RISE by Shawn Diamond

It's not NEWS exactly, but I just want to catch up on some stuff that's been overlooked during my summer off!

Well, around the end of April/beginning of May, Shawn Diamond climbed a stellar new line on the massive block that sits in the gully to the south of The Secrets (of the Beehive) Area. This huge block is now home to a few highball/headpiont routes. One of these is Kevin Jorgeson's line, The Golden Rule (see Dec 7 2007 post) on the northeast corner, another is an arete climbed by Chris Sharma on the northwest, and now this one from Shawn, which takes the steeply overhanging blunt southwest prow.

Photo: Damon Corso

The line begins steeply from the sandy wash, where you can pad out a fall to some extent, and leads to a scary slab.

"I did the problem over a two day period last spring," says Shawn. "I spent a day with a Home Depot-bought broom sweeping the entire topout so no pebbles would cause an epic fall. Did the line on self-belay a few times, then sent without the rope. I think it's around V9+ but SCARY and hard to protect a fall from the upper slab."

Photo: Damon Corso.

Sharma Summer Buttermilking

Yeah, it was over 100 degrees F in Bishop yesterday (Sunday), but does that mean it's too hot for the Buttermilks? Apparently not -- if you're Chris Sharma, anyway! While hosting some climbing camps in partnership with Yo Basecamp, Chris spent a couple of evenings up at the 'Milks, and took a look at his old favorite, The Buttermilker (v13) -- a full nine years and three months since his first ascent. He admitted that it had changed a little since he first did it, becoming slightly harder. Nevertheless, he quickly did the moves the first day, and then returning with the group from Yo Basecamp, dispatched the line in the evening on Sunday. So, no frickin' complaining about the temps from now on, I guess! Chris also spent an evening at the "Way Lake" area, near Mammoth.

Chris and Lisa at the house (Note: Lisa is standing on a step,
trying to look big! She's really only about 18" tall)