B² Productions | Climbing Blog

With shredded fingertips and aching muscles, we packed up and got ready to leave Bishop. The next few days would be driving and non-climbing days. As usual it was a mixed blessing. In spirit I wanted nothing more than to be out on the rocks but my body was screaming for a break. Driving days are exciting for the first 100 miles or so, but they soon lose their appeal when the Tom-Tom informs us that we still have another 300 to go.

The drive south from Bishop to Palm Springs is actually quite a nice one. We retraced some of our tracks from the year before making our way down through Independence (made famous to us by the Dave Gorman book, America Unchained) and Lone Pine. Both towns are very aesthetic, quintessential America small towns. Exactly the sort of thing you hope and want to see on a trip such as this. These towns soon gave way to endless highway until we rolled into the sweat box that is Palm Springs. Palm Springs was nice, but definitely seemed to me, a bit devoid of character. It was all very “chainy”. Oh, and did I mention it was hot. So. Incredibly. Hot. The sort of hot that makes you feel like you’re engulfed in cotton wool. After one false start, we made it too our hotel. On went the AC, on went the swimming trucks, and off we went to the pool (which was like a bath). And so we chilled. Sprawled on a sun lounger I soaked up the sun and nursed my raw fingers. As the sun began to set, we headed into town to find food. We found a nice Indian place which was very nice, and after a diet of which had unintentionally seemed to consist of Pizza or Mexican it was a nice change. By 8:30pm, we were all ready for bed (party animals that we are!). I managed to just about fight with my eyelids long enough to watch my way through King Lines before it was time to hit the sack.

We were all up early again the next day, and were soon tucking in to the complementary breakfast in the Best Western before hitting the stifling heat again. Our plan was to escape up to some cooler temps at the top of the mountain on the Palm Springs aerial Tram Way. There’s supposed to be some good climbing up there (albeit a bit unknown) so we packed up our gear and headed up there. If, like my mother, you have any form of vertigo, I think the Aerial Tram Way could well be  your worst nightmare! The cars climb a mile up, across hugely exposed terrain whilst rotating for the full 360 degree panorama. If you have a head for heights, it’s great! The trip was definitely worth it too. The views from the top were pretty incredible, and I couldn’t have visited Palm Springs and not taken a trip up to the aptly named ‘Grubbs Viewpoint’. Cue comedy photos. And of course, the weather was much more bearable at this elevation.

Me at Grubbs Viewpoint

We actually now felt like we could do something which didn’t evolve sitting very still for long periods of time. We made our way down the windy path from the Tram Way station and out into the woods. We had no idea where we headed, and were totally without a climbing guidebook or topo, but before long we stumbled across a boulder field which looked like it had potential. The area reminded me a little of Fontainebleau, but a lot more destroyed. There seemed to be more dead or fallen trees than there seemed to be living ones, but it was still nice to be in a forest (of sorts). We scouted around until we found a potential looking boulder. We were basically going on the basis that anything with some chalk beta on it was worth a look. We propped the video camera against a tree and Benny and I started brushing and cleaning a small roof problem that looked like fun. And boy, did it take a lot of cleaning! The problem consisted of a sit start on a sloping rail, up and across to another rail before a tricky mantel top out. Not too high and slightly overhanging. I got on first, found a sweet spot for my left heel, pulled down on the rail and then spent the next few seconds having rock, bark and lichen rained down on me! Back out came the brush and we soon had a cleaner pathway. Benny jumped on, and made a quick ascent (as he does), and I followed behind with a rather ungraceful top out. At a wild stab, I’d have given the problem a grade of maybe V1 or V2.

