A Highball Weekend

 

On Friday we drove north to the land of large boulders.  We arrived in Bishop at midnight and past out.  Saturday morning started off with one of the best warm up circuits in the world: Sunshine Wall, Green Wall, The Hunk, and High Plains Drifter.  It felt great to be back in Bishop for the first time since spring. After warming up someone in our group had the bright idea to work on the Mystery (Grandma boulder).  We headed down the hill to join a full gym scene of 20+ people.  We worked on the Mystery for a while, Sam crushed it (again) and he got really close on Direction, falling on the Thunderbird move at the end five times.

After that spectacle we headed to a less crowded part of the mountain, The Pollen Grains.  Aron was psyched to finish up Mesothelioma which is a really tall V7 uphill from Spectre.  I worked on Spectre for a bit and felt better than ever, psyched to get back to that one!  It started to get dark so we walked uphill and setup the pads under Mesothelioma.  The line is on a gently overhanging face with positive holds in the lower section, decreasing in size as you climb higher. The crux is probably the last move to a right hand edge at the lip 25 feet off the ground. Aron sent on his first go, topping out with crazy mantel beta.  On my first two attempts I got to the first small hold midway up the climb and jumped off.  On Anthony’s second try he stuck the hold at the lip grabbed the next two small crimps but couldn’t figure out how to pull up onto the slab.  He carefully downclimbed a couple of moves and caught some serious air as he jumped onto the pads from the lip of the boulder.  It was comforting to know that a controlled fall from the high crux would likely be safe; the same can’t be said for an uncontrolled fall.  On the other hand, it wasn’t inspiring to see that the topout at 25+ feet is no gimme.  After watching us on a few attempts, Sam managed to flash the line in good style.  Anthony followed suit, sending on his next go. It was my turn to send, I climbed to the same point, making the long reach to a small crimp sidepull, then I committed to the next moves to barely catch the edge at the lip. From here a few techy but easy moves found me on top of the boulder! A great line that is worth the hike.

On Sunday we started at Dale’s Camp so Anthony could try Xavier’s Roof. He made some good progress but didn’t send, next time!

In the afternoon we headed to the Beehive area to check out some more classics. I worked on the Swarm for a bit and felt pretty good but didn’t make any progress from last year. Anthony and I did Queen Sweet Nectar left which we didn’t think was as good as the direct line we had done previously. Ian battled through an illness to send the direct line and little B was really close to pulling through the crux.

Last on the agenda was Secrets of the Beehive which is a tall overhanging line with a tricky and committing finish at the top. This climb has really amazing holds and fun moves all the way to the top. I arrived at the high jug on my first attempt and managed to do a reverse mantel dropknee cross to the xeno! It was crazy but it worked! Mike Brady burled through the mantel to send the line as well. A fitting end to the weekend. Sadly no pics of the highballs but I did get video that will pop up here at some point.

So far it looks like I’ll be spending my Thanksgiving in Yosemite! Anyone else going to be there?

Edit: Can’t find anyone that wants to join so I might just go back to Bishop instead.