Friday, April 1, 2011

Ik ben aan het rukken in mijn slaapzak!

I will leave it up to you to translate the above Dutch sentence which my kind friend Siebe taught me.  He told me it means "Hello, good day" in dutch, but I am a little skeptical.  That child has a dirty mind...Mike and I are still in Bishop.  The weather has been great for the past week and we have been going to the Buttermilks almost every day!  Our entire crew from the last campground decided to make the most of the weather and relocate our camp to the buttermilks.  We found an amazing campground within a 5 minute walk to the boulders and no crowd.






The Buttermilks are amazing (I apologize for repeating this so much, but it is true).  The boulders themselves reach up into the sky over 50 feet in some places!  Unfortunately I injured my finger climbing last week and have had to take it easy this week.  We spent part of the last week at "Seven Spanish Angels," one of the only sloper problems in Bishop.


Yesterday was the first day I was able to climb moderates again, and what a day it was!!!!  We went into the Pollin Grains, an outlying area of the Buttermilks where we climbed two great problems, "Jedi Mind Tricks" V4 and "Suspended in Silence" V5.  These two problems together make up my favorite climbs of Bishop thus far.  "Suspended in Silence" is rated the top problem to do in Bishop area, and I would agree.  It starts off with a perfect dyno into some slim moves to the top of an enormous boulder.  Stunning!!!  "Jedi Mind Tricks" is a perfect crimp problem with a committing move to the lip of a dead vertical rectangular faced boulder.








2011 doesn't mean you cant rock a moustache and bandana!!









It was the last day for the majority of our crew and I am happy that we ended it on such a high note!  These people made our stay in Bishop thus far a ton of fun and I am sad to see them move on...Congrats Kev on sending "Stained Glass".  I am sure we will run into them soon though, as it is a recurring theme in the climbing community, and one of my favorite aspects of climbing overall.  We had a farewell feast this morning at Jacks (local breakfast place).  

Mike Suleiman was skiing 12 feet of pow in Tahoe and Mammoth for spring break, and I was psyched to hear he was coming to Bishop for a few days.  We went climbing, shot pool and hung out just like the old days!  It was a lot of fun!

Siebe is STILL with us, and I am wondering if we will ever be able to get rid of him (kidding Siebe).  I am really happy he has decided to stay a few more days before he makes his way to Indian Creek where he can finally fulfill his odd crack obsession!  He just got a new pair of unreleased 5.10 shoes designed for crack climbing and a guide to Indian Creek, which I am watching him drool over across the table in Starbucks.  I dont think he will actually leave Bishop until he climbs his crazy hard project "Evilution" which calls for a pair of crutches and all of the crash pads in bishop.  We have spent several afternoons at "Evilution," which is right next to Kevin Jorgensen's project.  It was neat watching someone climb at such a high level.  Two nights ago he made the second ascent of a highball problem that has not been repeated since the 90's.  Andy Mann was taking photos so we all had to make sure we were out of the frame, and it was dead silent as we all watched him climb a technical slab 50 feet off the ground.  Today we are resting and going to a natural hotspring near Mammoth Lakes that Siebe went to last week.  Last night we went to a white-trash theme climber party in Bishop...It was fun, but as expected a bit awkward.  Nonetheless it was great to meet new people and put some greasy bar food in our stomachs...






Kayla just got accepted into the Daniels program at the University of Toronto this week and I am beyond excited for her!  Congrats babe!!!!!!  What an exciting change for us both eh???

Mike talked to our friend TJ today who said he will be in Bishop in 2 weeks so we have decided to stay here and climb for a few days after he gets here.  There is a ton of stuff I would like to do in the next 2 weeks, and I know it will seem like we barely scratched the surface of what Bishop has to offer by the time we leave.  Aside from the rather dull nightlife here, it is an amazing place with great views of the Sierras for 360 degrees.  From here we will make our way to Joes Valley, Utah.  Until then Mike and I will keep climbing the Buttermilks, make new friends to replace our old-new ones (although you all are irreplaceable), and I will read my new book "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts which came as a suggestion from Siebe.


The rock here is SHARP and we are thankful to have ClimbOn! supporting us!  Thanks Mama Amy and the rest of the ClimbOn! crew...

Cheers!

Thomas

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