Me on the first Tram Way Boulder

There were a few other short problems on the same boulder which we worked for a while before moving on. We followed the path round, back towards the Tramway station until we found some other nice looking boulders with heavily chalked up holds! This was looking very promising. Everything looked clean and solid (which is more than could be said for the previous boulders). Ashby and Snoo were working a technical slab problem on one side of a nice 12 foot tall boulder while Benny and I sussed out a little crimp-fest on the other. After some initial progress, Snoo and Ashby decided that the previous few days of intense climbing was still too much, and graciously handed the use of the single mate that we had brought with us over to Benny and I. We began working the lower half of the problem – a move off a single good foothold, with hands crossed on a couple of smallish crimps. Then a move out right to a crimpy-pinch type thing, and a sloper. It was then a case of getting your left foot high up onto one of the starting hand holds, before rocking over, making a big reach up to a pair of good holds and topping out. The start was definitely the hardest move, and once I’d managed to stick that, I despatched the problem pretty quick. I was gearing myself up to make a repeat for the camera, when something struck me. We didn’t have the camera. Crap! I was sure I’d picked it up but it turned out I hadn’t. I quickly pulled on my normal shoes and ran back to retrieve it. After a few minutes searching around, I managed to find it again right where we’d left it. Phew. However, I was now presented with a new problem – how to get back to where I had just come from! A mixture of us cutting across, off the path, and me not really paying attention now meant that I had totally lost my bearings. I started to make my way back past some boulders which I thought looked familiar. After five minutes I found myself in the middle of a wooded area I definitely hadn’t seen before. I decided to head back and try again. My internal compass was telling me that I wasn’t far away, but I didn’t want to risk getting anymore lost – especially as there didn’t seem to be much traffic heading through this way. I found my way back to the boulder where I had previously left the camera and tried again. This time I headed further up the hill and found a path which again I thought would take me the right way. Again, this seemed to be leading to a dead end. Arse. I pressed on for a while, before I started to hear people up ahead. It had been a good twenty minutes since I left the guys so it was nice to feel that I wasn’t totally on my own now. The people coming from the other way turned out to be a nice, young couple from Los Angeles, up in Palm Springs for a long weekend. I told them my predicament, and they let me tag along as they made their way back to the Tram Way station. I knew I could find my way from there, or at the very least, wait until the others finally arrived. Pretty soon, as we walked and talked, I found myself back on familiar territory, and it wasn’t long until I was back at the boulders we’d been climbing on. The only problem was: I was at the boulders but the other guys weren’t. It was hardly surprising as I had been missing for nearly 45 minutes now! I bid my new friends goodbye and headed to the ranger station to see if the others had been through. Apparently not. Ok, not to worry. I’ll go to the Tram Way station and wait there for them. Another slight problem was that in my haste to get the camera, I’d left all my stuff with the others. All I had with me now was the camera and a roll of climbing tape in my pocket. Not a great supply kit. I had my fingers crossed as I made my way up the winding path back to the station. I checked all three floors, and even went back up to Grubbs Point before it became apparent they weren’t around. I had no ticket to get back down, but I reckoned, if I got desperate, I could blag that. So, I settled down on one of the balconies and waited. half an hour passed, and I was now bored of waiting. I decided to walk to the bottom of the windy path, see what I could see, and then make my way back up. It was something to do at least. As I got about half way down I saw like a mirage on the horizon (or something) Benny and the others struggling up the path! Thank God! I ran down and took my bags back off them and we wandered back up to the station again, trading stories of what had just happened in the hour or so we’d been separated. We grabbed some food (by now I was totally starving!) and caught the Tram Way back down to the car. We loaded up, and began the 250 mile trek to our next stop: Pheonix, AZ!…

Waking up in Bishop the next morning, it was clear that Ashby wouldn’t be able to climb. He had hurt his back the day before and decided that he would try and find a Chiropractor. The sun was beating down and it felt insanely hot even at 7am. Not hot enough to stop the rest of us climbing though, after a quick breakfast it was back to the Happy’s again. It was clear on the hike in that we would only have a few hours before the heat became too much, so we headed deeper into the valley in search of some classics. The first one we came across was Pirate Booty, a short but tough V3 with a big move from sitting. Ben and I began working the sit start, struggling to haul off the ground, as Snoo watched on. We eventually worked out the start and began to piece together the top moves. It came together quite quickly in the end, luckily as the little shade we had was vanishing fast.

Benny at the Happy Boulders

Another V3 ticked, we headed off to the awesome looking Solarium (V3). It was certainly one of the most ascetic looking problems in the Happy’s, tiny crimps up a slightly overhanging smooth face to a beautiful fractured slab. I couldn’t wait to try it, Snoo – not so keen, headed off to try Indecision (V0), a nice looking diagonal crack up a sheer face. Solarium has an easy sit start, unfortunately it’s up to a really loose hold likely to break off in the near future yarding some unfortunate into the cacti (it does look like there is a new hold underneath and the grade will likely remain as-is). It’s then a crimpfest to the penultimate hold, a sharp two finger crimp. The crux (for me at least) was the last move, a big deadpoint throw to a hold on the lip. We linked the start together quickly but it became apparent that the last few moves would require some deft footwork combined with some strange crimp/pinch combinations. After a rest, I had a good burn and threw to the top, not quite managing to latch the hold, I was down on the crash pad thanks to some astute spotting by Ben. Meanwhile Snoo had completed Indecision from standing and had begun to try and add a sit-start, good work! It was getting towards midday by this point, and the heat was totally draining. We decided to have a few more goes on Solarium before heading back to the car. Ben had a couple of good attempts, but was getting shot down on the awkward pinch/crimp a couple of moves from the end. I jumped on for another attempt, feeling pretty shaky, I managed to get up to the penultimate hold again. Feet up and throw! I hit the top in the wrong place, a sloper instead of an edge. I peeled off backwards and hit the deck, slightly shaken looking up to see where I had missed the hold, Ben notices my finger dripping with blood. The sharp hold had sliced right into my left index finger. No more climbing for me a while.
We caught up with Ashby back at the hotel. He had been on a walking tour of Bishop, unfortunately being the weekend, he couldn’t get his back looked at. We headed out for food and milkshakes at Jack’s Bakery. We made plans to have an extended Buttermilks session into the dusk, a visit too KMart had come up trumps with it’s £5 LED head torches. After a siesta at the hotel we headed out on Buttermilks Road.

The Birthday boulders were first on the list, we drove slowly past the desert marathon runners – crazy! The Birthday boulders are home to the Prow (V1 from standing, V2 from sitting), a beautiful proud line on the face of the left rock. Whilst not classed as a highball by Buttermilks standards, it is high by our standards. First up was Ben with a neat flash of the standing version – great work. Snoo who had previously been working Birthday Left (V0) with Ashby, came over to try the Prow. There are two distinct sections, the lower power moves and the delicate top, although the handholds are positive the feet feel tenuous. Snoo worked out the lower section quickly from standing and soon found herself on the delicate top section. With some gentle shouts of encouragement from us guys on the ground, she was up on top of the boulder without a problem. Snoo would be the first to admit that she’s not a big fan of highballs, so this was a massive achievement. A glutton for punishment she then came down and did a rock-steady ascent from sitting ticking the V2 version! Well done Snoo!

