Red Rocks: March 12-->20, 2004.
Ahh, Red Rocks. Could it be the single best climbing destination, anywhere in the world, with no other area even coming close? The ULTIMATE road trip destination? The SINGLE GREATEST place to go for a 7-day spring vacation?
This statement, as with most strong statements, is clearly false. But after a winter quarter consisting of extensive memorization of various lists and tables, I was psyched to climb. And nothing sounded more appealing than kicking back in sunny Nevada and climbing some long, well-protected routes on high-quality sandstone. This was my 7th trip to Red Rocks. And it was my best trip yet. (Interestingly this trend has held true for ALL of my climbing trips lately!)
The short version:
Day 1: Saturday. Sour Mash (7p 5.10a) with Merrick & Yuko
Day 2: Sunday. Triassic Sands (4p 5.10c) with Merrick & Yuko
Day 3: Monday. am: Sport climbing at the Gallery. 10b, 10a, 10d, 12a (work). pm: fly to LA
Day 4: Tuesday in LA, fly back to Vegas in the evening.
Day 5: Wednesday. Cloud Tower (7p 5.11+) with Loren.
Day 6: Thursday. The Fox (5.10d), Caustic (5.11b) with Merrick, Loren, Yasmeen.
Day 7: Friday. Simul-climb Johnny Vegas/Solar Slab with Merrick (13p 5.7; about 4.5 hours to summit).
The long version:
Friday: I flew to Vegas Friday evening, right after my last final exam, and met Merrick at the airport around 9pm. Yuko's flight got in at 11pm. We cruised to the campsite and got some sleep!
Saturday: We *meant* to get an early start the next day. But some friendly climbers stopped by our campsite and gave us their excess food, as they were flying home that evening. This included bacon and eggs. We stayed at the site until 10:30am cooking up an enormous breakfast! We then headed to Black Velvet Canyon to climb a route that had been highly praised as a neglected classic: Sour Mash (7p 5.10a).
Climbing in a team of 3 is often slow. So we decided to try a streamlined system: instead of tying in to the rope, each person clipped into a figure eight knot with two opposed locking biners. Also each climber brought a daisy chain to anchor. This allowed us to quickly switch rope ends, without untying or reflaking the ropes. Also the leader used a Reverso to belay, so that both seconds could climb simultaneously about 20 feet apart. Moreover the leader was belayed with a gri-gri, so that both the belayer and the other person at the belay could relax and keep the rope tangle-free. On the way down, two climbers simul-rappelled. They got the next anchor fully organized while the third climber rappelled separately. The result: this was AT LEAST AS FAST as climbing with fixed belays in a team of 2. In fact it was potentially faster because there was an extra person to assist with anchor management, and we had a fresh leader every third pitch. We linked two of the pitches on the route, with the result that each of us led two pitches, including one 5.10a pitch each.
Yuko and Merrick hiking in to Black Velvet Canyon:
Mike leads pitch 1 of Sour Mash. Another party is visible high on the dihedral of Epinephrine (arrow):
Merrick leads pitch 2:
Mike scopes the next pitch:
Mike and Yuko "simul-following" on pitch 7:
The route itself is super fun! We all agreed that it was a more enjoyable climb than famous routes such as Prince of Darkness or Eagle Dance.
Yuko's friend Jeff, who is one of her fellow residents at UCSF, happened to be in town. He also happened to be incredibly friendly, and invited the three of us to stay at his family's condo. We had an excellent dinner, and another truly outstanding breakfast the next morning consisting of a vegetable-intensive omlet. We even got to take showers! Thanks Jeff!!
Sunday: Due to the continuing trend of awesome morning dining, we got another late start. We didn't start climbing until after 1pm...and Yuko's flight left Vegas at 8:30pm. She had to be at work at 6:30am Monday, so missing the flight was not an option. Fortunately the efficient system we were utilizing allowed us to rapidly climb in a team of three, getting to the airport with hours to spare.
The route this time: Triassic Sands. I had heard it described as one of the best crack climbs in Red Rocks. As a crack afficionado, this was highly appealing. Unfortunately we left the camera in the car. But suffice it to say that this route is a must do!! One tip: the current guidebooks recommend rappelling after the third pitch. But whatever you do, do NOT miss pitch 4!! It's an incredible perfect splitter 5.10a hand/fist crack in a dihedral on smooth, aesthetic rock. And there are new, bomber rappel bolts at the top of the pitch. There are two more easy pitches that lead to the summit, and they looked fun (supposed to be 5.6 or so). I will definitely do this route again and top it out. (second-hand beta: I heard from another party that the summit of this route is immediately adjacent to the Frogland descent.)
