Immediately, we invited ourselves to Robert’s house. He and his guest were already in Bishop at that time and were planning to return to the Bay Area on Saturday, but they stayed one more day for us after receiving our “notification” about our arrival. Tim secured a rental car that would be waiting for us at the Bishop airport. All set! At 7am on Saturday morning, we were in the air. Since Debby had flown a plane (a different one) before , she was appointed the co-pilot. It only took us one hour and fifteen minutes to get there. Out of the plane, loaded the car, stopped by the Kava coffee shop (Our pilot Tim needed to wake up), unloaded our sleeping gear at Robert’s house, and there we were, the Central Gorge parking lot. The weather was perfect — so perfect that I was comfortable climbing in my tank top the whole day, which was nice because I made an effort to be color coordinated: red bracelet, red necklace, red tank top, red harness, and red fleece shirt. Yep, I became one of those sport climbers my trad climber friends always laughed at. It was fun

On Saturday, we scattered around Pub Wall, Faulty Tower, and Negress Wall, and walked out of the Gorge in the fading light. Climbing was awesome, but the day was just getting better. Robert had left the Gorge earlier. When we returned to the house, there was wine, veggies, and Robert’s authentic Italian dish, Risotto, waiting for us on the table. I dove into my bowl and did not emerge again until the last piece of rice was sent into my mouth. Oh now I wish there were such delicious food waiting for me after every day of climbing. After eating, the four of us spoiled were not ready to go to bed yet, so we made a trip to town where we had even more food and Ben&Jerry ice cream (chocolate flavor). Sitting in the Mexican restaurant, we had an intellectual discussion about our scabs, a result of climbing. Do you know the difference between a gobi, a cack (or kack? Who knows the spelling?), and a strawberry (oops, should be a raspberry)?

Sunday morning, Robert left for the Bay Area before we woke up. But we didn’t linger; instead, we loaded our sleeping gear into the plane and paid a visit to the famous bakery, Schats. Oh, the cinnamon roll was so good. Wish I could move to Bishop. We did some climbing in the Upper Gorge — warmed up at All You Can Eat area, and then moved to Gotham City area. The day ended with us climbing Grindrite (5.11b). I had to single that out because my onsight lead surprised me. It made me so happy that I couldn’t feel my weight on the steep hike out of the Gorge.

On our way back, there seemed to be weather all around us, but not on our course. Either we were really lucky, or we got an awesome pilot (and co-pilot too). Or maybe both.

Photos: All the photos have been uploaded to my album. They were even captioned. Check them out.

6 AM, my alarm went off, and I had barely slept (at least it felt that way), but I didn’t want to miss out any activity at the camp now that I was so close by. I showed up at the camp when half of the people were up — it was the camp’s rest day. There were six people working for the camp: Lynn Hill (sponsor and organizer), Brad Lynch (organizer and chef), Craig Luebben (guide), Bernd Zeugswetter (guide), Jim Hurst (video cameraman), Jen (camp assistant), and there were four clients of us: J.T. from Ohio, Kim from Toronto, Ron from Arizona, and me. Lynn’s two year old son Owen and her friend Amy also spent the few days with us at the camp.

The five days went by fast. We went to Windy Wall area (near Buttermilks) for an anchor and self-rescue class by Craig on Wednesday. Thursday found us in Owens River Gorge on Warm Up Wall and Social Platform sport climbing, to supplement which, Friday was spent back at the Windy Wall area on slabby climbs and crack climbs. Bouldering leisurely at Happys made me very happy on Saturday. And then on Sunday, knowing that it was my last day at the camp and I did not need to preserve my strength any more, Lynn kept putting me on harder and harder routes until I couldn’t hang on any longer, which didn’t actually take that long.

Physically worked during the days, we were mentally entertained in the evenings. During my stay, I watched Lisa Rand present an amusing and impressive slideshow, and I admired the beautiful pictures Craig took on his Cuba and China trips as well as at his home turf, Vedauwoo, Wyoming. The cover photo in the new Climbing Magazine (April 2005) was taken by him. Lynn showed me a photo collection throughout her life along with some multimedia slideshows on her computer. Jim impressed us with his superb slacklining technique — he was spinning 3 hula-hoops while slacklining! Check out the movie Return2Sender, and you will find him there. Even if you are not so into slacklining, you will be thrilled by the crack climbing segment, Parallelojams starring top-notch climber and comedian Timmy O’Neil and his friends. It’s plain hilarious.