We then checked out the Ironman Traverse (V4), although none of us managed to bag it, we all agreed that it deserves it’s ultra-classic status. It has everything you could want from a problem and the top out is superb. As I write this, I’d love to be back there trying it right now.

As the dusk turned to darkness Ben wanted to try the Cave Problem (V4) again. We rigged up our Kmart headlamps on the ground as an already beautiful problem, it looked totally amazing illuminated at night. Ben had already nearly sent the problem the night before but had problems with the last move a big move up to a sloper and then onto the rail. He set off for another attempt and looked super smooth through the lower section. Throw to the sloper, hope it holds, reposition feed…and off. Damn. He decided to try the move in isolation, it took a few attempts and a few changes of foot position for he stuck the move solidly. Things looked good for a send tonight. Again a really solid start, he powered through the moves and up to the sloper. With a final push, he gets his hand up another pop up with the other hand and it’s sent! Another classic complete.

Ben on Cave Problem at night

We had one more location to visit tonight, Ashby wanted to attempt Green Wall Essential (V2) again, the super technical line up the fractured face. We lit up the huge face as best we could and Ashby donned a headlamp. He is certainly a braver man than me to try this in the dark, it had felt super precarious trying it in the daylight the previous day. He made some really solid attempts, and got through the crux a few times but couldn’t quite get the send. A real shame.

The bumpy ride back down Buttermilks Road signified the end of our time in Bishop and with some good sends under our belts and some experience of bouldering higher than we are used to. Bishop is an amazing place for a boulderer, from the Hueco style Happy’s and Sads’ to the highballs of the Buttermilks, there are classic problems everywhere and for everyone.

Next stop, Palm Springs. Catch up with you later.

The scenery near the Happy's

So, we bid the beautiful Yosemite fair well, crammed all our gear into the back of “The Tank” (our affectionate name for our Nissan Pathfinder) – a real feat to test even the most hardened Tetris expert, and hit the road headed for Bishop. We’d asked around and still had now real idea whether or not the Sonora pass was open. The Sonora Pass offered us the fastest possible route through the mountains since the Tioga Pass was still far from being passable. We couldn’t seem to get a straight answer from anyone, so we just went for it and hoped for the best. I’m normally a pretty good traveller, and very rarely suffer from travel sickness and can even manage to read and even type (like I’m doing now) whilst driving. However, as we came down the windy roads down the side of the mountain, the full car was wallowing all over the place and made me feel decidedly queasy! Not nice. We rolled into Sonora town about two hours later and stopped at a gas station. After some water and some fresh air I felt ready to tackle the rest of the journey. We were still unsure of whether we’d be able to make it over the pass, or whether we’d need to take the even further afield Ebbets/Monitor Pass which would add another couple of hours to the journey. Snoo got on the phone to the Highway Information line and even asked a local sheriff if he knew the score. Still we couldn’t get a definite answer, so we decided we’d just go for it! As we headed towards the pass we saw sign after sign saying the pass was closed. Gulp. Then, all of a sudden we saw a beautiful, digital beacon blinking away up ahead: SONORA PASS: OPEN! Hurrah! We took this to be the truth and thankfully it was. The Sonora Pass road was totally clear, and gave us a stunning drive through the hills, with six foot plus snow drifts on either side of the car. We stopped at the summit  and had a look around. It was a slightly surreal experience wandering about on the top of snow drifts that were taller than me, whilst wearing flip-flops and shorts. The rest of the journey was uneventful. Just hundreds of miles of ram-rod-straight roads until we finally rolled into Bishop. Once we were checked into the hotel, we found out that the Sonora Pass had opened at noon that day. We’d got on the road at about 12:30! You can’t say we weren’t cutting it fine.

View from Sonora Pass (Click for a larger version)

Bishop was much like I expected. Another relatively small, Californian town focussing mainly around one long, main drag. I instantly liked it. It reminded me a lot of Moab, but with a lot more chain outlets. It was also really hot. Sitting in the air conditioned car, you lose all sense of the climate around you, but stepping out in the lobby of the hotel, you could really feel that we’d descended a long way from Yosemite. We dumped our stuff off, and went in search of food. We walked up to a really nice place called the Whiskey Creek. A restaurant and gift shop type place, which served us up a really beautiful, home cooked meal. After the fairly limited array of food available in Yosemite it was a relief to have some variety to our diet. After we’d eaten and drunk our fill, we headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and head off to explore the Buttermilks area. The Buttermilks is home to some of the best, and most famous stateside boulder problems. Many of the big names in the climbing world have put up problems here, and it felt surreal to be there for real. As we turned off down Buttermilks road, and saw the sign, I instantly had visions in my head of the big, sweeping shot of the landscape as Chris Sharma returned there to “get some of that bouldering strength back” during the film King Lines. One thing you don’t see in the film though, is that after you drive over the cattle grid shortly after the turn off, you instantly get a whole new appreciation for the luxury of paved roads. Buttermilks Road isn’t so much a dirt track as a device used by dentists to loosen patients teeth. We bounced our way along the road for a couple of miles before parking up a stones throw from Grandma and Grandpa Peabody. They say that everything is bigger in America, and their “boulders” certainly follow this trend. The Peabody Boulders are pretty much the first things you see as you walk the trail from the road to the boulders and they are MASSIVE! The Peabody’s look to have been one boulder at some point which has now split into two. Grandpa Peabody is a pretty much perfect, free standing boulder, with around a 20 foot high overhanging front face to the lip and a probably a forty foot slab to the top. The front overhang is home to Jason Kehl’s epic line ‘Evilution’ (V12). We started feeling out some of the starting holds (purely for curiosity, we had no intention of trying the line!) and there’s a pretty good series of crimps with big moves in between. The guidebook says to bring “all the pads in Bishop” if you want to try this line, and I can see why! The landing may be flat, but it’s a big drop. Seriously, I’d be weary of trying some of these routes on a rope, let alone as a boulder problem. Back at the hotel later, we watched Kehl’s first ascent of the Evilution. We’re all fans of him anyway, but he certainly leapt up in our estimations after seeing that.

