The Happys

Well, I don't think Bishop was as entirely successful for me as it could have been. I had a zero trip altogether except the vBs... which is a little depressing, but then again, I never tried a v1, and the only v0 I tried was on the second day and involved a very long reach, which was the only part I couldn't get. Which sucked. Alright, first day goes like this: We awake. It's 10am. After enjoying the sleeping in, which I had not done in a while, we headed to the Vons. Why Vons, you ask? Because my finger was all pussy and infected from having moved furniture the day before. I scraped it open on the textured outside wall of my roomies apartment as I was helping move a couch down the stairs. So, I began the weekend with the worse cut I would get the whole time. So, after swabbing with some purchased alchohol swabs, we were on our way to the Happys.

This was my first time, so, having not seen much or heard hardly anything about the area, I recalled a picture of Taryn on Monkey Hang, and we headed over there. The warm-up boulder nearby was nice, and made the only climbs of my day. Note: Monkey Hang is a roof climb. It is burly. And the reach I ended up having to do was backwards from the way Obi did it, so that took many tries to figure out. (Reminder to self... reach for the lip with your RIGHT hand). Many tries of hanging by my arms alone, with no feet. So, I was a little tired by the time I figured out what I needed to do. And I still couldn't make the move.

Next we went to this little v2 that Obi liked. I couldn't pull the v2 move though, which involves pulling ones body over a bulge. Afer about 10 tries (maybe more) I was getting even more tired and frustrated, so we moved on again. Then we encountered Solarium (v3) which had a really fun bottom part to it, most of which I did in approach shoes. Unfortunately, when I put on climbing shoes, I only was able to add one move. Then there's a big move to the lip, which I couldn't reach without a full-on dyno. And I suck at dynos... so, that was over. However, when we first approached the climb, there was a guy standing there, looking at it. We asked if we could work in on it, and he said yeah. He was actually losing motivation and really needed help. His girlfriend was having a low motivation day and he wanted us to stay. We hadn't eaten lunch yet, and invited him to hang out and eat with us, then we'd work the problem. While we were eating, we began chatting. Obi asked him where he was from. Turns out it was San Diego. Where? Santee. What did he do for a living? Computer science at UCSD. He had worked with some people at SIO too, out on the ships that I have sailed on. Craziness! So, we ended up climbing with him for Solarium and...

Then, we moved over to my favorite climb of the whole trip: The Hulk (v6). Out of sheer curiosity I hopped on. On the second try, I sailed up the bottom of the problem, smooth as butter. I loved it! I couldn't make the v6 move, but I was close, and I think if I came up to it first, I could put a pretty good try in. I can see why it's a world class problem. There's a little bit of everything in it. Smooth flow, hard pinch, toe hook (or heel hook), big, careful move back, big move onto a huge swing. Ooh, it's just so sweet. And the best part was, I figured out all the moves on my own. I was actually projecting something with Obi too, which was so much fun. Unfortunately, his knees have been bothering him lately, and he had to stop because of the heel hook (which I have decided every climb in the Happys except Solarium requires). Another couple wandered over and started working the problem too, and it was so much fun to see different people of different strengths climbing it. Never got to see somebody stick the big move to the lump you swing on, but it was great anyways. So that was really it for me. My fingers hurt, and we wandered around a little to try and find Obi some stuff to really tire him out on. That ended up being a traverse along the rim of the canyon, which was pretty sweet, but really sharp!

Alas, we were exhausted and our finger tips would take no more, so we headed into town for a feast of Taco Bell. That's right, I said it. Neither of us really wanted to cook, so that's where we went. We stopped by the outdoor sports place (that I can't remember the name of) too, and I picked up a camera bag and a really cheep fleece neck warmer (I left mine in Alaska...). So, after our feast of Taco Bell, it was back to the Pit, the crash pad bed, and off to dreamland under the beautiful snow-capped Sierras and a sky full of stars. It was a great and wonderful day.