Archive for January, 2008

First things first… Adam, one of the sweetest friends one could ever have, sent a postcard of San Francisco to my new mailbox here in Bishop.  It arrived yesterday afternoon.  I promptly posted it up on the kitchen wall next to the refrigerator.  (I dont have refrigerator magnets, duh…)

The previous residents put up a lot of nails in the walls around this house.  They’re still up there and when I’m puttering around the house, I find myself looking at those nails and wondering what used to hang off those nails.  I decided that I’d follow their vision and find something to hang off every nail in this house before I move out.  The postcard is the first.

Today was the first day since I got here in Bishop that I didn’t have anything related to work, or moving in to take care of.  The whole day was my oyster, to speak of.

With clear sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s, I said to myself that I came all the way out here to climb, and I still haven’t climbed? What’s up with that??  I located my climbing shoes, threw the crash pad in the car and drove out to the Happys.    I was really anxious about this very first day of climbing. I was afraid of just how rusty I would be.   I haven’t really climbed seriously since last spring and I’d been hitting the gym every once a while, but really just minimal maintenance.

So the baseline to compare myself against, would be the problems I climbed the last time I was here, Thanksgiving weekend 2006.   How badly would I compare, that was the question.

I hiked up the long approach trail and made my way to the Solarium (V3).  The sun was shining brightly but the winds were strong and chilly.  I warmed up on a juggy problem next to Solarium to get my fingers loosened up.   I was feeling good, I’d give Solarium a try – it is rated at V3, but its really more out of tradition considering its such a classic problem – than the actual grade.  It’s more like a really hard V3, or more appropriately, a V4.

Sent it.

So, okay. I was doing better than I expected.  Looked to my left and saw Big Chicken (V2).  Always a fun problem, no matter how many times I’ve done it.  I repeated it and it was actually a bit easier than I remembered it.

I stepped back and looked at the problem to the left.  One of the classic problems in the area, Hulk (V6).  It’d been a longstanding project for me before I finally sent it the last time I was here.  It was (then) the hardest problem I’d ever done in Bishop.  I truthfully did not think I was in any shape to attempt to repeat Hulk.

Or was I?  I told myself it couldn’t hurt to try.  I chalked up and sat down at the starting holds and started to recall the sequence of holds long buried in my mind.   I got up to the crux before missing the hold completely and finding myself on the ground.

I turned to look at the holds at the crux and it became clear to me that I most likely could do it.  It wouldn’t be easy, but I had the strength to pull it off, just barely enough.  The question would be how many attempts I’d have to stick the crux move, before I became too fatigued for the day?

Threw myself on the problem over and over.  The sun dipped lower and lower in the sky.  Soon it would disappear behind the canyon walls and it’d get too cold to continue.  I was racing not only against fatigue but time as well.

After countless of attempts, I tried a slightly different foot positioning and found it to be much better.   I knew I’d get it in the next few tries.

Three tries later I found myself in a static lock-off, one hand on the crux hold and the other on the little sidepull.  I’d done the hard part.  Now I just needed to pull myself to the top of the boulder. And I was TIRED.  I summoned up every last reserve I had to pull myself up the last two holds before clambering over on top of the boulder, screaming to the sky, ‘HELL YES!’

I was so pumped after this, I could only muster enough effort to send another problem, Ketron Classic (V4).  And now my arms were jelly.   I packed up my crash pad and walked back to the car.   It was a great first day, and I look forward to the many days to come.

•  Solarium (V3)
• Big Chicken (V2)
• Hulk (V6)
• Ketron Classic  (V4)

There’s a weather warning posted for the area.  A big snow storm system is moving in the area and should hit the mountains with at least 2-3 feet of snow and bring generally horrid conditions for the next two days.

I’ll get pictures, of course!

I woke up this morning to find everything covered with snow and ice.  And of course, have a camera, have pictures for all of you, my readers.

I actually rolled into Bishop yesterday morning at 6am. The first official order of business I conducted in Bishop was to deposit a check at the local Bank of America.

