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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Oct 20, 2015 - 08:09pm PT
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First: All the good photos are Tony's or Gary's.
The team can take selfies:
Tony and Gary had planned an East Side of the Sierra Nevada trip months ago. I had to vacillate 'cause of work pressure. In the end Laurel and Heidi said "C'mon Dar quit being such a dope, and just GO!", or something to that effect. Tony and Gary showed up a few days before me and had a great time climbing in the Alabama Hills in brilliant weather. I think this is Tall Boy Wall.
I'm not sure who took those, Tony or Gary, but I did NOT.
After using up my 10 year allotment of f-fuels CO2 on transportation, I showed up at the Big Springs Camp Ground around 1P Saturday. This it the spring that is the nominal head waters of the Owen's River, and it's quite beautiful. I find it trippy thinking about the politics and much else emanating from this little flow of water. Of course it's fed by Sierra Nevada range.
Tony and Gary were a little worked from the previous days' climbing, but we still headed out to Clark's Canyon were we all got in a lead or two. For once we didn't gripe about how sandbagged the ratings were. It was a beautiful Sunny day, but there were gusts of wind that hinted that a front might be coming in; the gusts and the weather report.
California should pay me to visit. The last two times I've been down there in the midst of the worst drought in decades, it rained on me.
We woke to light rain about 3AM and slept in a bit. We decided to go back down to Ahills. I was surprised how far it is from Mammoth to Bishop, much less Lone Pine. On the way down we drove in and out of light and heavy rain squalls. It pretty much cleared up as we turned off to the Hills, but it looked to be raining all around us.
Gary and Tony graciously encouraged me to lead that NE(?) arete on Shark's Fin. It was superb climbing for me, but I did dither committing to the first move. Unprotected difficult moves off the ground always get to me and often make me stupid. The unsettled weather and approaching squall line made the arete freaky windy. Reaching around to the N side was pretty exciting, but the E side was relatively sheltered.
Tony's Photos
We got done with our turns climbing just as the squall line started thundering with flashes of lighting. We checked out a couple other areas but didn't leave the car as it had started to rain in earnest.
We went to an early pub dinner at Bishop's Mountain Rambler Brewery. I loved the food, beer and ambiance, and yes I highly recommend it. * Go there and leave big tips *. Then we headed back north and stopped at the Mill Creek Harding museum. I can't believe Harding was born just 13 years after my dad, although both seem eternally young.
confronting my demons.
It was a tad cold and damp at camp that night, but we crowded into the friendly confines of Gary's van and talked about climbing, birds and future trips. We probably covered politics, Supertopo and National, but why on earth go into that?
The next day dawned relatively clear, but we were all heading our separate ways. Gary was driving to Grand Junction, Co, I back to Reno to catch a flight to Seattle and Tony was driving to the Bay Area. We still wanted to climb, though, and Benton Crags seemed to be the most likely dry place and it was on the way for Gary. I like it out there, but the climbs haven't magically become less sandbagged. "5.4": he he he, ha ha. Gary, the rope gun for the trip, led after I looked at it and thought I needed a little easier warm-up. No sh#t, I got slightly psyched out by a 5.4!
Tony and I played leap frog in our separate cars, birding on the way along 6 and 120. The high point for me was a flock of Pinyon Jays foraging on the ground (movies from Tony?). Man, I love their vocalizations (calls?). Toluomne Pass had opened again by the time we drove by it, but Tony decided to head a little further north up 395. We parted ways at the Mono County Park just N of Lee Vining, where a couple of birders reported a GH Owl. We didn't see it, but I did catch a view of a beautiful RB Sapsucker in nice late afternoon light.
Reno traffic was fast and crowded and the signage was plain wrong a couple times. Whaa. But I was able to get to the rental car return just as it got dark with no mishaps. It comes down to it, I really don't like freeway driving. I was able to walk to the hotel from the dropoff. Funny, but in Seattle I have pho^ for lunch 50% of the time, and I found a good pho^ place in the mall at the back of the Comfort Inn Hotel. The flight back to Seattle the next morning was bumpy.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Shetville , North of Los Angeles
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Oct 20, 2015 - 08:45pm PT
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Thanks for the pics..I'll have to stop and check out Batsos bust...rj
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BrassNuts
Trad climber
Save your a_s, reach for the brass...
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Oct 21, 2015 - 06:21am PT
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Good to see some of the birding crew out on the rocks :-). Love the Batso memorial and Tony's beer 'mug'... Cheers
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Oct 21, 2015 - 06:29am PT
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Better to have gotten there and climbed a little than never to have gone at all. Being with friends makes it worthwhie. And It's as beautiful there when it's stormy.
Thanks for the TR.
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SteveW
Trad climber
The state of confusion
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Oct 21, 2015 - 06:31am PT
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How I want that Harding statue!
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Tony
Trad climber
Pt. Richmond, CA
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Oct 21, 2015 - 05:55pm PT
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It was a great trip, even if we didn't exactly tear it up. Actually, it was a bit of a breakthrough for both Gary and me on our respective recovery processes. Gary from a heart attack and broken clavicle and me with my continuing bum ankle.
The first two climbing photos were actually Center Dinosaur Crack (5.7). Gary and I needed to do a crack climb before Darwin joined us so we could claim to not be doing only easy sport climbs. It was a nice climb with a horrible approach. At some point heading back after the climb I found myself crawling through a slot in the grainy boulders and ruing not finding a better way, when I saw a cairn. Sort of a cruel joke I guess. The next one is on Tall Wall: Rotten Bananas (5.7). That was an especially nice climb.
Here is a video snippet of water flowing out of the rock at the Owens River headwaters at Big Springs.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Here are the Pinyon Jays we encountered foraging near the "Devastated Area" south of Mono Lake.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
The mutualistic relationship of the jays and pines is fascinationg:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/jay-and-pine-intertwined/
[Edit] I took the first photo with Gary's camera. Gary to the next two.
Do any Bishop locals know the situation with Mill Creek Station? It seemed boarded up and no recent flyers. I've never had chance to look inside at the Warren Harding museum..
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 22, 2015 - 08:55pm PT
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First, despite the rain, the trip was a total success in my book. Hanging with my friends and climbing that rib on Shark's Fin was the best.
Then there are the Pinyon Jays. I hope to heck that corner of the state stays pristine. As referenced in http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ifwis/cwcs/pdf/Pinyon%20Jay.pdf
"Greatest threat to pinyon jays is the policy of land managers to eradicate piņon-juniper woodlands because of concern about encroachment of this habitat into sagebrush communities. This species is therefore threatened because of loss of piņon-juniper habitat through conversion to other land cover types, including clearing for residential development (Gillihan 2004). "
Darwin
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