apAdventures

So much bouldering, so little time for web posts! We’ve got a heck of a crew right now here in Bishop. The Germans, Grit, Manu and Anke, are still here crankin’ with us and last Saturday the Pittsburgh’ers arrived: Jen, Brain, Seb and Oren and Jason, Kathy and ‘lil McKenna.

Projects, projects, projects. Manu sessioning Soul Slinger, v9…..

…followed by me

Another beautiful day in Buttermilk Country

Manu on High Plains Drifter, v7, which he sent the following morning first go

Anke cruising up a Get Carter Boulder warm-up

Grit getting first dibs on Seven Spanish Angels, v6

Getting higher! Me on Seven Spanish Angels, v6

And he’s off! Manu on (or is that off?) Seven Spanish Angels, v6

Pretty

Kathy flashing Green Wall Essential, v2. Yeah girl….

…followed by Jen

Sand boy Seb

Paul flashing Bowling Pin Arete Sit, v6

Seb and Oren crushing yet another unknown, unnamed Buttermilks classic

Lil McKenna contemplating her beta

Jason bustin’ out the crux move of The Hulk, v6

Kathy at the crux of Solarium, v3

McKenna showing momma how it’s done Solarium, v3

posted by arr

Happy Birthday Manu! A Bishop birthday celebration isn’t complete without some yummy “Pullaway” bread from Erick Schat’s Bakery and a pleasant hike up to Piute Pass with your bestest buds:

Manu and Pullaway Bread. Mmmmm.

The hike up to Piute Pass

The view into the Sierra Mountains at Piute Pass

Manu and his Birthday Crew, from left to right: Grit, Manu, Anke, Morgan, April and Paul

posted by arr

Two days ago, before the snow came, we managed to sneak in a high elevation hike. We started at South Lake and trekked six miles up 3000 vertical feet to the boundary between the Inyo National Forest and the Kings Canyon National Park at Bishop Pass: 11,972 feet elevation.

posted by pjv

A few days ago April described temperatures almost reaching 90 degrees here in Bishop, CA. Today we woke to snow covered mountains and perfect bouldering conditions. Temperatures when we started climbing were probably around 35 degrees (Fahrenheit) at The Buttermilks. Friction was perfect. After a few easy warm-up climbs I ditched the group and said I’d meet them at the Grandma Peabody boulder in a few minutes. I was psyched to warm up my finger tips by giving Center Direct, v10, a go. After a few quick laps on Go Granny Go, v5 I couldn’t wait any longer. I threw my pad under Center Direct and sent, first go. I packed up and as the group was walking down the hill to join me I said, “So, what’s next?”

Here are a few pictures of what came next…

April topping out the high Sunshine Boulder

April feeling the pump on Iron Man Traverse, v4

April close to sending but too pumped on the finish of Iron Man Traverse, v4

Me sticking the dyno on Iron Fly, v9

Anke trying the awesome Green Wall Essential, v2

posted by pjv

As temps in Bishop soared yesterday to almost 90 degrees Paul, myself, brown dog Morgan and our German friends Grit, Manu and Anke spent the day up at cool 8,500 feet bouldering on the beautiful granite blocks of Rock Creek. The energy was high, the lines absolutely stellar and the fall foliage in full display. Here are a few pics of this absolutely perfect climbing day:

Manu sticking the last sloper of Pull Down Like De Jesus, v4

Paul goin’ vertical (for real!) on Osama, v6

Grit crimpin’ hard on Choice of Weapons, v4

Anke working her technique on Twisted Sister, v3

Manu’s turn on Twisted Sister, v3

Paul sending A Boy Named Sue, v7

Me finishing off Groove and Arete, v4

posted by arr

This October 2nd, 2008 marked our fourth wedding anniversary. Four years! Wooo! Unfortunately though, that day was spent in the van cruising pavement somewhere in Wyoming rather than busting our butts up our annual “anniversary hike.” A quick refresher of anniversary hikes: Last year took us (most of the way) up Long’s Peak in Colorado. The year before that across the Grand Canyon and back. And the year before that North Dome in Yosemite, California. The timing of doing a big hike exactly on the second day in October in the midst of a cross-country drive didn’t quite work out so well. So to make it up to ourselves, now that we’re settled here in Bishop for the next two months with nothing on the agenda aside from climbing up some big rocks, we’ve decided to deem the *entire* month of October “The Month of Anniversary Hikes.” Which in short means if we’re not climbin’, we’ll be hikin’!’

Our first Bishop hike: Blue Lake (10,400 feet) via the Lake Sabrina trailhead (9,400), 7.6 miles.

