Thursday, November 6, 2008

Bishop (Fish Shop)

So much for our plan to get up Royal Arches... so much for getting up, period. The 5:30am alarm clock didn't quite do it's job, or maybe we just chose to ignore it. Regardless, by the time we woke up it was late... and we just weren't feeling it.

It's kind of been the story of the trip so far. Aside from a few special times we haven't been too successful in the whole alpine start category. We tend to go for the chill morning of food, coffee and a book. It's something I'm getting used to, and understandably so... but it's kind of a scary thought at the same time.

We left Yosemite on a Tuesday and headed south to Bishop California (a mecca of bouldering). We added a new member to the group in our Aussie buddy Rhys. We all fled what is camp 4, not because we don't like the place... but, for us, it isn't the time. We all seemed to be on the same page in terms of leaving behind the logistics of ropes and the uncertainty of a hand jam for the familiarity of hard bouldering.

At this point it's been almost three weeks that we've spent in the desert. High desert mind you... our camp is at 6,400 feet and is backed by mountains in the 13,000 ft range. It's spectacular to wake up before sunrise for that morning pee and watch the horizon's shadow slowly lower down the snowcapped peaks. I feel pretty lucky.

We're camped about 100m away from some of the best bouldering in the world (so I'm told) with a mountain fed stream running right beside us. We don't even have to worry about leaving food out... by far the most simplistic camping I've ever done.

This is the first stop on the trip that I really feel like I'm becoming a better climber. Bouldering is an amazing sport. It's not just about strength, but about figuring out the moves and the technique and putting everything together to get to the top. At the same time... one of the most important parts is keeping yourself in it mentally. Since leaving home I've bumped my hardest grade from v5 to v8... sending two v8's in one day. By Bishop standards I feel like I'm doing pretty well. It's funny how much easier I find it to be motivated to boulder. The simplicity of it just lends itself to late start, beers and just spending time with wicked people. Something I'm pretty happy to do.

We managed to summit Mt. Whitney during our stay. Five friends, Charlie and I took off on a 37 Km hike that rose over 7000 feet to the tallest summit in California at 14 495 feet. Walking that distance is a good go in itself... but when you throw in the sun and the altitude... it makes for a long day. One that had me puking by the end. But it's nothing that a good burger can't fix.

Aside from the bouldering and hiking we've done a fair amount of drinking, saunaing and hotspringing. A couple of friends from Vermont wound up camping with us and the brilliant idea of rolling hot rocks into a pile and then covering ourselves up with a tarp and proceding to douse them with water came into action. The amount of body water lost makes the hang over that much worse... I wound up puking that night too... I'm on quite a roll. But the show stopper has got to be the hot springs. Natural hot water from the ground, a pool and a bunch of beer. Pretty much sums it up.

I love this place and it hurts to leave. Today was the strongest day so far and I felt like I was making progress on a new climb. But alas we said we would leave... so off we go to Joshua Tree California. We'll be there for a few days and then head up to Las Vegas for a while. Red Rocks here we come.

Love you all.

Thomas Sloss

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