Bishop!

Wow, last week was not long enough! On this trip to Bishop, Team Oly comprimised of Me, Kevin, Micah, Derek, Jeremy, Reese, and Olcay! After running into four snow storms on the way down we missed Derek and his crew, so we decided to head to the Buttermilks. After warming up on the Iron Man Traverse V4, the best problem in Bishop, Kevin stepped up to the plate and flashed the testpiece fo his first Bishop Send! After a quick inspection, Fly Boy was icy so we moved over to Soul Slinger where Micah and Kevin made quick work to the crux, but once again the top out was icy. Next we migrated over to Evilution to the Lip V10, and got to work. The first throw to a right hand crimp took awhile to dial in, but two burns later Dan was giving me all the beta and I clawed my way to the lip! This is such a cool wall, steep, incut crimps, and flat landing! Perfect! Next was a quick trip to the happies where we played around on Jug start to acid wash right V7. After a cold night camping by the sads we finally met up with Derek, Jeremy, Reese and Olcay.

Day two was spent at the Happies and after an impresive send of the Hulk V6 by Kevin(with new beta) I began to mess around on Disco Diva V8 with Sam from the Stone Gardens climbing team, Derek and Micah. After watching a super tall dude cruise I borrowed the beta, and with some minor improvisions(dyno) sent this tricky and fun line! After watching some good burns on Morning Dove White we headed around the corner to Every Color you Are V6, a fun powerful line. After a sending I tried Mr. Witty V6, a highly technical V6 that shut me down cold. Shout out to Jeremy for crushing this line! Before leaving the Canyon we swung by Atari V6, a line I've been meaning to do for years. It was well worth the effort(glad to flash too, the fall is a complete miind trip!)

Day three was spent at a new spot for me called the sad Boulders. I instantly fell in love with this sector on some though provoking yet powerful warm ups. First up was Rio's Crack V6, and after a foot slip, sent this crimp line next go! Also, Olcay pulled out a surprised send right before we moved the pads too! Next was Pow Pow V8, another classic that involved compression and it went first go. The problem had such great moves and perfect incuts, Sweet! Then we migrated down into the ice caves. Beefcake V10 was the objective and after blindly(almost) finding the sequence I climbed all the way to the finish jug and snagged it by the tips! After a refresh the line went second go. I would've liked to stay and try the other lines but the sun was heading over the horizon and the mercury was falling.

The last two days were spent in the Milks, I was pretty sore by then and my fingers didn't exactly want to to crimp anymore. Micah and Olcay both dispatched High Plains V7 which was fun to watch. Kevin also flashed Smooth Shrimp V6/5, and Micah sent promptly. I then convinced Kevin to Project Bubba Gump V10/9 with me and I came close but not close enough to the final crimp.

The trip was fun except for the ever present snow on basically every high hill on the drive to and from Bishop. I've also noticed my style of climbing on trips like these have changed. I now prefer to spend all day on one problem, suss out the beta, then send later on that day or trip. I love how every problem in Bishop seems classic, more or less solid, and contains fun movements. Now, I can't wait to come back next winter and try the harder and more classic lines. Hopefully some climbing team kids as well as Lisa could come to and have a blast as well as crush some of these world Class Bouldering lines. Thanks again to Micah for driving down and to the whole Team Oly, it was a fun and hilarious trip, which keeps Bishop special.
Olcay on Morning Dove WhiteOlcay sending Rio's Crack in the Sads
A View from the volcanic tablelandKevin on High Plains Drifter

Not to many pictures this time, but lots of sending/sun bathing, a video of some sends will be posted soon...

Leavenworth: Hit or Miss II

Cotton Pony Pointer(almost) from Jimmy C. on Vimeo.

Well, on Sunday David and I completed our second day trip to Leavenworth. Warming up in forestland and once again seeing Johnny who stayed and said the weather was fine, we deciced to stay next time around. This time around it seemed everyother problem from Friday was dry. Luckily for David Back Door Ass Attack Low V8 was dry. This line had been a long term project of his and after a couple minutes of chalkin' and scrubin' to help dry the little dampness left, he sent!
Next up was another search for dry rock, with both Angolina and Turbulance being soaked it was back to Beautification V11? With some new beta I slipped off the finish rail once again and decided till wait till spring to come back and (hopefully) send this cool looking line. After a quick stop at Pretty Boy V7 (finally), we headed back up Canyon to Twisted Tree V7 where Jeremy made amazing progress, coming so close to sending, but slipping just short of the victory crimp!
The day was winding down and I decided to stop at the Cotton Pony Pointer, a line i had checked out earlier. After a couple 'I can do this burns' I linked the start to the big throw. Next burn my hand slipped of the razor sharp crimp and the onset of pain became everpresent after each successive burn. The best burn was sooo close but the body tension gave out! The vid is of two good burns(filmed on Jeremy's camera) spliced together.
On the way home, kinda cool. Next stop BISHOP!

