28
MAY/JUN 2019
29
SPRING BREAK BOULDERING|
A MISSION TO BISHOP, CALIFORNIA BY FORREST FRANKLIN
Every spring break I spend a week in
Bishop, California, one of America’s natural
climbing meccas. I go with my family that
includes my younger brother Max (who
also climbs for BEA), my dad (our pho-
tographer) and my mom (who holds it all
together at the campsite and takes care
of any bodily injury repair). At the end of
March this year we loaded up the family
van and set off on our yearly pilgrimage.
Bishop is located in Inyo County at the
foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Inyo is on
the very eastern edge of California, far
from the coastline and bustling cities. The
Sierra Nevada tower over Bishop with their
snow capped mountains some as tall as
14,000 feet. Bishop is named for Bishop
Creek, that starts from the mountain runoff,
runs through Bishop and all the way to the
Los Angeles area where much of the water
is used to irrigate thousands of farming
acres.
“BISHOP WAS DISCOVERED SOME YEARS
AGO AND HAS BECOME A WORLD RE-
NOWNED BOULDERING MECCA WITH OVER
2000 PROBLEMS.”
“WE KEEP GOING BACK
BECAUSE OF THE UNIQUE
CLIMBING STYLE BISHOP
OFFERS AND THE OPPOR-
TUNITY TO MEET CLIMB-
ERS FROM ALL OVER THE
WORLD”
Left: photos by Owen Jenkins
Climber: Brady Kendrick