UKC

Anyone been to Bishop over Christmas/new year?

Any good? I have read the article on this site about Bishop and it seems amazing. I know it says winter is a good time to go but i wanted to hear from some others who have been in the festive season. Cold?? Too cold?

Any advice much appreciated

Cheers

In reply to felixthelion:

Its either Bishop or Hampi....can't decide

In reply to felixthelion: Not been at Xmas/New Year, but we did have a great holiday there a few years ago in early March. We were skiing at Mammoth in temps of about -15, and cragging in the Owens River Gorge in shorts in temps of about 25 in the sun!

I think it depends what you're going for - cragging or bouldering. A lot of the bouldering is fairly exposed, and if there's any wind it could be miserable. If sunny and still it could be great. The cragging in the Owens is very sheltered and on both sides of the Gorge so lots of potential to follow the sun. I think most other cragging in the area is a lot more exposed.

Another thing is where you might be thinking of staying. We've generally camped, although on the holiday mentioned above we were in a B&B in Mammoth. Camping at that time of year would be cold and long hours of darkness. I think you could probably get a cheap apartment in Bishop, but we've never checked that out.

It's a great place, and we keep going back!

Hope that's some help.

Cheers
Andy

Cheers

In reply to felixthelion:

Haven't been to Bishop over xmas but have been in Nov/early Dec quite a bit. Without sounding like I'm stating the obvious, it gets pretty cold and dark. Very cold camping - maybe get a cheap motel room instead. You could find the approach road to the boulders gets closed with snow..or it could be amazing conditions...

Ask locals for advice..

http://bishopbouldering.blogspot.com/

Hampi would give more guaranteed, warmer, xmas trip.

In reply to felixthelion:

Have been at xmas, snowed a lot and was suprisingly cold at night, enough to freeze a water container solid brrrrr, wimped out to a cheap motel after a few friged nights camping. I gather it was unusually snowy for us, it could just be dry and cold.
When the Buttermilks are plastered in snow the Happy and Sad boulders are fine.

In reply to felixthelion: We go to Joshua Tree regularly. Brilliant for climbing in the day, very cold at night (we use a motel).