Dear Supertopo Diary,

Sometimes I just can’t believe how lucky I am – to be healthy, to have amazing friends and family, to have the time to travel, and to be able to go to such beautiful places so easily.

I am reminded of all these things because I just spent five beautiful days on the eastside of the Sierra. You know, dear diary, that it is my favorite place in the world. My heart feels completely at peace when I’m there.

crowley

I’ve been feeling severely “mountain-deprived” as I’ve been stuck at home for the past month painting like mad to get my 50 little pieces done for the Sanchez exhibit.

On this trip I got to spend the first three days climbing and hanging out with my supertopo-superfriend Daphne. I drove over first, in the Winnebago, and set up the cushy bivy in Lee Vining, at the pretty RV place overlooking Mono Lake.


Daphne got in a bit past midnight, bringing bags full of her “interesting” food, like kale chips, kambucha and turkey jerky.

We slept in a bit on Friday. D. was a bit tired, what with the late night drive and as she had done a long gym workout the previous day with her BFF, supertopo legend Jaybro. (He’s famous for his choice of toenail polish and his kinky penchant for wydo-masochism.) So we decided to head out to Al’s Garage, trying to avoid the obvious smoke from the Aspen fire that was obscuring the usually stunning Sierra Peaks.


We arrived at noon, just as the cliff was coming into the sun, but it was so hazy from the fire, and breezy, that the temps were fine.

We had a fun time, enjoying the rotten rock that adds that bit of spice to the routes there. I have to smile at Daphne, who generously tells me what a “great leader” I am whenever we climb together. It’s very sweet of her but I think we all know that a 5.10 sport route with bolts every 10 feet isn’t quite on a par with Ueli Steck. Frankly, I think my best lead of the day was up a 5.8 with rock the texture of cotton candy where I was pestered relentlessly by a few hornets, but managed to get to the anchors without getting bit.


By 5 o’clock we were ravenous, so we headed home to a hot shower and a relaxing dinner. I had my tasty Taqueria Estrella Manteca burrito, while very politely refusing Daphne’s generous offers to share her food. I didn’t offer to share my burrito. Friendship only goes so far. Then we watched an episode of “Monk” together, laughing in perfect unison at the same silly dialogue; to wit:

Monk: “What radio station does he work at?”
Natalie: “99.9”
Monk: “So close!”
Daphne & Phyl: “Hahahahaha”

Day two dawned pretty smoky. We debated heading into the Meadows, but it was so packed with people there when I drove through that we opted for small obscure eastside cliffs for the day. We started off at Matrimony Wall. The guidebook says “one minute approach”, but we timed it and it was 45 seconds. After four lovely routes there, we headed a mile away to the “Triple Cracks” area, a new cliff for me. Here, the advertised one minute approach clocked in at 32 seconds. We spent the rest of the day top-roping cracks and enjoying the cute chipmunks. There is something so very satisfying about setting up a beautiful toprope anchor.


On Sunday, Daphne was in the mood for a multipitch route, and she had never been to Crystal Crag, so we just had to do the North Arete! D. was amazed at the pure white crystal blocks of a myriad of sizes scattered all around the approach. Then, as we were roping up at the base, D. saw a gorgeous pine marten!


The route was so lovely and I’ll never forget the look of bliss on her face as she travelled though the crystal band at the top. I know I have the exact same look on my face. The energy of that crystal is amazing. And the view of the Mammoth Lakes and Crystal Lake from the top is gorgeous.


I had a little cell signal on the top of the peak so I was able to text Michael, who was in transit to meet up with us, via Sonora Pass.


Sadly, Daphne had to leave Sunday night but Michael and I had two days of hiking. On Monday we did a great hike from Lundy Lake up to the old Lundy Mine and Oneida Lake.


The old mining artifacts were pretty cool and the scenery is gorgeous.


After the hike we were pretty hungry so we went down to Mammoth for half-price happy hour at Whiskey Creek. On the way home, we stopped in for a quick visit with Cragman and his lovely family. We spoke of many things, but ended up on the topic of the Forum, as our spouses’ eyes glazed over from boredom.

On Tuesday, M and I attempted to summit Dunderberg. What a beautiful choss pile that is! But after 5 days of exercise, my body finally said no and we turned around about 2/3 of the way up when the dark clouds started building and the wind began whipping.


Well that’s all for this entry, dear Supertopo Diary. Good night.