I am broke. Driving around in an old Chevy Malibu with it's check engine light on most of the time. The interior hold together by purple duct tape. The seats filled with so much sweat and dust particles that they could be seen as a biological hazard if they would ever leave the inside of my car.
Yet, my life couldn't be better. Then the reality is neither am I on the edge of starvation, nor am I about to drop out of school. It is summer again in Wyoming and this means besides the usual occupation as a full time student, most days involve some type of climbing activity. In the following, there will be a short summary with the biggest highlights of the last months of climbing and living out of my Malibu, which is definitely not the right vehicle to pick up women.
So where did it all start?
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| Gong Show Crag |
The weather was nice and sunny when I touched down in SFO in the mid of May. With a big haul bag as luggage, the plans for my home visit were big. Unfortunately, was there some sort of conspiracy led by the weather. The results were devastating. A 60%< chance of rain for most of the time I would be in California. Not being discouraged by this weather however, did Alex and I decide to head to the East Side. No, we were not flying to the Bronx to hang out with the Boyz in tha Hood. Keeping the spirit of the California mind set alive, which means everything behind Reno is a black hole, we were heading to Bishop, CA. For Californians, this is basically the east coast. With the goal to sample some sweet Sierra Alpine Granite and check out the infamous Buttermilks. Highlights of this rain filled week, were most definitely a visit at the Pine Creek climbing area, where Alex and I climbed the super classic crack Sheila. A beautiful 40m corner in white granite. Also worthy of mentioning was the Gong Show Crag, with some amazing granite splitter cracks and face climbing as well as our visit at the Buttermilks.
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| The Buttermilks |
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| Team Sauerkraut in the Buttermilks |
What impressed me most about the Buttermilks, was it's enormous size. Having seen only videos before, I did not realize the size of this area. The boulders are huge. Problems like Ambrosia or Evilution were taller than I could ever imagine and the fact that those problems are climbed on a somewhat regular basis without a rope seems to me simply unbelievable. But the size of the boulders, which we completely underestimated, also put us in front of another problem. Showing up with only one crashpad, definitely made ascents of many problems more of a suicide mission than anything else. Fortunately, did we meet some very nice climbers, which we teamed up with for the day. Alistair, Joseph and Casey. Psyched by the good vibes and positive motivation, Alistair and I made quick ascents of the super classic benchmark V7 High Plains Drifter. Probably one of the best boulder problems I ever climbed. We then proceeded to the Ironman Traverse, which also saw an ascent by Alistair, Joseph and myself. During all the crushing we all exchanged our different stories, about why we were stranded in Bishop, in a time when this area is totally out of season. While Alistair was visiting the US from the UK, Joseph and Casey were on a year long road trip through the US, trying to sample as much climbing as they could. A link to their blog can be found here. With the day coming to an end and the weather report giving a better forecast for my last week in California, Alex and I decided to head back west towards the Mecca of American crack climbing. The one and only Yosemite Valley. Trying to avoid big crowds on big walls, Alex and I decided to settle for a more remote route. The south face of Liberty Cap.
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| Liberty Cap |
Put up by no other person than the infamous Warren Harding, the South Face of Liberty Cap (5.9 C2+) was the route BAT-Hooks were used for the first time in climbing history. Equipped with a fresh topo, by Yosemite Big Wall Author Roger Putnam, a heavy rack of Iron and a high psyche, we started the approach up towards Nevada Falls with pure excitement. An hour and a half later, Alex and I made it to the base and short after, Alex was cruising through amazing 5.10 granite splitter cracks with some aid and french free in short sections in between.
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| Alex getting ready for pitch 1 |
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| Alex high up on Pitch 1 |
At the end of the day, 3 pitches were fixed and we enjoyed a delicious Bivi meal consisting of Cheese and Canned Soup on the Bivi Ledge. The next day, we got up early ascended the fixed lines and started climbing. For Breakfast, we had a nice C2+ button head bolt ladder waiting, which required a lot of top stepping in a slightly overhanging wall. It was fun and a nice wake up. Keeping the excitement high. This was followed by another amazing 60m corner pitch, with a death flake at the top, according to the topo, we were done with the hardest parts of the climb.
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| C2+ Button Head Pitch |
This would have been the case, if at that point we wouldn't have started to run out of water. Being a south face, the route was baking in the hot California sun for most of the day and with that our water consumption was higher than we expected. Yet were we not discouraged and continued to push the rope higher and higher and finally, after several pitches of bushwhacking, Yosemite Fire Ants in our pants and the hardest 5.8 death slab as top, Alex and I made it to the top with some solid dehydration.
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| We survived!!! |
With another great wall of the tick list, I headed back to the Wyoming Sheep Ranch, were snow slowly started to melt.
Stay tuned for more exciting stories. Till then climb now and work later.....
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