Well Folks here are the last of my Bishop climbing photos... :( Its kinda sad, I know, but I now have deep roots in Bishop so these are only the last photos for now! 

The last month and a half of my Bishop climbing trip was mostly spent in the Owens River Gorge. The Gorge is such an awesome place, there are four main sections: The Lower Gorge, Central, Inner, and the Upper Gorger. And all of them have there own different style of climbing. The Central has big holds, steep walls and small crimps. And the Inner Gorge is similar. But the Upper Gorge is quite different. In the Upper Gorge you will find more crack systems, slabs, and thin vertical routes. It is much more "foot work intensive" and you need a little more technique then the Central and Inner Gorge. The rock is more polished and solid and can be almost a little slick due to the pressure when it was formed. 

The Owens River Gorge is such a great place because it has all styles of climbing and all levels of climbing as well, everything from 5.6 to 5.13c! I fell in love with the place and could not spot climbing there, I pretty much stopped bouldering and just climbing sport for the last month of the trip, and Im glad I did so because I met so many cool people and climbed so many great routes. 

These photos were taken by my friend Guinn, he is one of the coolest cats I met on the trip and helped me out in so many ways. If you read this Guinn, thank you so so much! It was a pleasure meeting you and hope to climb with you again. If you ever take a trip to Alaska, call me up and you have a place to stay for sure. And I will contact you when I start planning my next climbing trip!! :) 

Well Check out the photos, the last of the 2012-2013 Bishop climbing trip! 

Its really hard to say because there are so many great 5.10s in the Gorge, But... this might just be the best 5.10 there. Why? Because it has every style of climbing: Starts on a thin technical slab, moves to a sweet crack system (shown above), then goes up this head wall on jugs and crimps, and finishes on a sweet dihedral!!! And the rock is perfect, not sharp and just enough grit to give it some good friction. It is beyond awesome. Its called Lava Haul 5.10c. 

This route did it all for me... ( Wooly Bugger 5.12d)... It was the most beautiful line I saw in the Gorge (thats why I even thought of getting on it). It was the hardest route I climbed, fit my style perfectly, it was one of the longest single pitch climbs I got to climb (over 100 feet long), and it was a great confidence booster because at the time I was looking to much at the grades of the climb and not what stood out to me. I had no idea I could climb 5.12d, but when I sad "forget the grades and climb what looks intriguing and ascetic to you" thats when climbing became less anxious and challenging, and more fun and liberating! 

The crack system on Lava Haul.
I like this pose Im in here, you gotta bend and shape your body with the rock otherwise things feel really hard and your feet don't stay on the wall. 

Ha pretty epic I know.. Hahaha.
Here Im eyeing the two finger pocket that leads you into the crux!! It is such a great pocket and  you can almost get you full finger in it. Its amazing how it formed like that, right before the crux and with out it, the route would seem imposable... Its funny how climbing routes work, there is just the perfect amount of hold to get to the top and they are all so different. Its endless the type of hold you can find outside. 

Cool stitching of some awesome Photos. Thanks again Guinn for taking and putting these photos together. Means a lot to me :) 

Lava Haul again. 

So this is right after the first crux, you get this big flat ledge thing that Im hanging onto  in the photo above. And you can get quite a good rest there. Then it goes straight into the next crux which is a little easier but there is still potential for falling.  The second crux is about six moves and requires a extremely high step with the right foot. If I dint practice Yoga, I would probably think that was the crux of the route. 

Lava Haul :) Great color in this picture. 

Thought id throw this in. That is Mike on Seven Spanish Angles v6, and me spotting him. Cool photo, nice color and such a beautiful boulder!! 

AHHH! This is great, a good look from a distance at Lava Haul. Where I am at in this photo is only a third of the way up! This route was very long which was nice because you would be on the wall for like ten minutes. it just keep going!


Well there you have it. The last of the photos, maybe ill find some more that I think are cool and post them. So check up every once in a while. And also, Im going to change the name of the blog to just Dylan's Climbing Blog or something because im going to post video and photos of Juneau climbing now!!

THE BLOG IS NOT DEAD!!! So keep checking up when you get a chance. There will me lots of climbing to be had this summer, and not just rock climbing, also glacier and mountain climbing aslo!!! So get ready for some new adventures because just that im not in Bishop does't mean I wont be doing what I love. In fact I think Juneau has great potential for good climbing. I know there are some mega classic boulders hidden in the deep woods that are just waiting to be found! and Im going to search and search till I find them ... Wish me luck.

Thank you guys for the all the support and it means so much to me that you guys like the blog and were psyched on how things were going on my trip. It feels good to know that there are people who dig this stuff.
Thanks again and GET OUT THERE AND ENJOY THE WILD AND FREEDOM OF YOUR OWN ADVENTURES!!!