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)