Photographer: Victoria Kohner Athlete: Timmy Kang Location: Bishop, CA

Focus—A Bishop Highball Project with Timmy Kang

Follow Black Diamond Athlete Timmy Kang on his epic journey to climb Bishop’s five iconic highballs in a single day.

MONDAY APRIL 17, 2023

When Timmy Kang first saw a highball boulder in Bishop, California, he immediately wanted to boot up and try the line—a rare reaction to say the least. His coach kept him from the dangerous heights that day, but it wasn’t long before he began testing himself on the area’s giant blocks.

Black Diamond Presents: Focus—A Bishop Highball Project with Timmy Kang Video: Bobby Vannoy & Brennan Robinson

Photography: Victoria Kohner

Over the years, Timmy managed to climb five of Bishop’s most iconic highballs: Footprints (V9), Ambrosia (V11), Too Big to Flail (V10), This Side of Paradise (V10), and Evilution Direct (V11). But there was one objective that kept haunting him … could he climb them all in a single day? On December 5, Timmy realized a dream, and closed the chapter on his Bishop obsession with one epic day of sending.

More on the experience from Timmy:

“I first came to Bishop 10 years ago, and immediately became inspired to push my limits in climbing. From my very first trip, and every year since, these massive boulders taunted me. I quickly became drawn to a handful of specific lines. These climbs were striking, historic, and intense. Over the last six years, I was able to tick them off individually and was curious about challenging more of my mind and my comfort zones.

Highball bouldering is terrifying. I’m not a robot. I definitely feel the exposure and the doubt and the fear, often to a sickening and nauseating amount. My response is just to spend the time and the preparation so that I can feel the right awareness and control. So that when I decide the time is right to go for an attempt, I just clear my mind, pull on, and climb.”