Buttermilk Boulders

The Buttermilk Country, about 7 miles west of Bishop on Buttermilk Road, is one of the most celebrated bouldering areas in the world. Thousands of granite and volcanic boulders, many deposited by ancient glaciers, are scattered across high-desert terrain at the base of the Sierra Nevada. The rock quality is excellent and the range of problems — from beginner-accessible to world-class difficulty — draws climbers from every continent.

The most famous cluster is the Peabody Boulders near the road, but the area extends across several square miles of open terrain. The approach is straightforward — a dirt road off Highway 168 — and camping is available nearby. Autumn and spring are the prime seasons; summer temperatures can make midday climbing uncomfortable. Bishop Creek canyon above the bouldering area leads up into the Sierra Nevada wilderness.

things to do sight
A story
The Buttermilks became internationally known in the climbing world partly through the efforts of climber John Bachar in the 1970s and 1980s, who established many of the hardest problems and helped codify the ethical code of bouldering (no ropes, pads for protection, natural rock). The area's name comes from the dairy farm that occupied this land in the 19th century; the volcanic erratic boulders deposited by glaciers are completely unrelated to buttermilk but the name stuck.