February 23, 2008

Reunion



I've been around, oh you know it's true, and Bishop is easily in my list of top five most magical places in the world. The high desert, the snow, the boulder for scaling, god damn, I love it. Guess where I spent last weekend? Seeing old friends, climbing old rocks. Who've we got, a list:
  • Justin, bear tracker, all around great guy, living at home.
  • Peter, tall, funny, gangly, and tall.
  • Shannon, finally putting that MS in Aeronautical Engineering from Stanford to good use, that is to say, no longer working in a climbing gym (but still living at home, ha).
  • John, our lovely photographer, a gentleman's gentleman, with the demeanor of an English valet.
But in terms of sendage, there was some love coming from the rocks. Peter got 2/3 of his projects (goes to show what can be accomplished when you don't set your sights too high? Breathed air, the trip was a success). Shannon had a five minute epic flash of the Arch Druid (V5), as seen in the photo below. Justin...I think he got Soul Slinger (V8/9), but I'm not too sure because I was too busy being into myself.

Why's that? Because I was the star of the trip of course, absconding with Already Forgotten, my second V11. It's a traverse in the Cave Boulder in the Buttermilks, long, kneebars, my style. I also did Devoted, a V9 slab, because that's just how I am. But the photo of the trip belongs to me. Climbing the Leary-Bard Arete (V5), looking grizzled, looking good. By the way, check out how hardcore I am these days. Wouldn't want to run into that in a dark ally, now would you?

Think I'm biased? take a look at other takes on the trip here and here, two shameless ripoffs of my blog template.

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2 comments:

J V said...

sweet photos.

Mandi said...

You are seriously lacking in confidence Alan. I'm worried about you.