Part 3: Bishop in April

Black Sheep

April 13, 2011
After a rest day involving walking up and down Main St. (HWY 395), we decided to go back to the Happy's. It ended up feeling like a summer day in the afternoon. But the temps in the morning provided shade at Acid Wash. It's hard to pull off the ground for the start. Scott said it took him awhile to figure the start when he did it so I feel much better. It took me probably 30 minutes to latch the jug from the sit. After that it's just keeping it together enough for the throw. I had to figure out some different foot beta than originally shown. After about 30 minutes more of falling on the last move from the sit consistently, I wasn't gaining anything but a sense of fatigue. That's when our mutual friend Shannon Moore showed up and revamped the psyche for Grindrite. It's a cool looking problem but technical. Atypical for Happy Boulder problem. After both Shannon and myself did it and Michele gave some really good burns we talked about going up to Cholos. I had never been on it before and wanted to see if I had it in me.

Shannon showed up with her dogs, Peanut and Buster

We got to Cholos and the psyche faded from our faces. The air was hot, the body wasn't willing. The only thing that wasn't scorching was Big Country Boy around the corner. It sits directly in its own little alcove and is shaded practically all day. Even though it gets one star, you should do it to get it out of the way. And why does it get one star? Dab potential, sharp holds, lowball perhaps? Either way it's got cool movement and a knee bar (of all things).

Buster in a crack about 10ft from where he was tied up, still on the leash...

April 14, 2011
Michele took a rest day but I was still feeling good enough to climb. The Buttermilks looked pretty good so I caught a ride and ventured up there. I was right about it LOOKING okay. The wind was a flaw in my sighting though. It wasn't bad at first. A little breezy and a little snow flurry from the storm in the mountains. I warmed up quickly at the Buttermilker cave, protected from the cold and wind.

I wanted to get on Moonraker but the wind started to pick up. How much? Enough to send my pad up the hill beyond the Buttermilker problem. I ha no other choice to retreat up to the Cave Route and One Mule Wonder for a while. Since I couldn't get on one problem on my list, I settled for One Mule Wonder for a bit. Maybe it would keep me occupied until the wind died down.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

I grabbed the underclings, pulled up and stuck the first move. After that, it's over. It would have been a flash, but I tried it once a couple years ago and haven't been back.

Then the wind proceeded to blow me off of problems. It was blowing it for me. I already hate wind but not being able to climb more because of it blowing my pad every couple of seconds wasn't rad.

The wind blows.