Kim was lucky enough to celebrate her birthday during the camp. Out in the desert, Brad managed to put together a beautiful and delicious chocolate birthday cake. However, the highlight was the piñata. If you don’t know what that is, here is what I observed that night — a cardboard doll, the piñata, sealed with goodies was hung on a tree. Kim was blindfolded, and handed a giant Big Bro (a piece of protection gear used by climbers that resembles a metal tube. It was invented by Craig.). She was spun multiple times and then was instructed by the crowd to walk towards the piñata. Now, she raised the tube and smashed it into the doll like a mad woman, the reason being she needed to beat the doll apart so that the goodies could fall out. Please remember that she was blindfolded the whole time, and the piñata was hung by a string to the tree and span and swung like crazy. It was hard work and took her more than a hundred swings before the doll completely fell apart. I felt lucky that I was not the birthday girl (yes, I changed my mind).

Even though we were out in the desert, the meals we ate were better than what I eat at home. From breakfast to dinner, Brad impressed us with his professional cooking. The fish he cooked was the best I’d ever had in my life. Even now, the tenderness and the taste still linger between my teeth.

I probably should stop babbling (even though I could go on and on) because I want to show you many photos from this camp. If you ask me whether the trip was worth the effort (9 hours of driving each way by myself), the time (3 days off of work), and the investment, I will answer you without any hesitation — Oh yes! I had a wonderful time and that is all that counts. For more information about the camp, click here. If you have any question regarding the camp for which you want an answer from an ex-participant, please do not hesitate to contact me (find my email address on my home page).

Meet the camp

Following photos were all taken by Craig. He got such good eye. For more of his photos, please visit his photo gallery.

Lynn contemplates…	Owen wonders…
Brad makes the most delicious mussle dish.	And also the most delicious fish dish.
Bernd concentrates on staying on the line.	Still concentrating on staying on, but on the rock this time, he sends Saigon (V7) at Buttermilks.
Jim spends seven days behind the video recorder.	And he is also really good at this.
Our three instructors show their beautiful smiles in the hole.	And now, let me take you to the other side of the hole.
Jen has fun on the slackline.	Lisa and Wills, a happy couple bonded in climbing.
Kim makes a wish.	And then she blows.
J.T. shows off his muscles.	Ron finds holding a beer helps balance.
Mei attentively belays.	Amy equally attentively belays.
One day, it got really cold. So I hid under a sleep bag when I was not climbing.	But under the bag was more than just me.

Can you have it all?

I had committed to this trip more than a month ago. But as the date approached, the knot in my stomach grew bigger and bigger. It would be my first time taking a trip in a private plane. I had known Tim, the pilot as well as one of my regular indoor climbing partners, for a while and trusted his experience and judgement, to which Dave, another climbing partner of ours and an old friend of Tim’s, attested eagerly. However, during the week before the trip, I found myself checking the weather forecast every hour, which was not helping to ease my anxiety at all because overcast and rain was forecasted for the weekend. I have been looking forward to this trip for weeks, but now I secretly hoped Tim would cancel because of the weather. Well, he didn’t, although he did mention a possibility to cut the trip short by returning on Sunday morning. Hmmm… he might consider cancel if I laid a guilt trip on him — “Tim, isn’t it a little expensive to fly the plane out just for one day of climbing?” “Mei, I can cut you some slack if expense is an issue.” — *sigh* since the expense was not an issue, the trick didn’t work.

