I went to Bishop again for a couple of days. It was a fun trip and the weather was perfect. I stayed between Wednesday night and Saturday morning, spending two days in the Buttermilk area and one in the Happy Boulders.

What I wanted to climb on this trip was High Plains Drifter (V7) but I caught a cold and wasn’t feeling strong. I fell at the last hard move a couple of times and called it quits. My friend wanted to try Seven Spanish Angels, so we went there and gave it a few good burns. It was getting dark, and I could not commit to the final dynamic move.

I climbed a few easier problems, including a flash of a V5 called “Son of Claudius Rufus” just because it was near the Hulk. It seemed easy to me, I would not have rated it B5. I also climbed some easy highballs just to improve my mental game.

I tried to film a problem called Go Granny Go (V5) at the Grandma Peabody boulder. It’s quite popular because it doesn’t get high off the ground, and it’s almost always in the shade. I couldn’t aim my GoPro camera correctly because it doesn’t have a screen, so you can’t see the jug at the end. A jug is a jug is a jug. Anyway, I have this problem wired so I use it to gauge if I’m feeling strong enough for harder ones.

Some thoughts from this trip just for myself:

1) Never boulder three days in a row, no matter what. After 40 this is flirting with injury, and it’s not even fun.
2) For my next trip to Bishop, go for quantity. Try to get on as many good problems as possible within my ability, and don’t spend many burns on any particular one. Bishop is too long of a drive to have long-term projects, and I can only go there maybe 3-4 times a year.
3) Try to avoid weekends in Bishop during peak bouldering season. The place on Saturday felt like a climbing gym, complete with dogs and screaming babies. At the very least, try to go off the beaten track.