Buttermilks Panorama - The Peabody Boulders (Click for a Larger Version)

We carried on up through the maze of huge boulders scattered around the landscape, in search of something a touch easier than V12 to get warmed up on. Ashby had his heart set on doing a Bishop highball – Although he had been put off his initial project after seeing it, and realising it had a 5. grade instead of a V grade! They really are that high. As the light began to fade, we tried a few V0’s by torch light until it got too dark to see anymore and got far too dangerous to continue climbing. We made our way back to the hotel to prepare for our trip to the Happy Boulders the next day.

I was up and showered again by 7:15am the next morning. We needed to get an early start to stand any chance of getting some climbing in before it became to unbearably hot to do anything else. We were at (what we thought) was the right crag by around 9am, and the sun was already beating down. We made the fairly short (although it felt a lot longer in the heat) yet unstable hike up to the boulders, which unfortunately turned out to be the Sad Boulders. I found this quite fitting as that was how I felt after making that hike up. D’oh. We headed back down and long the road until we found the right spot. The approach to the Happy’s is a lot easier going, and before too long we were chilling under the Jesus Chrysler boulder, trying to cool down. We had a nice V0 to warm up on here, which thankfully at this time of the day was out of the sun. There was a huge amount of stuff within walking distance for us to try, and as a group, we worked our way round Ain’t But The One Way (V0+), Zero Roof (V0), and Chrysler Crack (VB) until we all felt warmed up and not too sapped from the sun beating down on us.

Ashby sussed out the cool looking ‘Head Banger Cave’ which had a cool looking V3 line in called ‘Beer Tumour’. Nice. There was also a V4 variant which topped out in a slightly different place. ‘Beer Tumour’ starts on a pretty large, positive finger crimp, with good foot holds. You then make a big move up and left to a sloper, bring your right hand over onto a small, sloping hold before working your feet up high. From here you move back to a sloping gastone on the edge of the roof, which you need to lay back into to match on undercling. Once you’re established here, all that remains is a relatively easy top out through good crimps. I managed to send the problem after about three or four attempts. Benny followed close behind after spending some time figuring out the tricky first few moves. Before moving on, I decided to have a quick attempt on the V4 variant, ‘Beer Tumour Right’. The start of the variant is the same, but goes off more to the right, through some bad underclings before throwing over for a good crimp and pretty solid top out. I got on the problem, feeling strong and managed to pull out a flash attempt! I was a very happy boy!

While I was slapping around in the Headbanger Cave, Ashby had scoped out his next problem, the classic highball – ‘The Pursuit of Wow’ (V0). The height of the problem, and the decided ropey landing kinda put me off straight away, so I was happy to sit back and watch the others have a play. Ashby gave it a good burn before his back started to play up again, so Benny jumped on. The holds were good, and he managed to keep himself composed enough to make another flash ascent! Certainly a braver man than I!

By now the hot weather had well and truly set in, and it was becoming uncomfortable to even move, let alone climb. We decided it was best to head back and get out of the heat for a while. We ventured back into Bishop town, had a wander round the climbing store, grabbed some lunch and went back and chilled at the hotel until it cooled off.

5pm rolled around, and we packed up our gear and headed back off to the Buttermilks. We were here earlier than the night before, however there were some considerable clouds appearing over the mountains. This meant the temperature dropped off quite quickly as the sun began to set. We didn’t really  have a plan in mind, so we parked up near the Peabody’s again and walked up towards the Smooth Shrimp/Buttocks boulder where we stumbled upon the ‘The Flake’ (V1). It’s pretty high, and there isn’t an easy way off the boulder, so it boils down to a scary downclimb. We all sent this quite quickly, and directly downclimbed rather than risking the top out. Whilst on the Flake, we noticed a rather sweet looking line on the other side of the boulder, a quick glance at the guidebook revealed it to be ‘Perfectly Chicken’ (V5). A bit of a jump up on our Buttermilks grade! We couldn’t leave it untouched though. Benny and I were soon working the tough lower moves, a crimpy traverse right, mere inches from the ground meaning that foot placements and body tension are key to avoid dabbing. Following this is the crux, a big throw up to a slopy crimper followed by a series of increasingly large crimps to the summit. We were coming close to linking through, but struggling to get established after the big throw. It was a real fight for me to keep my feet off the floor during the first moves. There was also a hard match move to a crimpy rail about three feet off the deck which was causing me some trouble. I had to keep a huge amount of body tension through this move, and lock off on my left arm (not a speciality of mine!). Time and again, a had to make a snatch move for the rail, and my arse would dab on the pad! Gah! Benny managed to make this move a few times, and began working on the big next move up to the sloping crimps. It wasn’t long until he was sticking this too, and as the light was beginning to fade, he went for one last attempt from the start. He made the move through to the rail, looking really solid. Made the throw up to the crimp, and got his hand closed – and stuck the move! Before we knew it, he was at the top of the problem and the first V5 of the trip had been sent! The guy’s a machine.