6:45 AM on Saturday morning, I arrived at the hanger at Hayward airport where Tim’s plane was parked. I met Kevin and Rodney, both Tim’s old-time friends, at the plane. It was overcast, but surprisingly calm. By 7:30 AM, we were in the air. No drama, and not even a bump. Hmmm… not bad, not bad at all. The plane climbed up to 16,000 feet, from which altitude we admired the beauty of the Sierra. Many landmarks in Yosemite National Park were clearly recognizable. An hour and half later, we landed in Bishop, sunny and warm. It made me suspect that weathermen are pessimists. Oh, did I mention that the landing was the smoothest I had ever experienced in my life? Robert, another friend from our climbing gym, was already waiting for us at the airport. After dumping our sleeping gear at his house in Bishop, we set off for the central Owens River Gorge. We climbed leisurely and by the time, which was around 4 PM, most people were pumped out, I had gotten six wonderful climbs under my belt (see Appendix: Routes and Beta).

I didn’t want to spend too many words talking about climbing because there was something else more important to talk about — the BBQ party at Robert’s house. Tim and Robert took over the kitchen and the grill, and the rest of us provided moral support while constantly nibbling here and there. This was one moment when I wished I had learned English as my native language — my vocabulary fell short in describing how delicious the grilled salmon, tuna, shrimps, and assorted vegetables were. Well, actually I was too busy eating to describe anything. We even had a cherry pie as dessert! A hot shower washed away a day’s sweat before I crawled into my bed. Can a climbing trip get any better than this?

I rose on Sunday morning feeling that my weekend was already perfect regardless what we would do, or not do, on Sunday. Breakfasting at Kava Cyber cafe, Tim checked the latest weather data and decided that we should get in the air before 1 PM in order to make it back home before the storm front hit the path. Oh, we could even get some more climbing in? That was a bonus! Within 2 hours, I led 3 climbs (see Appendix: Routes and Beta).

At 1 PM, we were in the air as planned. The wind on the ground made me nervous for a little while, but again, the takeoff reassured me of Tim’s skills. We put on the oxygen masks and stayed at 16,000 feet for more than half an hour where the air was calm and clear above the puffy clouds. However, we had to descend into the clouds and rain and gusty wind when we neared the Bay Area. Just before landing, Tim assessed the situation as of 5.10b difficulty. My heart almost jumped out of my throat — “Tim, are you a solid 5.10b leader?” Well, if Tim had struggled, it was not perceivable to me because again it was a perfect landing. (p.s. Later, after having done it and comparing notes, he downgraded it to 5.9.) A little after 3 PM, I was already home enjoying a hot shower.

Two hours later, feeling hungry, I got in the car planning to go get some food from a restaurant 5 minutes away. The car failed to start — I had forgotten to turn off the headlights when I got home. The AAA mechanic jump-started my car and told me to go for a drive for 30 to 45 minutes. I drove on HW101 South not having a destination in mind. It was pouring outside of the car and despite the hard work of my wiper, the rain formed a sheath of water on the windshield. I sat up straight and held my breath, more nervous than any moment during the entire trip. I couldn’t help pondering its implication — you just can’t have it all!

Climbing photos

– I wish I had taken more photos of everyone climbing, but I was too busy climbing. Kevin has taken some very cool photos. Please scroll down.

Hiking down the Gorge.	Tim hugging Heart of the Sun (5.9)
Mei touring Tsing Tao (5.10a) (It’s really a coastal city in China).

BBQ

Robert and Tim take BBQing as an art, and they sure perfect it.
Tim has to have wine when he cooks. I’m glad that he can do without when he flys.	Excuse me, Kevin, what are you doing? Work is not allowed here.

Flight and View

Hey, it was my first time. I had to take a photo in front of the plane no matter how cheesy the pose looked.	Here is the dashboard. What do you think? I don’t even know which dial or meter to look at.
Somewhere in the Sierra. Sawtooth Ridge is right in the middle of the picture.	The clouds looked so soft.
I think this is Mount Tom. This is the view of it from Bishop. Don’t you want to live there?	I don’t know anything about planes. I just thought the coloring of this one was kinda cool.

Photos from Kevin

A reflection of our plane in the mirror under the right wing. Pretty cook, eh?	Marty Lewis, the author of the guidebook to Owens. They were putting up a route to the left of the Great Wall of China. Back breaking work, it looked like.
The same mountain, Mt. Tom, but it looks more beautiful in Kevin’s camera.	And the same statement goes to this air shot of the sierra.

Appendix: Routes and Beta

I led all these climbs except one (Peking Duck). Worth mentioning (worth bragging). All the routes listed here are bolted.