Buttermilk Boulders, Bishop (California)

We left Death Valley and headed west towards the Sierra Nevada. Our destination: Bishop.

We visited Bishop in 2021, but were only able to stay a little over two days. But it was enough to make us fall in love with the place and promise to return when we have more time. We (mainly me) had originally planned to stay in Bishop for 10 days, but during the trip we had to change a few things here and there, so in the end we were only able to stay for a week. Still, we were more than happy to spend a few days in this paradise.

After arriving and doing a little shopping for food and outdoor gear in town, we used the remaining daylight to drive the bumpy road to the Buttermilks, the most famous area around Bishop. It lies west of the town at the foot of the mountain range. The scenery is just beautiful. I don't have the words to describe it, but it really resonates with us. The colours of the rocks and desert plants change with the position of the sun.

The place is really dry. All the rain clouds that move from the Pacific to California have to rain down a bit before they can pass the Sierra Nevada Mountains, so the valley east of the mountain range gets very little precipitation, making it part of the Mojave Desert.

The Buttermilks are best known for their huge granite eggs, some of which have top-outs well into the no-fall zone, while others require a strong mental game but are fairly safe. But even those who are not into highballs will find plenty of routes here.
The rock is quite rough, as is often the case with granite (it is not actually granite, but quartz monzonite, which has a lower quartz content, but the texture is very similar). If we compare it with similar rocks we've climbed, such as Harz, La Pedriza and Tinos, it doesn't seem to cost as much skin. This is not because the texture is finer, but because there are many more holds here than in other granite areas. The boulders have been here for millions of years and have had to withstand extreme temperature fluctuations, baking in the desert sun in summer and cooling to well below freezing in winter. As a result (on a geological time scale) the shell of the boulders sometimes cracks due to the different thermal expansion of the core and the shell, leaving a very distinctive rock texture.

We found a nice place to park our vans for the next few nights and were treated to a phenomenal sunrise the next morning. We spent the first day in the main area, encouraging Manu and Lisa to climb the classics that we had tried or climbed two years ago. Manu climbed "High Plains Drifter", V7, and Lisa climbed the notoriously difficult "Green Wall Center", V6. Birte worked on the Cave Route, V6, and by the end of the session had done all the moves. Manu and I then tried the Chris Sharma classic "The Mandala", V12, but got stuck on the second move. This thing is tough... Frustrated that I just wasn't fit enough for a V12 on this trip, I moved on to "Stained Glass", V10, a very crunchy wall climb with a wide throw to an invisible ledge. I got close several times but just couldn't get far enough. It wasn't my favourite moment of the trip, but hey, even those moments are part of the experience.

The next day we woke up to a strong wind. The mountain range was covered in clouds and we could see the first snow of the season. The mist rolling down the mountains was illuminated by the rising sun. The result was a beautiful semi-circular rainbow that seemed to be very close to us!
We walked to a large boulder north of the main area with another famous line on it: "Seven Spanish Angels", V7 (V10 sit). Due to the wind and the rain clouds that always seemed to be around the corner, there were few people out climbing that day, so we were on our own all day. The climbing went better for me that day. I was able to climb "Seven Spanish Angels Sit" and "Twin Cracks", a very hard V9. We finished the day quite early and had coffee in the afternoon sun next to our vans, followed by a feast and beer inside.

On the third and final day in the Buttermilks we crossed the little creek and climbed another classic, "Checkerboard", V8, as well as a couple of newer lines, "Judge Not", V9, and "Solitaire", V8 (V10 sit), both of which could or had to be climbed with a ninja kick! Manu had a scary fall on "Judge Not" where he jumped to the crux hold, swung wide and lost his grip, sending him flying horizontally through the air and just barely hitting the edge of the crash pads. Fortunately he was fine and uninjured. He now has a great video of the dive. At the end of the day we headed back to the main area. Birte tried the "Cave Route" a few more times, but had to accept that she needed a rest day after two very strenuous days of climbing. We'll have to come back for that.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the Buttermilks the next day, but we were looking forward to a shower at Hostel California, a coffee at Black Sheep Coffee Roasters and a well-deserved breakfast at the infamous Erik Schats' Bakkery. And we couldn't complain, after all we still had a few days ahead of us in the volcanic tablelands north of the city.

Morning came and for the first time on this trip our van wouldn't start. Three days without driving and sub-zero temperatures had taken their toll on our battery. But this is the USA and you can always rely on the helpfulness of Americans (or Canadians in this case) with their perfectly equipped vans. Our neighbours simply went to the back of their car and gave us a jumper cable, which we used to jump-start our van Manu and Lisa's van as donor.

If I had to name a favourite place in the world that I've seen on my travels so far, Bishop would definitely be in the top 3. I'm so glad this place exists.Read more