Benny on 'Perfectly Chicken' (V5)

It was getting dark now and we began to make our way back to the car. On the way past the Peabody boulders, the V4 Cave Problem I saw on the way in caught my eye. My fingers were raw by now after about four or five days on, it was pretty much pitch black but I still wanted to try. We’d picked up some cheap-and-cheerful headtouches earlier in the day and we liberally spread them around the base of the problem, illuminating the key foot and hand holds in the base of the cave. I managed to make the first few moves along the sloping rail, which included a cool heel hook and a big reach through move to a big hueco. The problem doesn’t top out, but instead finishes with a match on a rail before simply dropping back down to the ground. However, to get to said rail involves a big, dynamic move up to an shallow intermediate dish, before bumping back again to the rail. I kept falling at this move over and over, scraping my already raw tips down the face as I fell. After about four or five attempts at this, I decided to call it a night and vowed to return the next day. Besides, it was getting late, we hadn’t eaten, and Bishop seems to shut up shop pretty early. We made a quick drive back into town where managed to get a really delicious Japanese meal while we reflected on the day. Back to the hotel for 10:30 – another early night in preparation for doing it all again tomorrow…

Rest 1 |rest|verb [ intrans. ]1 cease work or movement in order to relax, refresh oneself, or recover strength : he needed to rest after the feverish activity.

Now, call me old fashioned, but I totally buy into the classic definition of rest, as noted here. I’m a traditionalist in that sense. My girlfriend however, seems to have a totally different idea. One that involves a “rest” consisting of a 12 mile hike to the top of a Yosemite big wall, in the California sunshine! To be fair, looking back in hindsight, it was a beautiful walk which afforded us a beautiful view of the Valley and Half Dome from the top of the four mile trial. However, by the time we’d arrived back at the car parked at the base of the Sentinel, none of us could claim to be rested. And there was me thinking I was getting fitter. At least we made the most of the park.

The view from the top of the four mile trail

We all, as expected, slept like logs that night, and woke up the next day feeling refreshed. Stiff, but refreshed. And certainly ready for climbing! We had quick breakfast and were in the park again for around 10 am (the conscious efforts to make early seems to have been working). We headed straight for Curry Village to attack Zorro and others from fresh! Ashby got straight on Kevin’s Traverse again and sent it first attempt! Excellent work! Snoo was making good progress on it as well – her strength has improved a huge amount and it certainly shows on a traverse such as that. After a brief warm up, Benny and I started working the V3 on the end of Kevin’s Traverse again. It was a reassuring that we managed to stick most of the moves within our first few attempts. It was a great feeling, especially after not even being able to pull off the ground the previous year. Benny, again, made short work of that problem, after figuring a sequence to the awkward, sloping top out. It took me a little longer to get the ascent, after initially making the move to the lip on one of my early attempts it took me a good while before I could link the whole thing together. While the others went to work a slab problem on the Joe’s Garage boulder, I stayed on the V3 for another few burns until finally, I managed to link the whole thing. Much to my relief.

The Joe’s Garage slab was a fairly short, yet almost totally blank face. Ashby and Benny made pretty solid progress on it, and while I shot photos, Ashby made the first ascent from the group with Benny shortly behind. Impressive stuff, and despite the V0 grade, it’s a deceptively hard problem. Snoo came close, and managed to link the tricky foot sequence at the start, but couldn’t quite make the last rock over move. Still, she did a damn sight better than me who couldn’t get off the ground…

