Ibuprofen to the rescue

Well it has been an odd couple of weeks here in Bishop, California. The first week was good and I checked out the climbing areas and some good problems, then as previously mentioned a snow storm rolled into town and covered the place in a massive amount of snow in 24 hours.

Since Monday much of the climbing has been out of bounds due to either snow stopping you getting to the boulders, snow on top of the boulders or melt water dripping off the boulders. Fun! This however did not stop me from climbing as much as I possibly could. What was stopping me as of last Tuesday was cracking my heel off the ground when I fell off the top of a problem. Luckily no damage other than a very bruised heel. Good thing there was a lot of snow to ice it in. I did finish the problem the 2nd go after I fell, but after that it kind of ended my day.

Wednesday I hobbled along back to the Happy boulders and played on some low ball and easy stuff. Thursday I again struggled on and played on a long pockety traverse which quickly shredded my skin and rendered me useless for the rest of the day, so sat in the sun for a while and chatted to another loner climber chick. Thursday was also the day I was starting to feel a little sorry for myself as once again I was not managing to achieve the goals that I had set for myself on this part of the trip. In order to cheer my self up I called Emma for a chat, this did cheer me up for a while, but then just made me miss her all the more, especially her great spotting skills.

Anyway, after a few sulky moments I pulled myself together, looked around me and thanked my lucky stars that I am privileged enough to do this trip and see amazing places and meet great people.

Friday I took a day off as my heel seemed to be very sore for some reason so drove to the ski resort of Mammoth, where I took the cable car to the top of the mountain. It looks an amazing place if you are into skiing or snowboarding, huge wide slopes that go forever. I was tempted but not willing to test my insurance to it's full potential just yet!

Today, I overcame my temptation to leave early as my foot felt much better after an icing and hot springs session the previous evening. I headed out with Lynne (other loner climbing chick) for a last day of climbing and just going for the total skin wreck day as all I have to do is drive tomorrow. I did wreck my skin and had fun doing it, but what I did not bargain for is falling awkwardly again and landing in an odd position on my left thumb. Extremely sore, again glad of snow still on ground for immediate icing purposes. End of day! As I sit here now in the cafe it is starting to feel better and the swelling is going down thankfully. I reckon it will be sore for a few days though. Ibuprofen to the rescue once again.

So, have I enjoyed my time here in Bishop? Hell yeah, but I have had my arse well and truly kicked. Will I come back? I really hope so, more unfinished business, but the next time I will bring and army of good spotters.

xxxx

P.S Mum don't worry xx