Leavenworth: Hit or Miss

The plan for Friday was to go to gold bar, but as we aproached the town on highway 2 the rain made it clear we were going to be driving for another hour. Not to worry, but as we drove into the Forestland Parking lot and hiked to the boulders, most were wet! David and I had a fun warm session at Sunny and Steep boulder and than hiked on down into the very crispy shade and watched Johnny on a new project right of Busted V8, which David came close to sending, doing all the moves but not linking. Next up was JY and by the looks of things it hadn't rained here. After we epicced on Right Angles V8 we moved on up to Mad Max V7 and with some good friction I managed to send it! Next was Beautification which happened to dry out by now. This is a really stellar looking line and after some burns, I began comitting to the huge move and came close to sending, slipping off the slanting jug.
With some daylight left we moved over a little bit to the WAS boulder. After a couple good burns, David SENT! I also manged to finish it off as well as Is, which was exciting due to a wet top out.

Was V8

Leavenworth lights as we leave town

Leavenworth: Beating the Rain

Friday with 1/2 a tank of gas leftover from the impromptu Gold Bar trip, I put in the rest and headed on a solo trip to Leavenworth. I left Oly after class and arrived at the Millenium boulder a little after noon. After a warm up in nice, cold temps, I hauled my three pads up to Droppin' the Kirschbaum V10. After a couple warm up goes(and slipping off the lip) I manged to do all the moves on the sloping lip traverse back to the finish, a new high point! Few burns later i was standing in the off-width finish!
Next up I checked out Angelina Jolie V12 and made goo progress up the sloping ramp with just two moves to the finish! I then called it a day and checked out Turbulence V12 which i'm very excited about trying this weekend, The Cotton Pony Pointer V10, which I decided I wanted a spot for to prevent rolling down the embankment to the road. And also the V10 on the Hand boulder, the one move looks BIG.
Saturday night the light tapping of rain on the roof of the Pilot turned into steady rain and I knew Saturday was done for. So after getting up and stopping by Swiftwater(stuff was dry but felt too lazy to get wet) I made a very long trek home over Highway 2. I stopped off at every other Forest service road and re-found some cool blocks. There is some potential off of the trail to Mildred Lake, as well as Smithbrook. Here are the photos from smithbrook! Can't wait till summer!
The Pilot
The second talus field, contained two boulders, the other 50 yards to the left
3 feet from the road. Potential start on flake and up the arete.
The big boulder is 20-25 feet tall, arete!
The whole first Talus field. There is also another Talus field across the stream with potenital for sport climbing, and maybe some more boulders!

Gold Bar: Unfinished Buisness

With class canceled on Wednesday, Derik, David Allwine, Kevin and I were able to leave early than expected and go bouldering. It was a toss up between Upper Gold Bar or Leavenworth and gold bar won. So with the mondo, a double, and two triples we made the moderate hike up to the boulders. Fraggle Rock was the first stop and after a quick warm up, Obesity V7 and Obesity direct V8 went down. I tried Obesity three years ago on my first trip here, we drove a minivan up, and haven't been back to the boulder since. David also sent in a couple burns.
Next up was Doja V7 and Doja low V8 which both went first burn of the day. I've tried these lines previously but never had enough firction/umph. The send train was arriving. First was David, than Derik, and after a dab Kevin!
I then tried Twisted V10 and Equinox V10 but failed, miserably. I'm pretty confident they'll both go when the sun isn't beam'm on the holds and with some fresh guns. And I'm still really psyched to hike back up to them!
Next we took shelter in the Sanctuary and headed to the Samurai Boulder. First up was Samurai V4 and both David and I sent. Than we all projected Hagakuri V8 and after some beta refining, I sent! With some time to kill Kevin and I both flashed Road to Zion V5 and by then the sun was setting fast, but not fast enough to stop David from giving Ross Bongo V8 a couple burns. He has it in two parts and the next sunny day he'll send it for sure.