Feeling psyched and thoroughly warmed up, it was time to try Zorro again. We set the video camera up on a rock nearby and began to clean the slopey lower holds. The key to the problem is in the very last move, the big throw up from the big triangle sloper to a lip just below the top. We had seen it done a few different ways by different people, though all seem to involve a dynamic last move. Benny had opted for a straight up dyno with a high left leg the night before and managed to stick the move (this is the V2 version of Zorro). However pulling this off after the powerful first moves would prove to be considerably harder. As Benny started off and got established on the first sloper, there was definitely some nervousness in the air, it was our last chance to get Zorro and it was the one problem we really wanted to send before leaving Yosemite. Benny climbed through the lower holds without to much trouble, we both had this bit pretty wired from previous attempts, and got established on the big flake, dug his feet in and BAM! – Stuck the move on the first attempt of the day. A great effort! I felt a fair amount of pressure on myself now to stick the move as well. Benny had the benefit of having done the move once before, so he knew that his technique worked. I didn’t have that luxury. Although I’d been fag-papers-close a few times, I’d never been able to stick the lip as a static move. Never the less, I got back on the problem, and time and again fell on the same move. Getting agonisingly close each time, but it was always just that little bit too far away. Zorro really saps the energy from you, and good yet sharp finger pocket on the triangular flake really bites after repeated attempts. Tired and frustrated I decided to leave it for a while and we went and played on some of the other boulder problems Curry Village had to offer. After about thirty minutes I felt a bit more rested and mentally ready to try the problem again. I had the start down really efficiently now, and I could get up to the crux relativity easily. After a few more attempts at the static move proved unsuccessful, I had to stop and have a rethink. It takes a while in Yosemite to learn and realise what you can use as a foothold. The granite there can be incredibly grippy and even the smallest little bump can be used effectively if you trust your feet on them. I examined the rock below the flake for a while and ticked up some potential holds for my currently trailing right foot. With my beta marks in place I went for it again. Along the rail, up to the flake, left foot placed and after some searching around right foot placed as well. I instantly felt more stable in this position and felt I could push more with my legs. Which I duly did. A combination of the big static move with a bit more of a dynamic start seemed to prove successful as, for the first time, I felt the edge of the hold with my fingertip. I didn’t hold it on this occasion, but I was instantly filled with a rush of adrenaline which occurs when I can feel an ascent is getting close. Try again. Along the rail. Onto the flake. Up to the lip. Fingertips over. Can’t hold it. Back on again. Rail. Flake. Lip. Fingertips. Can’t hold it! Gah! I stop for a drink and compose myself. Back on again. Along the rail. My fingertips are starting to hurt. Onto the flake. Dig my feet in and make the throw for the lip. This time I get it deep. My fingers lock. I’ve made the move! All that’s left is the easy top out and it’s done! I feel a mix of relief and happiness stood on top of the boulder. Things are definitely looking up. Sat on the pizza patio an hour later, I happily sip my Pepsi and give Zorro (V4) a nice big tick in the guidebook. Happy days.

Ben G working the crux move on Zorro (V4)

After a long lunch, we decide to track down another classic valley problem, the three star Great White (V1) in the Horse Trail area. This is a really unusual problem for Yosemite, with big, sloping but positive holds and pretty big throws. I made it up to the lip, but was met by a scary top out which involves hanging from a bad crimp and reaching far back for a good edge. The move itself wasn’t too hard, but it took a few bail outs to get my head into the move. Benny managed to make the top out with some deft footwork, and after a few attempts I managed it as well. Ashby came pretty close too but struggled with the big throw move up to the good jug before the top out. He can definitely get it – something to come back for!

While all these high ball antics had been going on, Snoo had been sussing out our next stop in the guidebook. We were headed to Camp 4 for the first time, to try out the three star classic Largo’s Lunge (V0). After some hiking around and me getting distracted by other problems we found it, and Snoo and Benny began working it while me and Ashby went and had a nose around of some other possible lines. Largo’s Lunge is a pretty problem with a slight lean towards being a slab. It’s a really cool looking line with two big,  diagonally stepped rails which make for a multitude of hand and footholds. If, like me, you’re one of the “long ones” (quote: Ben Sales) you can dig your left heel into a waist height hold and make a fairly easy yet powerful rock over to the lower part of the second rail. From there you can work your way up to a jug at the top and top out into a shallow dish. Definitely a classic, and one to check out if you’re in the Camp 4 area, even if it’s just for a warm up. Snoo came incredibly close, but I think mixture of fading light and fatigue from another long days climbing meant she couldn’t quite get her head into the top out.

On our travels me and Ashby stumbled across the Big Columbia boulder in the middle of the camp. Although, to be fair, you don’t really “stumble” across a boulder that size. The thing is HUGE! We stood for a while and watched a guy working the V8 classic, Midnight Lightning (thought by some to be the best boulder problem in the world). You’d need a lot of pads and spotters before even considering trying that test piece, but I’d like to give it a try one day. Perhaps. We had a more realistic goal insight on the back of the boulder – the aptly named ‘End of the Day Problem’ (V5). Considering we’d been in the park for about nine hours by this point, I thought we gave this problem a valiant attempt. The problem consists of nice series of side pulls with ok footholds, before making a big reach to a left hand crimp, a throw for a sloper and finally a dodgy mantle. Benny and I made a few good attempts, linking maybe three or four moves together, before tiredness got the better of us and we decided to call it a day. So began the long trek back to the car, stopping briefly to have a crack at the cool looking problem ‘The Sloth Left’ (V2). A nice short, powerful problem to see the day out.

And that pretty much wrapped up our time in Yosemite. It’d been great again, and although I got spat off of many of the problems time and again I will always look forward to a trip back. We had a well earned dinner in the hotel restaurant (thankfully something that wasn’t pizza or Mexican!) before hitting the sack for an early start on a long day of driving. Next stop would be Bishop, and I couldn’t wait!…

Greetings from Bishop! The B² Productions wagon rolls on. No sooner had we rolled into Yosemite then it was pretty much time to leave again. Ah well. The place is as beautiful as I remember it, and we had a weird feeling of never having been away. We also got a stark reminder of just how hard the bouldering is there. No flashing V1’s and V2’s for us – oh no! The first stop on the evening of our arrival was a trip back to Housekeeping. We’d spent a day there last year trying out various problems. We headed back to the Pathway boulder in particular as we thought it would be a good place to warm up and “get our eye in”. The boulder sports a handful of V0’s, which me and Benny managed to despatch with reletive ease on our last visit. This wasn’t to be the case this time. ‘Marco’s Edge’ (V0) proved to be a bit of a challenge this time round, but with a bit of working we managed to get it done again. Thankfully. Snoo was feeling a lot more jubilant though with an ascent of her project from the year before – the two star problem, People Pleaser Face (V0) I have to admit that it didn’t exactly fill me with confidence for the rest of our time in the Valley. Ben and I both had our sights set on the Curry Village classic ‘Zorro’ (V4), and getting spat of a V0 repeatedly doesn’t real do much for the mindset…

Us in front of the mighty El Cap!

