After spending one night on the fairground parking lot, I decided to check in at the hostel again – luckily there was space, but the room was less nice. Jenny, my German aquaintance from yesterday, and I decided to grab a couple of crashpads and drive up to a world famous bouldering area: the Buttermilks!
This area is incredible. Lots of huge, round granite boulders are scattered in the desert while the Sierra mountains dwell in the background. The rock surface is sharp and crystalline – not exactly a treat for the skin. We started off with a downclimb route – a V0 (FB 4/4+) and it resisted every one of our attempts. Lastly, I squeezed up between two boulders to get on top.
Our next project – another V0 – proposed the same difficulties – slippery footholds and tiny crimps made it impossible for us to top out. It was very hard and unforgiving but we had fun.
Finally, I managed to climb a V1 onsight, it required less stemming and balancing but power-moving up on big jugs (which hurt nevertheless). I added a sit-start to it, making it a V2, called „The Prow“ – at least I did one full, clean ascent in the Buttermilks – yay! This time, I used chalk though.
It was hard enough to climb with a disintegrating shoe – when I looked down at my left toe it was bleeding from a deep cut! The tiny, sharp crystals were digging into the skin.
We took a look at „Ironman“ – a famous hard problem (visualisation training 😉) and went to try „Hero Roof“ (V0) and a few easy slabs. Jenny managed to do another route on a huge boulder.
Soon my fingers (and the poor toe) decided they were done for the day so we drove back, stopping at the Burger Barn – oh my god – finally a great burger with fries and home made lemonade! We were so full after eating, we could barely move.
Go there!
Jenny decided to come along to the rodeo – I was getting very excited! While waiting in the arena, Donna and Chuck, a super nice older couple from LA offered us cold beer and explained some rodeo rules. At the same time, cowboys and cowgirls (all wearing flanel shirts, wrangler jeans, hats and boots) were warming up on their horses.
The show started with a patriotic moment – a cowgirl carrying a large flag rode to the middle of the arena and everybody had to stand up and sing the national anthem with their hats/caps in their hands. Jenny and I cringed – it was awkward.
The bulls came first – some of them weighing up to 1500 pounds – and shot out of the small stalls when the gates were opened. They were furiously bouncing and trying to shake off the cowboys. The very first rider actually stayed on top longer than the eight second minimum! All the others were thrown off within a blink of an eye.
The bulls were chased through an exit door when the stunt was over and a guy on a tractor pulled over the dirt field to rake it.
The next discipline was roping and tying down the bulls – a team of two riders showed off skills necessary for working on a farm. Catching the bulls by the horns with a lasso was easy for most riders, but none of them could get both hind legs into the loop. More bull riders came and the same show was repeated with horses.
The final discipline were cowgirls riding their horses very fast and making them turn around three barrels swiftly. Inbetween there were two „boot races“ – one for kids and one for adults – the contestants had to leave one boot/shoe at a pile and run back and forth through the dirt. Donna insisted that I participate but my toe was still hurting and some people took the race way to seriously – two guys started fighting in the middle of the track 😂
After the rodeo Jenny and I watched another sliding zombie show and a climbing tower where you could pay 10$ to win 100$ – on the very top of the tower, which was in really bad shape, five 20$ bills were attached and waiting for climbers. None of them managed to hold on to the tiny holds at the top. We didn‘t try, saving our strenght for tomorrow!
Finn Goes West - Hiking & Climbing in the South-Western USA 