I spent five days in March soaking up the cold sunshine in Red Rock Park in Las Vegas, NV.
I had first been introduced to Red Rocks in December of 1995, when I and a few of my friends from Bellingham drove 18 hours straight through from Tri-Cities to Vegas in a Chrysler K-car. It was an epic journey, my first introduction to Vegas and steep sport routes. At the time I was climbing regularly, onsighting Smith 5.10 (Red Rocks 5.11a).
Five years later I was far from top form, coming back to the desert with aspirations to do long desert moderates to make up for what I knew I lacked in high-number climbing ability. Red Rocks seemed like a fun type of thing to do with Summer, where we could both climb without too much stress and just enjoy the desert and each other.
I flew into Vegas late at night, and Summer met me at the gate (she had arrived on an earlier flight). We went and picked up the rental car, left the airport, drove around Vegas for a little while, and finally figured out where Charleston was and headed for Red Rocks and a place to crash for the night. It was tough finding camping five years ago -- it was even tougher now. At 3 am we drove into the desert overlook outside the park and just slept in the rental car (a Ford Focus, piece of shit). After 5 hours of uncomfortable sleep, the desert sun heated up the car to beyond what I could hold out, and I got up. Some other climbers were also in the lot, having slept in the backs of their trucks, or out in the open under the stars.
Day 1 Day 1 found us hiking into Oak Creek Canyon to try a route called Catwalk (5.6+,8p). The approach was trailless for the most part, along the bottom of the canyon, and involved alot of boulder hopping. After 2.5 hours, we got to the base of the route and started climbing. I led the first, third, and fifth pitches, while Summer led the second and fourth to the base of a short chimney pitch. Summer is my secret rope-gun for chimney pitches, and she dispatched the 5.6 chimney sans probleme. The next pitch was a steep and exposed crux pitch up a steep crack. The crux move was poorly protected, but the rest of it was fun! Summer then led the final pitch to the top. We walked off to the left and found our way quickly to the bottom of the canyon again, which we hastily followed back to our packs. Darkness was rapidly approaching. We hiked out the 2 hours to the car in darkness, led by a full moon.
Day 2 Day 2 was rudely jump-started by the sound of loudspeaker man telling us we could not camp here, and if we did not pack up and leave immediately, we would be fined. We had wandered over to the campground the night before but it was full, so we opted to camp by the side of the road. Loudspeaker man showed us the error of our ways. We got up and went to the Gallery, where I promptly pumped out on the 5.8 that every 16 year-old gym punk can hike. I hung on it, cursed myself for hanging and sucking, and decided the Gallery was WAY too crowded to deal with. So Summer and I wandered over to some other crag, where a group of chick climbers from Seattle were staking out their territory after having left the Gallery because of the crowds. They were so aggro I thought they were East coast, but it turns out they were just gym climbers from the Vertical World in Seattle. Anyway, Summer and I both hiked another overbolted .8, and lazed around in the sun until it was time to go.
Day 3 After feeling a little guilty for climbing only one route the day before, Summer and I were motivated for another long moderate. Only, we had vowed we would not do anything with a long approach. We decided on Olive Oil (5.7, 7p) (route and belays marked) on the Rose Tower. It seemed to have a very reasonable approach, and .7 was within the realm of the possible for both of us to lead comfortably. The day dawned very windy and cold. We hiked across the desert to Rose Tower to find about 3 parties on route. Summer led the first pitch, unremarkable except for one move, to a dead tree. The next pich was sustained mid-fifth, steep though easy to protect, to an uncomfortable hanging belay. Summer then led past my belay to a ledge. I was getting really cold. I took the next wandering lead up .5 ground on 1 piece of pro to a belay in an alcove. Summer came up and led past me 50 feet to a large ledge. I was damn cold, the sun had disappeared a while ago. I came up and the ledge was in full blast of the wind. I handed the next lead to Summer, something that from below looked like a very ugly chimney pitch. Memories of the crux 5th pitch on Group Therapy overwhelmed me. Summer led up into the chimney and fashioned and hanging belay up there off a #4 Camalot and some other stuff. I was exceptionally chilled by now, shivering uncontrollably. I had a shell top on, and a short sleeved polypro shirt on underneath. It started snowing. I followed the pitch as quickly as Summer could reel in the rope, and led up the last pitch through what was turning out to be some of the most enjoyable moderate climbing I had ever done. The chimney wasnt a chimney at all, but a full-on moderate stem-fest. Nothing like Group Therapy. I got to the top, brought up Summer, and we began the uneventful decent to out packs. I would like to recommend this route to anyone going to Red Rocks. Really, really fun!
Day 4 It remained very windy, and we decided a long route was out of the question, since going up Solar Slab in the wind would be silly and rapping off any route doubly silly. So we went to the Illusion Crags. The hike in was nice, but I was not motivated to climb when we got there and neither was Summer. So we hiked back to the car. At the car, we discovered I was missing my wallet! The rest of the day was spent searching for and eventually finding my wallet (under a boulder at the base of the Illusion Crags, where we had taken a break).
Day 5 Our last day in Red Rocks. We had wanted to do another long route, but the only real option was Solar Slab, and we estimated that in order to finish and rap the route with enough time to make the plane, we would need to get up at 6am. Fuck that! We slept in 'til 9, drove around the loop trying to decide on what to do. We settled on Cat in the Hat, a route Summer had already done, but that was accessible. It was cold and the parking lot was really crowded. Turned out everyone and their brother had had the same idea as us - a short classic moderate, Cat in the Hat! We decided it was not worth the wait, and headed over to Calico Basin and Kraft Boulders, where we bouldered for a few hours. I played around on some of the problems I had tried 5 years before. The big lip traverse, I got pretty close to completing it. Monkeyed around on the Monkey Bars. Pulled some other V1-ish things. Finally I found a really cool problem that kept me occupied for a good 45 minutes, and got me really stoked. The moves were rad! Powerful, sweeping moves across a face. Technical. The first part I got down after the second try. The second part I could kinda do, off a micro crimp. The third part was just a power finsh. But I failed repeatedly to link it all up. Very satisfying nonetheless.
The visit to Vegas ended in typical Vegas fashion. We had some time to burn so we went into town and walked around the MGM Grand and Excalibur looking for a roller coaster or some fun ride. I spent 2$ on nickel slots. We drank Margueritas. We got on a plane, back to Seattle.