The next day, after a couple of good meals and a good night’s rest we were back in the park and ready for action! Our first stop was to find the Presidential Boulder for a warm up. This location had alluded us last time. Due to road closures etc we had to come at the boulder from a different direction, which proved to be more difficult than anticipated, so the trip was abandoned. This time round, we found it pretty much straight away. It was definitely worth the effort trying to find it! The entire boulder is pretty much all classic, V0 problems including a V1 traverse of the entire length of the boulder, with one hard crux move at the start. It was a lot of fun! From here we went made our way along to another sight which we visited last year: The Sentinal boulders. Again, we had some unfinished business here. Snoo and I both failed on the arête problem Doorknocker (V0). I’m glad we revisited there, as it went to show that nine months of climbing and training has really paid off, as we both managed it with ease! Hurrah! The previous evenings doubts were begin to clear. Ben and I started working the traverse extension of doorknocker (V3), and as often happens, we managed to do all the moves in two halves but couldn’t quite link the problem. It gives us something to come back to at least! Ashby managed an impressive feat, climbing a pretty blank slab on the back of the midget boulder. Something none of the rest of us managed! It looks like you can just walk up it, but it’s really pretty damn tricky! Nice work.

From here we went to one of the other boulders which, to my definition at least, is a pretty atypical Yosemite boulder, with big, good holds and big throws. It was here that I managed to send my first Yosemite V3 – A very short and powerful, unnamed problem. I was really psyched from here, and feeling good. We all had a lot more success on this boulder and were keen to capitialise on this further.

After a quick lunch stop, we headed for Curry Village – home of mine and Benny’s project: Zorro. When we got there found a lot of the village was taped off, for reasons unexplained! However, five minutes or so of hiking around revealed that the important boulders where easily accessible! Phew! We started to re-warm up on a cool, two star, roof traverse problem called Kevin’s Traverse (V0). Benny and I also started playing on another V3 problem which we tried (but really couldn’t touch) on our previous visit. It didn’t take long for us to get into gear, and I was itching to try Zorro. We’d had a look at it before, but hadn’t really been able to get anywhere with it. After a bit of experimentation and a quick costume change on my part (the heel on my Anasazi Slippers wasn’t up to the task, so I had to cram my feet into my Evolv Optimus Primes) we’d managed to link together the start of the problem up to the flake. From here, we deicided to just try the big, crux move upto the lip. As often happens because of the height, Benny and I went at this two different ways. Benny with a dyno and I was trying to static the long move from the flake to the top. In the end, Benny’s technique proved successful, as he stuck the move from a standing start. By this point the mind were will, but the bodies really weren’t. Zorro totally sucks at your energy (and stabs at your finger tips) so we decided to call it a day. Tomorrow would be a rest day, although it would turn out to be anything but…

Ben on Zorro, originally uploaded by B² Productions.

Greetings from Yosemite! We had a great and intense day bouldering yesterday. It was a stark reminder how sharp the granite is here, and how hard the problems are! It’s a different ball game all together! Despite this, we still had a great time, and we all came away with a feeling of achievement (and of course – sore tips! Ouch!). We managed to find the Presidential Boulder this time round, and warmed up there, before hitting the Sentinals and Curry Village.

Today is a rest day, but we’ll be (hopefully) heading up the four mile trail to get some great views of the valley!

We’ve added a few select images to the Gallery – check ‘em out!

We’re finally here! As I write this, we’re soaking up the sunshine on the I-205 en route to Yosemite! It feels good to be back in California – it’s like we’ve never been away. The flight to San Francisco was long, grueling and tiring but exciting in equal measure. We’re now on our second full day here, and desperately fighting the jet lag. On the first day we were all wide awake at 4am. Snoo and I decided to head out and explore SF in the early hours by walking down to the bay from the middle of town (we were staying on Powell street). The city is a totally different place at that time. Fresh and cool, and pretty much deserted with the exception of the early rising food service business and the impressive amount of down-and-outs (for want of a better word) who seem to flock to the city in droves.

After the walk, we discovered that Benny and Ashby had pretty much been up at the same time without us knowing, so we decided to get an early start, not least because we had to be down at Fisherman’s Wharf for or 10:30am boat to Alcatraz. We went for breakfast at a place called Roxanne’s, a cafe which we’d visited on our last trip to the city, before catching the Cable Car down to the wharf. Fisherman’s Wharf before 9am is still very quiet (which made a nice change), and we amused ourselves with some sunglasses shopping and browsing though the shops sport their “exquisite” wares (trust me, their words NOT mine! I really don’t think a 12 foot high wooden horse garden ornament could ever be labelled exquisite. At least I hope it wouldn’t). We got in line for the boat to over to Alcatraz island, they sun by now beating down, and I was finally starting to feel in holiday mode!

