More climbing, more driving

Lets see here, right after I got my stuff back in Bishop I quickly continued on to Bend Oregon to check out the scene at Smith Rock and low and behold, no one was there. The campground was completely empty except for me and one other vehicle. Figuring my chances of finding climbing partners would be more difficult I choose to continue on to Salem where I could be up with Paul and Shawana. Paul and I came back for two days of climbing at Smith which included a night ascent of the Monkey's Face, which made for a interesting rappel off into the back abyss by headlamp. It was fun. The third day we were able to pull Shawana away from law studies to join us for a day of climbing for which the weather was excellent and when the crowds would then show up for. It was super crowded on the front walls. After this my hands were throughly thrashed and in need of some rest and recovery. With nothing really planned until meeting up with Cynthia in Red Rocks at the end of the week I put myself on the couch of Paul and Shawana's with the large flat screen TV and cable and proceded to not move for three days of "recovery" and brain liquidifying boob tube. It was just what the doctor ordered.
Knowing my brain was nicely pickled, and body less sore I decided to begin my trip back south. I chose to drive from Salem to Bishop, making it a full day of driving and an easy second day to Red Rocks. As I was driving through the pass to Bend I came into a nice snow storm, nothing to crazy, roads were slick but not bad, I got through and found a nice sunny day in Bend. About 20 miles south of Bend, and about three hours into driving into the day and during my usual boredom induced pondering, it came to me that I had not retrieved my trad rack and draws from Paul's backpack, which was happily sitting in his garage. After quickly pulling over and confirming this with checking the back of my truck I then turned around and headed back to Salem. This added about six hours of driving to my planned full day. This also resulted in me not quite making it to Bishop though I drove until about 3 am. I was able to find a empty campsite somewhere south of Reno close to Sonora pass. I pulled over away from the highway and set up my truck for sleeping. As soon as I opened the door I discovered it was quite cold but I had warm clothes and a decent sleeping bag. Six hours later I awoke still cold but rested so I continued on. Driving only a little ways away I saw that I had actually spent the night above 8,000ft. I was able to make it to Red Rocks easily that day.
Cynthia arrived the next day and even with having flown the red eye that night we had a full day of climbing sport routes. That night we met up with some of her friends for a shin-dig and after drinking a copious amount of spirits, I ended up passing out at a neighbor's house and awoke late the next morning and we did a nice multipitch trad climb. I was feeling less than stellar but the sweating of booze from my pores probably really helped. We had two more full days of climbing here in Red Rocks until Tuesday night when it started to rain. This is the first time in several trips here that I have ever seen rain. I guess I needed the rest day anyway. I'll just hang out here with some new friends until some more friends of mine will show up in the coming weekend. The weather is suppose to improve.
I hope everyone has a good Thankgiving, there is suppose to be quite the gathering here at the campground. I'll post next time I have something.

The times be a better

Well, as luck would have it, about an hour after I made my last post telling of tales of loss and misfortune I wandered down to the local sport shop to place my final posting of my lost gear as I would be departing Bishop the next morning. While reviewing the post board I found a lost gear posting. All it said was lost gear, call Brenda and then a number. Understanding it had been over a week since I lost my stuff I had nothing to lose. Well, after confirming the color of the shoes, it turned out to be my stuff! They were on their own camping trip so had been out of town for a few days following when I lost it. They had talked to people in the local campsite but over the weekend the turnover rate of the campers was pretty high, and where I was camping was out of the way a pit in a old gravel pit used mostly by climbers. Its cheaper and no pretty stream nearby. They actually had put some effort in trying to find the me and while we talked to the same agencies, the gears of organization kept the stars from aligning early on.
They were a neat retired couple living in a trailer park community in north Bishop. Their trailer turned out to be a real bugger to find especially in the dark and all those trailers look the same and streets are windy and crowded. For awhile I was so close yet so far.
Anyhoo, my stuff was returned, the day after I had purchased new shoes, luckily not the same kind that were returned and I departed Bishop and found a quiet scene with good weather here in Bend.
Until next time.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Well, I am still in Bishop though my plans for tomorrow are to head back up to Bend, for a little Smith Rock climbing all while hoping for some good weather. The weather up there has been iffy to say the least. I had planned on leaving here almost a week ago now and I haven't for two reasons.
One, the weather has been somewhat crappy up there and the weather here has been only getting better with the temperatures dropping and making the sunlight more bearable on the rock.
Two, for the first time on this trip, though probably not the last I made a real bonehead move that resulted in me losing my (Eric's) crash pad, two pairs of pretty new climbing shoes, my chalk bag and my Bishop bouldering guide. This was all done by merely placing it in that all sucking void that is the top of my truck and then driving away. It wasn't tied down either, though that isn't the usual place for it. I was back to the scene of stupidity within an hour but alas, it was gone, and now almost a week later, it has not returned. I managed to get the network of local climbers and climbers in the area sharing my sad story of me being below average intelligence but to no avail. Though this I managed to meet a lot of people but none that could help me reunite with my stuff. Posted notes throughout Bishop has not resulted in any leads.
I did learn this is a friendly bunch offering to include me in on trips to various bouldering areas, though the kindness of others I am already being part of. I have been climbing with fellow Alaskan Keith, and hanging/camping/climbing with a young couple from the Tahoe area just cruising around looking for good climbing areas like myself. They have proved to pleasant and humorous company. Its more fun to hang around a campfire in the evening with friendly company than without. They has proven to be no lack of such company around these climbers campgrounds.
So, I am still in Bishop, cranking hard on old climbing shoes getting to the walls quite often only taking a day here and there for rest days. My fingers are beginning to look like mush, I am on my third blood blister, but otherwise cranking hard for me and enjoying it all the while. I now plan on finally heading up to Bend in hope of good weather and equally good climbing and company.
No real new photos, sorry, the ones already posted I think are still pretty good though.

More climbing, better weather

Some sweet Bishop bouldering. I wish my climbing was as impressive as some of these photos were. It sure was fun though, in that finger skin tearing, falling, bleeding sort of way.


The weather here in Bishop has continued to improve at least until last night. The temps are dropping making climbing more tolerable beyond the usual finger and toe pains. The mountains surrounding Bishop have received a nice dusting along the tops. My skis will see some use yet.
Last night was an impressive wind event in the Buttermilks rocking my truck and pushing my crash pad around from under the truck. Very little sleep was gotten as a result of mighty impressive gusts coming from the mountains. The next day I ran into a couple from Australia whose tent was flatten and poles were broken. They had to take refuge in town. This was not the only tent I heard of suffering from the wind.


Climbing up to this point has been good leaving skin and dignity along the boulders here. Somedays are better than others, but really beyond any injury its hard to have a bad day climbing. I ran into a former Alaskan now living here in Bishop, another partner to climb with now that I had to say goodbye to me fellow Alaskans from Juneau. They departed last night heading for the west coast to return to Alaska. Good thing too, their tents would have diffiently suffered in the wind. They were kind enough to leave me with pictures they had taken with their nice camera. For more of those pics go to my picasa site to check out my facebook.
I plan to be here for another two days before departing north to Smith Rock for some more climbing while the weather is good.


This last shot is from Red Rocks, me coming out of the shade of the Black Corridor.