Monday: I had to fly out that afternoon to take care of some business in LA (don't ask, it's a long story). So we snuck in some sport climbing at the Gallery. I hadn't done sport for several months so this was a fun diversion. routes:
Pump First, Pay Later (10b)
Gelatin Pooch (10a) also downclimbed it to get a better warm-up.
Range of Motion (10d) this is a great route!
Fear and Loathing (12a) I had redpointed this route a couple of years ago. I couldn't remember any of the moves! Consequently I did several 'takes'. I did a second lap (hanging on the rope a few times) to get a pump going, since I knew I would not be able to climb the next day. Merrick onsighted the first half of the route and looked poised for a redpoint in the not-too-distant future.
Then it was off to the airport!
Tuesday: In LA. Flew back to Vegas in the afternoon. A couple of Merrick's friends from Kentucky, Loren and Yasmeen, happened to be camping at a site near ours. We hung out that evening and talked about climbing the next day. Merrick and Yasmeen decided to go climb Black Orpheus (11p 10a). Loren and I, inspired by some guidebook photos, planned on an attempt of Cloud Tower (7p 11+). Normally it would seem like a bad idea to climb a difficult (for me) multi-pitch route with someone I had just met. But Loren seemed cool, so hey, why not?
Loren:
Yasmeen:
Wednesday: Cloud Tower (7p 5.11+). Wow. This is a good route. Fortunately for me Loren led both 5.11+ pitches. Loren took a couple of nice whippers onto #0 TCU's on the crux tips corner. I was trying pretty hard but also fell a couple of times on the desperate moves. On the final pitch, an incredible splitter handcrack in a smooth dihedral, Loren had to lower from a piece on the last pitch to backclean some gear, because we just didn't bring enough to protect it adequately. Since there was so little gear that I had to clean, I managed to toprope onsight the pitch. On lead, it would obviously have been a different story!
Looking up at the start of pitch 3 (climber unknown), a perfect, continuous handcrack splitting a clean wall. The 11+ tips corner pitch (p4) and the 5.10 fist crack (p5) are visible above. The smooth rock visible several hundred feet up is the vicinity of the awesome final dihedral.
Loren on the crux pitch (p4, 5.11+).
Mike heading out the fist crack of p5 (5.10+).
Loren tunnels through to a nice ledge on p6 (5.8).
Loren leads the awesome coolness of p7 (5.11+).
Thursday: We didn't see Merrick and Yasmeen after returning from Cloud Tower the previous evening, which was concerning. We also didn't see them that morning which was even more concerning. Around 6:30am Thursday, Loren and I started to hike in to Black Orpheus to look for them. We ran into 'em after about 45 minutes. Turns out they did an unplanned bivy during the descent. They were well prepared though, and didn't even seem tired!
Yasmeen leads near the start of Black Orpheus, heading for the dihedral visible higher up.
Yasmeen settles in for a comfy bivouac.
We all went to Denny's to fuel up and discuss the previous day's routes. Then Merrick and Yasmeen were--surprisingly, given the circumstances--psyched to climb that afternoon! We drove out to Calico Basin, and did a couple of pitches.
The Fox (5.10+) is an absolutely beautiful climb. Loren hiked around top and got some killer photos.
Mike:
Yasmeen:
Merrick:
Loren:
We had a little extra time, so we climbed Caustic (5.11b). I backed off the scary start; the first bolt is at least 20 feet off the ground with non-trivial moves on the way. Loren took over the lead, found a couple of solid cam placements, and finished the route. Merrick, Yasmeen, and I then took a lap on toprope.
The arrow marks the high first bolt.
Loren leads the route. Note the beautifully featured rock.
Merrick follows the pitch by headlamp.
Friday: We all got up fairly late, and talked back and forth about some options for our final day. Merrick and I decided to do a "speed" ascent of Johnny Vegas/Solar Slab (4p 5.7 to 9p 5.6). We simul-climbed the route in a couple of pitches, using tiblocs to prevent a second fall from pulling off the leader. Merrick led Johnny Vegas, which took us about 90 minutes. I then led Solar Slab, which we casually climbed to the summit in about 3 hours. This was my third time climbing this link-up, and it was as fun as ever!
We did the Black Orpheus descent, and got back to the car by 6pm (we started hiking in around 10am). An efficient ascent of a high quality, long, casual route was the perfect end to an excellent trip.
Mike sizes up a moderate handcrack on Solar Slab.
Mike leading higher on the route.
Mike leading the final roped pitch.
The "IBM Boulder", a critical landmark on the descent.
Cool patterns in the rock were encountered en route.
Merrick busts out a first ascent on the IBM Boulder!!
Saturday: back to Seattle, and back to school. I was immediately looking forward to my next trip to Red Rocks. On the agenda: more long routes! Specific objectives include the Black Orpheus-->Chicken Lips linkup, and the Resolution Arete.