So you can imagine me being all bleary eyed and half-cocked from driving 10 hours through the Sierras on a single lane highway. Shambling into town with the pre-dawn light peeking up from the mountains after a 3500 mile drive over 10 days and the first thing I do is deposit a check. But hey, money’s gotta go where its gotta go.

Here’s a rundown on the total statistics as per my Garmin GPS unit.

• Total Miles: 3579.5
• Moving Average: 64.1 mph
• Moving Time: 55 hours 50 minutes.
• Max Speed: 112 mph (somewhere on I-10 in Texas)

Other random statistics I should share.

• Roadkill: 1,254 (95% of it being in Texas)
• Biggest roadkill: Looked to be a horse carcass (again in Texas)
• Highest Legal Speed Limit: 80mph (again, Texas)
• Crazy motherfucking dog chasing cars in the middle of the interstate (yup, Texas): 1
• Nights I slept in my car: 2
• Car accidents/wrecks seen: 4
• Amount spent on gasoline: $386.34

Sooo.. second order of business was to find a place to live. I needed to rent, and I needed to rent now. I didn’t want to spend another night in my car for a long time.

I found two places the first day – looked at both places and picked up applications. I didn’t have a good feeling about either place however because the landlords were looking for something longer than a 4 month stay I was looking for. I turned in the applications anyway and at the end of the day I realized I’d need to stay somewhere. I checked into this motel. The short native-american woman at the counter gave me my room key, #2 and said “checkout is at 10am”.

I was feeling kind of dejected. What if it took weeks to find a place? I didn’t want to spend $55 a night sleeping in motels. The other option was to head out to the winter campsite where the climbers hang out and sleep there. I did have a sleeping bag but no tent. So I’d need to buy one. And truthfully I didn’t want to spend my nights out there – because in the desert, the nights get to be really really cold. The part I hated most about my past Bishop climbing trips were the cold nights. And I wasn’t looking to relieve that experience.

I opened the door to my motel room and found myself in a tiny 8×8 room. A TV perched over the foot of the bed. I peeked into the bathroom. It was a little thing of a bathroom, barely any space for moving around once the toilet and sink had taken up their spaces. At least it was clean, I thought to myself.

I pulled back the sheets to the bed, expecting to find some natty old sheets. But they were clean, soft and comfortable. I laid down, thinking to myself that it could have been worse. But I really wanted to get a place. I kept thinking that if things just went so badly, and I’d be forced to head to S.F. earlier than I expected. I didn’t want to do that. I told myself the next day would be better and went to sleep.

I woke up early the next morning feeling tremendously better. I now think it was the overall fatigue from all that driving that had gotten me into that little bout of desperation.

I headed over to this property management company that I had discovered the other day (but were closed). Explaining my situation to the woman there, she waved her hands and said, “not a problem, we’ll get something for you.” We drove out to look at two places and after seeing the second place, I told her I wanted the first place we looked at. She said to come back in 3 hours and sign the papers.

I started to have hope that I’d not need to check back into that motel again.

Three hours later, I had the keys to the place and I stood there at the doorway, not quite believing it. It’s a cozy little 1BR cottage a few blocks off the main street in the city. It has a spacious front yard, back yard, and my own private parking spot. And it’s unbelievably cheap. Basically almost half what I was paying for a single bedroom in D.C.

W. Pine Street (the street that the cottage is located on). You can see the snow-capped mountains in the distance. Bishop High School is on the right.

View of the cottage from the driveway entrance. Its so small that the trees and bushes obscure it almost completely.

Front view of the cottage.

The kitchen. Note the new Martha Stewart dishware from K-Mart. They’re actually quite awesome and I like them a lot.

The living room. I’ll be using this area for working.

\

Annnnd, the bedroom. The love cove. The room where the magic happens.

I haven’t had time to get out and explore Bishop (as in take pictures). But that’ll be coming soon now that I’ve finally gotten a place and can begin to settle down.

And I need to actually do what I came here to do. Go bouldering.

Whee!!