Weekend 5.11+ Sport Climbing / Juniper Creek Canyon; Bishop CA 4/30/17 (Day II)

After a phenomenal day at the Upper Gorge we returned to camp for victory kabobs over the fire and electrolytes.  I never quite realized it, but my belay gloves are evidently bull wrestling gloves, they're not climbing specific at all, and coincidently they are just the right item for grabbing your skewer by the balls!  Sunday we went to Juniper Creek Canyon, a colder cleaner environment entirely when compared to the Gorge.  Jeremy got the lead on a proud looking 10+ bolted crack climb near the dihedrals area.  In standard fashion Greg jumped a letter grade onto an 11+ face climb with crimpy sidepulls the entire way up.  I pulled down on the route on a top rope but soon found my forearms and biceps in a state of pain.  Later that day Greg lead a recently developed route called Mustache Ride, taking a whipper into the wall near the top.  No injuries to report.  After cleaning this route we called it a weekend, but not before a well-deserved dinner stop at Walker Burger, definitely beta if you are making the home stretch drive from Bishop to Reno.  Because this particular location seemed beyond me I have not done a review of the area, but if you send solid 5.11 this is world class granite in a beautiful setting, see for yourself below.

Weekend 5.11+ Sport Climbing / Owens River Gorge; Bishop CA 4/29/17 (Day I)

Late April I had the exceptional opportunity of joining Greg Cooper (Nursing Student) and Jeremy Fries (Mechanical Engineer), of Reno NV, on a weekend of high-level sport climbing down in Bishop, CA.  We left Reno Friday night and made it to our camp site near Owens River Gorge at about 1030PM amidst 20MPH winds and freezing temps.  Saturday morning our stove proved nonfunctional, and so, without the aid of climbing coffee, we set out for the Upper Gorge.  We hiked into the Gorgeous Towers and arrived at about 10AM warming up on the Gorgeous Arete, a classic 5Star 5.10 climb characterized by good edges, exposure, and good protection.  Greg really lead the charge all weekend, jumping from 5.10 to 5.11+ by 11AM with the route, Nothin But Trouble, a 4Star vertical face climb, crimpy at the bottom, pumpy further up, finish on slab.  Greg and Jeremy climbed and cleaned 3 more 10's/11's before the days end.  Later we visited Cinderella, a 5Star 5.9 stemming climb, 100FT, with really good movement, that was my one lead for the weekend hahha.  On our way out Greg noticed a clean looking 12+ overhanging climb with a sizeable 5FT roof mantle towards the top, while not able to complete the route the effort was very impressive to see.  Day two was spent at Pine Creek Canyon, to follow in the next post.

Personal Review of Area : Rock/Climb Quality 10/10 - Size 10/10 - Accessibility 8/10
Public Information : https://tinyurl.com/moom49m 
Approx. Location : https://tinyurl.com/lnxwgu5
Contact Info @ Bottom of Page.

Half Day Sport Climbing / Dinosaur Rock; Carson City NV 4/24/17

Late April Amanda and I choose to do some moderate sport climbing visiting Dinosaur Rock to for the grades and the convenience.  We started on the Dead Man's Rappel which was just as enjoyable as always.  Afterward, we scrambled above the overflowing creek to get to the East Face and climb on The Evolution of Man (5.8).  The crux of this particular route involves a reachy move off a good sidepull at the top of the route.  Easy if you've done it before, but not so easy if your reach is less.  After a safe day out on somewhat chossy granite we got a late lunch with Craig Black and gave him a warm farewell before his move to the bay.

Personal Review of Area : Rock/Climb Quality 5/10 - Size 3/10 - Accessibility 10/10
Public Information : http://tinyurl.com/hr7dqr8
Approx. Location : http://tinyurl.com/hs36fz6
Contact Info @ Bottom of Page.