2nd day on our local trip with Roger, we climbed at Black Mountain. Nevermind my raspy voice commentary.. I had once again, gotten sick on this trip.
Kids took a turn at trying the moves on my nemesis of a project, Gypsy's Day Out.
Gypsy's Day Out,v3 @Black Mountain - Emilia
Gypsy's Day Out,v3 @Black Mountain - Liam
Roger finally got it! He was determined and found beta that worked for him. That throw to the top is a hard move to stick. That's where I keep coming off as it's pretty much at my max reach.
And this one is a classic! Tour De France is on Ryan's project list. This boulder is such a sight to see, with clean diagonal lines seemingly there as its decoration. And the sunset and view is super amazing. It was fun for all of us to just hang out there.
Tour de France,v7 @Black Mountain - Ryan's best attempt
Kids once again wiped out on another fun adventure.
We spent 2 days exploring the boulders at Tramway. Roger also once again joined us for climbing shenanigans. Even with a guidebook in hand and GPS coordinates, the boulder areas were hard to find. We spent about half the time hiking around, off the main trail and getting lost. It was exhaustingly fun.
Kids were, for the most part, good sports about it.
After spending hours hiking around, being re-directed by a park ranger, and STILL not finding the boulders we were seeking, the guys dropped the packs for more efficiency, and left the kids and I in this beautiful remote clearing. I laid down for a nap while the kids played around. After a while, the kids became quiet, and the nature around took over. The birds were chirping away in song. There was a light, cooling breeze in the comfortably warm temperature under the shade. I looked up and saw this:
They each were doing their own thing in quiet solitude. It was a very peaceful time and place. At least that's my take on it.. who knows.. maybe they were squishing bugs or drawing circles in the sand. =P
Finally found Shagri-La area, and with it... Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,v7*** @Tramway - Ryan's best attempt
He didn't finish it, it was end of the day, but he has the beta to do the 2nd, crux move.
While the big kids were working the boulder, the little kids were busily working away too. They showed great teamwork, carrying massive logs they found and put them together to form their version of a tram.
Liam's got the look of a hard working tram engineering.. dirt smeared face with a giant smile.
Kids tired, but still pretty happy at the end of the day.
Riding the Tram back down to Palm Springs. Crash pads take a bit of room.
The next day...
The boys getting their last minute screen time before heading off to the "no service zone". haha.
2nd day was better as we were getting more oriented with the area. First objective was Frank's Boulder which had various problems to work on.
All of us worked on a classic Frank's Roof,v3***. It is a burly, short power moves kind of problem with a small dyno catch out of the roof. Ryan and Roger both were able to complete this one. (Did not get the video of Roger's send.)
Frank's Roof,v3*** @Tramway - Ryan's Send
(Note Ryan's over-dramatized finish... hahah)
I could not muster the strength nor mental courage to do the Frank's Roof dyno... and I didn't know it at the time, but I was starting to get sick. =P So downgraded to an easier climb...
The Terminator,v2** @ Tramway - Connie's Flash
After Frank's Boulder, we moved on to Gluttony, a potential V8 problem for Ryan. It's a highly, 4-star rated roof problem. Our favorite kind of problems! All of us worked the few starting moves. I am happy to say I was the first to stick the 1st and 2nd move. Though Ryan was the one that made the best progress.
Gluttony,v8**** @Tramway - Ryan's best attempt
Roger working on his core tension.
Gluttony,v8**** @Tramway - Roger's core tension
The Green Hornet,v5*** was the last boulder climb of the day. Mountain Project calls this one "the best at it's grade at Tram". Ryan picked it specifically for Roger.
Tramway has some good stuff there. No doubt we will be back.
I got this photo from Matt recently. He took this photo as we were leaving the Happy Boulders one evening. I love love love this image because it sums up what it is all about.
It was the end of the day, dusk was creeping as the light started fading. Ryan, Roger, and Emilia stopped at this unique artsy-looking boulder to wait for the rest of the laggers (aka Liam and I) to catch up. The boulder stood tall in the faint glow of the dusk sky with the beauty of the Sierras in the backdrop. It captivates the imagination and wonderment of all that transpired to etch such detail in its formation. Emilia went up to it in her own curiosity, carefully and exploratively felt and climbed up it.
Imagine the amount of time and natural elements and weather that created this. Imagine the human lifetimes and events that have occurred throughout this rock's formation... and imagine, in 15, 20 years.. (ok.. probably sooner than that) when my kids come back here when they are older, and this rock will still be there, with memories, familiarity, of their youth and time that we spent together out here.
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 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.
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.
I grew up as an only child, and my parents taught me that in my culture, cousins are just like brothers and sisters, and family always is fa...
About
Ryan and Connie officially began our journey in life together (wedded bliss) on August 1, 2009. This blog chronicles our journey through whatever life throws at us.
On February 27, 2010, we welcomed a new addition to the family: Emilia Ying-Zhi. She tipped the scales at 7 lbs 2 oz, and measured in at 19-3/4".
Liam Noboru joined the family on October 20, 2011. His fighting weight is 7 lbs 4 oz with a length of 19-1/2".
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