This year has been off to a running start! This was our second time in Alabama Hills since January, although the first trip was just a pit stop. After a couple days in Bishop for Flash Foxy’s Women’s Climbing Festival, we made a plan to end the weekend a little further south in Alabama Hills. The girls, my self and Paige, picked the spot in The Cooridors once we arrived with the ultimate destination, the Shark Fin, for sunset!
We started on the “East End,” with a 5.9 face climb, and then a crack. It was an interesting warm-up, and then the boys moved us into the sun and found a few climbs we all felt were a bit of a sandbag on Sunday Matinee Wall. It was nice to be in the sun, but When it comes down to it, our sweaty finger tips might have done us in. Everybody got the last climbs (except for myself – I have some crack climbing to work on), but left some blood on the wall. After feeling great all weekend, sadly, these climbs really squashed my ego!
Bogie watching, and looking majestic as always.
As the sun started to fade, and it got shady in The Corridor, we moved over to the Shark Fin for some 5Fun. We arrived as two parties were packing up, and hopped onto the classic Shark Fin Arete! It’s such a great climb, and I will climb it anytime!
You can’t really beat the views from the rock, and it makes for some great shots too! Who doesn’t want to climb and get to look at Mt. Whitney the whole time? All of us raced up, and pulled over the top to get get a better glimpse of the range. While, we wrapped up climbing for the evening, I scrambled around trying to find rad angles, and got one of my favorite shots of the whole weekend (see above – Paige climbing the arete).
Once we packed up, we all headed back to the car, and got to enjoy the last of the light. Of course we toasted the day with beers, and snacks. We chatted about climbing, and how much fun the weekend had been – the best part; we started the trip as a girls trip (climbing), and a boys trip (skiing), then came together for the last 48 hrs. Every weekend that the four of us spend together, we recognize the strength of our little tribe, and are always sharing the stoke while pushing each other to achieve our goals – we are constantly putting our new objectives out there!
The best part of all, every time, we get to be outside and having fun! Plus, you can’t be sad when the evening ends with a cotton candy sky, and a full moon on the East Side.
