I have Just got home after a long and weary journey from Bishop. The Us
trip is now finished and the sweet memories are starting to fill my mind. There
have been so many good moments, awesome pieces of rock, good bouldering in new
places and different climbing every day. The time always ran really fast, but
six weeks have been sufficient to have a lot of fun in the two spots we decided
to visit i.e. Red Rocks and Bishop. As I wrote, the Buttermilks county deluded
my expectations and until the end of the stay I was not able to get a perfect
feeling with this famous spot.
Some of the problems have been anyway capable of surprising me, like the
pure overhang of "The Spectre", one of the most incredible granite
boulder you can image. The first session on it went pretty good, climbing it in
two sequences except for the final slab which looked to be an important crux
section for my poor slab skills. The same day, with a mix of light rain and dry
conditions I got the ascent of Tony Lamiche's "Manadala sit start"
V13, the super mega classic showed on the first dosages in 2000's. It was a good
moment being at the top of such an important historic line despite I didn't
like its holds and its excessive fame.
The last week started with a good skin but the temperature grew up really
high as well as the drop of my physical shape due to the tiredness of the weeks
before. On the second session on "The Spectre" I finally figured out
the slab but the problem looked to be at the bottom, where my abdominals weren't
strong enough to repeat the moves of the previous day. After half an hour came a
strong sand storm and the air got up the pads. We had to go back home. After
that day I quitted that problem, despite its beauty. I knew it would have been
too hard for my tiredness so I started to focus on easier problems that I was
interested in. The problems I was looking for were a bit high for the standard
size I was used to, but trying them with the rope everything became more safe
and more quiet for my fear. I was so impressed by many locals that are used to
put up highballs that seemed as giant as a cliff. I decided to attempt some of
them in the medium-high size, first of all the beautiful arête of “This side of
paradise” aka “Bardini’s Arete” V10. At the first sight I was amazed by this: tall,
huge, pure, beautiful climbing, yellow and a scary easy slab to top out.With
the rope, I began to get a positive confidence on the slab and also on the
upper moves on the prow which looked to be the hardest. My goal was to figure
out a fast beta for all the arête to skip some movements in order to not get pumpy
before the easy and delicate exit. The second day I went there with Robert, a Swedish
guy, and under the hot spring sun my positive sensations turned into negative
ones. I was not able to repeat the sequence and I felt really weak. The quick
change of temperature usually gives me some hard time, in fact when the shade
came my energies went up and I felt like another climber. Every moves went
perfectly with the rope and the level of consciousness in the final slab was
positive enough to try it ground up. I was anyway a bit tense. I knew it would
have been great to climb a perfect problem like this, but I also knew that I
had to do everything really well knowing my lacks on slabs. I turned the mind
off and I rested. Robert started, he reached the good last hold before the easy
top out and he felt too pumpy to continue. Giulia and I spotted him on the drop
off and I thought that I would have been the next. I focused more and then I
put the portable chalk bag, rarely used. I felt my mind ready and I got the
slab, I breath as much as I can and I won the awesome problem. For an
historical notion, the problem has been put up by Matt Wilder in 2005 and repeated
by two courageous girls.
After that the other lines I wanted to try were always tall for my
habits, but easier under the mental aspect. My aim was to climb something on
the giant classic Grandma boulder, the biggest egg of rock I have ever seen.
The first one was “foot prints” V9 with a really athletic intro that ends in a
really long 5.10 slab until the top that I climbed focused but without big
problems. Instead the second is the good boulder of “Evilution direct” V11 that
gave me more troubles in the higher part. That evening was getting colder and
with five pads the occasion to try this rig seemed appropriated. The first part
to the lip was climbed well but at the jug top I started to feel my hands cold.
I anyway tried to do the second part of the problem and in two more moves the
left hand was totally numb. I stopped, I was confused and I looked down to
jump, but maybe it was too late to choose the dropping off. I had no idea what
I was grabbing with the hands. I was too scared to jump so I tried to go on,
thinking about a possible and sudden snap from there. Fortunately the hand stayed
and I could reach the good crimp and top it out. I want to say thanks to my
buddies on the ground that push me up despite the little trouble.
After that day, the time was really ending and the melancholy grew up.
Besides “Spectre”, there was “direction” at the top of the list, a boulder I really
like for its movements and I wanted to finish it. I tried this line until the
last day, but it seemed I should come back stronger on this kind of moves like
jump and tiny crimps. I was anyway happy to see some progress on it during my
long 6 sessions of work. Hope to finish it one day in the future.
The trip is over and I really have good memories about the first travel
to US. I wasn’t not able to complete all of my bouldering wishes, but being
there was definitely a great satisfaction.
Now it is time to go back training, thinking about some projects close
to home and planning the next trip in another area to enjoy other kind of rock,
different boulders and new landscapes.
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| Mandala sds V13, Bishop. Photo Giulia Paoletti |
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| Arete on Grandma 5.10, Bishop. Photo Giulia Paoletti |
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| The Mystery V11, Bishop. Photo Giulia Paoletti |
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| Buttermilks main sector, Bishop. Photo Giulia Paoletti |
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| Buttermilks, Bishop. Photo Giulia Paoletti |
