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)