If you ever get the chance, and you have even the remotest interest in history, go on the Alcatraz tour. It’s great! The audio cellhouse tour is really worth the journey over from the city. With narration and stories from both guards and inmates alike, it was an easily digestible and interesting way to experience the prison. We visited the prison on a warm sunny day in May, but it didn’t take much imagination to guess how uncomfortable and depressing a place it must have been for the inmates held there. Certainly an eye opening experience.

After the boat ride back, we had lunch on one of the piers before Ashby had the bright idea of hiring bikes. But not just any old bikes – Oh no. TANDEM bikes. After a bit of initial skepticism this turned out to be a really great and funny idea! Ashby and I teamed up on a tandem bike and the sight of two slightly uncoordinated, 6 foot plus guys riding along the beach front seemed to be hugely entertaining to the population of San Francisco, and they weren’t shy in letting us know this either! As we headed along the beach, onto and over Golden Gate bridge, we were greeted by a number of smiles, waves and “damn-you-guys-are-crazy!” comments. Good times! Riding over the Golden Gate bridge was a mixed experience. The bridge itself is a hugely impressive structure, and we had a great view from on top, out left to the Pacific and right back over the sprawl of the city. On the flip side, it was equally terrifying. Trying to maneuver a tandem along a cycle path eight feet wide at best with people on much lighter faster bikes hurtling towards you is pretty sobering. All the more so when you have a massive drop, far too close for comfort. I’m really glad to have done it though! We were all starting to feel the effects of the uncomfortable saddles (something which is still bothering me now, I might add!) so we decided to take the shorter option back of riding down through Sausilito and taking the ferry back. Sausilito is a beautiful little place on the opposite side of the bay to San Francisco, with huge houses set high into the hills – I didn’t look, but I’m gonna go out on a limb and hazard a guess that real estate there doesn’t come cheap. Sadly.

Snoo and Benny had, by this point, made a lot of ground on us, so Ashby and I were left cruising down the bayside main road of Sausilito. As we neared the ferry port, I spotted something which I had to stop and investigate further! I slammed on the brakes and a mere three minutes later we’d ground to a halt in front of the, erm, studio I guess, of the massively talented and friendly rock balancer Bill Dan. Bill has been a contact of mine on Flickr for a while now, and his work never fails to impress me. I was lucky enough to get to see it in real life. I introduced myself and we stood and chatted about rock balancing and photography (something else which he’s none too shabby at!), and he let me down on to the rocks to photograph his balances. They really are incredible – check out his website!

All that was left to do now, was get a well deserved ice cream before taking the ferry back across and do the final stretch to the bike hire place. Oh, and of course the John Wayne style walk back to the Cable Car stop! Ow!

…and that pretty much brings us back to now. Weaving through the Yosemite valley on our way to the Cedar Lodge and our first dose of bouldering for this trip. I’m sorry if you came here after a few stories of V10 on-sights and scary crimpy highballs, only to be greeted by a rambling tale of a couple of idiots on a bike. I promise to make the next entry more climbing related. Honest.

DISCLAIMER: Due to internet access restrictions, these posts might be a bit out of date. We’re trying to keep them as current as possible! I hope you enjoy them.

We’re nearly there! On Friday we’ll be off on our epic America roadtrip! I can’t believe it – it doesn’t seem real. I thought I would give everyone a few details. Below is a map of our trip – it works out to around 3,500+ miles (well, that part of it at least, there is a little bit more (but it’s a bit out of the way on the east coast) but this makes up the bulk of it…

A rough map of our road trip! (Click for a larger view)

For those that don’t know the area, the route pretty much runs lie this, across a six or seven week period: Fly to San Francisco > Yosemite > Bishop > Palm Springs > Phoenix > Hueco Tanks > Santa Fe > Boulder > Moab > Joe’s Valley > Las Vegas > Joshua Tree > Santa Barbara > San Francisco > Fly to Boston > The Gunks > NYC > El Paso > London. Phew! It’s gonna be a long trip, certainly the longest we’ve ever done, and it’s going to be amazing! We’ll be touching on a few of the places that we went to last year, but they are all amazing, beautiful, perfect locations so it really doesn’t matter! We’ve been scouring guidebooks, and topos for months now, getting psyched and putting together a huge ticklist of classic problems that we want to do (or at least, attempt).

Internet access permitting, we’ll be keeping you up to date (or perhaps, making you sick as a dog!) through here, with the intention of putting together some video blogs of what we’ve been up to on our rest/growing skin back days! So, please keep checking back, read and leave comments if you feel inclined. Also, I may have mentioned this before, but if all is quiet here, check out our Twitter profile, which we can update more regularly/remotely with any news and progress.

Right, I’d better go and attempt to get my suitcase closed (much as I love my new, bomb proof tripod, it is a rather hefty!) and do some tidying up before it’s online check-in time! I’ve just put on one of my many roadtrip compilations I’ve made top get me in the mood!

Speak to ya soon! xx

Ben G scored his first font 7a at the Craggy Island, Sutton yesterday. It was made up of a really tricky starting dyno (though, much to the surprise of some of the staff, Ben managed to static it!) followed by a huge dyno to a rail and a scary but positive ending.
If you’re going to Craggy Sutton in the next few weeks, give it a go. It’s on black holds in the competition room, just to the left of the roof. We caught it on film, so we’ll be posting it here soon, I’m sure.