Lake Sabrina on the way up

Blue Lake

Blue Lake

Paul and Morgie staring at the trout in Blue Lake

Lake Sabrina on the way down

Me in the beautiful fall foliage

posted by arr

We’re here!

The snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains

Our campsite

The Buttermilk Boulders!!!!!! 😀

Grit on Iron Man, v4 with Manu, Paul and Anke

Stay tuned……

posted by arr

After three days in the car traveling across the United States, Paul and Morgan and I started getting “van-fever.” We needed a break and Salt Lake City happened to be just around the next bend….literally. We decided to phone our good friend Courtney to see if he was in town and in the mood to chill. Courtney, tied up at work all day, never did answer his phone. No worries though, because as Paul and I were paying our dinner bill in downtown Salt Lake at Thaiphoon, 30 or so minutes from Courtney’s neighborhood, five or so hours after we originally left him our arrival voicemail, THE one and only Courtney B. Phillips strode right by us on his way to watch the vice presidential debate with his new babe Mel. Things just have a way of working out I guess when it comes to chillin’ with your bestest buds.

Not surprisingly, our originally planned dinner visit with Courtney turned into a 2 night stay. We learned that our German friends meeting us in Bishop wouldn’t be arriving until late Saturday night, which gave us some extra time.

Feeling very jiggly and soft from the long three days on the road, Paul and I decided to get some exercise at the new Momentum Climbing Gym. Wow. Sweeeet gym:

The Momentum Climbing Gym, Salt Lake City, Utah

After that I took little brown dog Morgie out for a neighborhood run. She too was in earnest need of some exercise. Then it was Powder Whore time for Paul, myself, Courtney and Mel at Brewvies. For those who have never been, Brewvies is a brilliant bar/movie theater combo in SLC where you can munch pizza and drink beer while you watch your flick. And Powder Whore was premiering their latest telemark-skiing video “The Pact.” A most excellent video…even for the non-tele skier. If you look closely you can see us sitting in the audience, 4th row:

http://www.powderwhore.com/news/

Topped the evening off at Acme Burger. And then a relaxing breakfast the next morning at The Porcupine. Would have loved to stay longer with Courtney and Mel, but Bishop is a-callin.’

posted by arr

Apologies to all for the lack of updates recently. We’ve been busy inching our way west over the last week.

Since we last spoke, Paul and I said our goodbyes to the South African boulders and boarded a flight headed back to the states. Landing in Syracuse New York, we then spent a few days chillin’ in Marathon with my family. From there it was on to Pittsburgh for some time with Paul’s family. And now here we are somewhere in Nebraska starin’ down Interstate 80, the van’s grill pointed toward California. Bishop! Here we come!

It’s healthy to have dreams. It’s even healthier to turn one of those dreams into reality. A colleague once told me that he prefers to have hundreds, thousands! of dreams. Because with thousands of dreams, there’s a much greater probability that he can turn at least one into reality. I like this philosophy.

So here WE go. Paul and I are about to live a dream. A dream that we’ve discussed numerous times amongst ourselves, loved ones, and friends. A dream that has gone through many iterations, revisions and re-writes. We’ve been talking the talk about this “big climbing road trip” for sooooo long that I’m seriously having a lot of trouble this week differentiating between the reality and the dream. Is this for real?! Are we really pulling this off? Am I……dreaming?

And then I look at the van parked out front, the vehicle which is about to be our little home-away-from home for a while. And I see how nicely and neatly its packed. Packed with all the material items that we will be living off of over the next 6 months. I’m surprised actually, at how much room we still have in there. Either the van is way more space-efficient than I thought, or we’ve seriously forgotten some major stuff. I realize how little I care about this right now. As long as the crashpads, climbing shoes, and at least a tad of chalk are in there, we’ll make due. Oh yeah – and our plane tickets and passports. Can’t forget those.

Paul tried to be a little creative in giving hints on this site of our potential destinations. If you’re a climber, you’ve already got it figured out. If you’re not, then I am jittering with excitement to announce that the final cut of our “big climbing roadtrip” dream will include the following destinations. <drum roll please>

1. Rocky Mountain National Park (and surrounding areas), Colorado
2. Rocklands, South Africa
3. Bishop, California

Yep. That’s the plan man. Thrown in amongst these areas will also be plenty of time spent at home with the fam’s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Marathon, New York.

So without further ado, I now must get back to the packing so we can hit the road….TODAY. Stay tuned on the site. You’re about to see a lot more action.

posted by arr from home in Tucson