Amateur Hours

It has been a long while it feels like since an update on the climbing that's been happening. Let's get right to it...

This past weekend (3/25-3/37) in Bishop was a great experience of being served some great tasting humble pie. Only doing a couple problems, all of them ones I had never done before, was fun in its self. I

Scott Cory and I started the drive on Friday morning. He needed new tires. About 50 miles after they were installed, a loud bell went off. Low tire pressure. Thinking they didn't fill one all the way up, we put some air in it. After filling it, he noticed a hissing sound coming from the tire. He decided to get food and see if the pressure dropped after we ate. Sure enough, it dropped again. Finding another America's Tires was 25 minutes towards HWY 99. A little out of the way, but then a straight shot down to Bakersfield. Skip ahead a hour...New tires without a nail in it (old on picked up a nail within 50 miles of being put on). We're FINALLY on the road.

Delano, CA. So small you blink and it's gone.

After a couple hours on HWY 99, we turned off into the desolate little town of Delano, CA. Also referred to as middle of nowhere  It ended after about 5 minutes of driving and we were in the back roads and hills of the lower central valley. It was scenic as ever, but windy as hell and took us about 4hrs to get through. It went from country and hills to snow and mountains. Scott wasn't that psyched. It pretty much set the tone for the weekend. It felt like an epic getting there and and the trip had just began.

Skip forward six more hours: we arrive in Bishop. We set up camp and get a decent nights rest. Scott wanted to get Bubba Lobotomy done at the Happys. He had to do this. It had previously demoralized him on trips past and he didn't want to leave emptied handed It was the first time I had ever seen him get so close. I mean heartbreaking close. Doing all 12 moves of this traverse and and falling at the end every time. Frustratingly close....

That night after we watched Battle L.A. in town (which I recommend) we went back to camp. Excited to eat pasta, Scott remembered that he didn't have any bowls to eat dinner in. Quickly thinking I suggested we just eat out of the pans. And quicker than I could say bad idea, he said it'd be hard to clean since he didn't have a cleaning rag. Once more it was peanut butter sandwiches for dinner. MMM MMM! Moral of that anecdote: Don't forget bowls or a rag to clean up with.

I felt not so average that trip. More like a ton of bricks to be exact. I punted and chuffed on...just about most I touched. I did end up doing some easier things this trip, but a majority spent on feeling like I wasn't ready to get straight on hard shit right away. It breaks confidence when you try something after a not so good warm up and get shut down. It taught me that I can't do pull that crap. I need to warm up the way I normally do out there. Lessons learned, but it was still fun.

Thanks for reading!