, got our bearings on a few easy climbs. Here is Matt standing in front of a V2 that we all did.

World, Shut Your Mouth, V2**

(photo from Roger)

Prior to our trip, there is *A LOT* of planning. When I say a lot, all of us independently spent time building up in different ways for our trip. We researched climbs we each wanted to try, picking climbs that suit our strengths, reading reviews about them, watching YouTube video of various people climbing those climbs in various ways. We start refining our training and diet to be at the best we can. All of that is part of the "fun" of these trips. We had long and late online discussions pertaining to every detail possible. Could be that all of us are engineers too... but no, I think climbing definitely appeals to those that contain Type A personality traits...

Anti-Hero, V5***

Funny thing is, when you are out there, as much as one prepares, it is never as expected. Anti-Hero, a 3-star rated V5, was a climb we all wanted to do. It looked very much doable on YouTube.. appealed to our strengths.. it looked like just a few, simple moves to the top out. Well... it was all we wanted and more. =) (No it was not quite as doable.. ) First clue was when we all struggled with the starting move.

I wish I took a video of this climb, Ryan did amazingly well on it, and probably could have flashed it on his first go, but this is a popular climb and with tons of people shouting out beta, it distracted him from figuring out his final few moves to finish.

Definitely a climb we all want to go back to again in the future. We spent a good 1/2 of the day at Anti-Hero. The later half of the day was spent on another popular, highly-rate climb. Molly, V5***. It is crimpy, requires refined foot work and totally Roger's style.

Molly, V5***

(Chalk marks to the right of this boulder is Molly. The left, corner arete is The Great Dominions, V1. Photo from Roger.)

It was latter in the day and the temperature changed drastically. The frigid cold started seeping in and strong gusts of winds up to 30+ mph started to blow and whip sand at us. Layers of clothing and accessories.. all came out, and again, reminded me that being prepared and having the right gear is essential to continue to have a fun, safe time out there. Weather is just part of the adventure.

Kids found a place for shelter.

The kids love these trips, even though it's not the most kid-friendly of environments. They always manage to create fun for themselves, playing creatively with the environment and people around. Then they would put on their climbing shoes and go climb some... and then back to play. While they do fight, I think they fight less when they are left to their own devises.


View as we hike out of the Sad Boulders

Wind-blasted, cold.... a little beat up.. but all good!

(to be continued...Part II : Bishop - Happies)