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doo-woppingly climby |
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February 16-18, 2007: The Alley Cats brought me out to Vegas (for
the fourth time) to sub for Royce in Jay Leno's opening act. It didn't
take much convincing to talk Stefan into driving out to meet me for a weekend of
climbing at Red Rocks. Ahhhh, you just can't stay in a casino all day.
Not even part of a day, without a jumbo dose of wilderness to offset the
weirdness of The Strip. I always feel like an anthropologist in Vegas,
observing odd rituals of dysfunctional cultures. Red Rocks is the type of incredible landscape that made childhood Simon want to be a geologist when he grew up:
We parked Adam's borrowed climbingmobile at the trailhead and hiked up into Pine Creek Canyon. That red-capped mound in the middle is Mescalito, where we did all our climbing:
Cat in the Hat is a classic 6-pitch 5.7 trad route. We expected to find crowds and a long wait, and were delighted to find the climb totally empty when we arrived! On such a lovely Saturday afternoon! (a pack of Canadians arrived shortly afterward) Stefan leads the first pitch of Cat in the Hat:
A big horn sheep soloed this on-sight. Check out that gorgeous canyon:
Somewhere shortly after this little traverse, Stefan's camera (presumably) plunged into history:
View from the fifth belay. See the far-off City of Bleah marring the landscape. Not pictured: awful suburban sprawl which will eventually hem Red Rock Canyon into the miniscule backyard of a soul-sucking gated community.
Cat in the Hat's fantastic final pitch:
the rocks here are really wonderful!
Venus rises over Mescalito:
And back to the Mirage, just in time for a long-awaited buffet, on the house. Cooking beans on a camping stove in our tents, of course, is more desirable, but this ain't bad. Stefan and I seem to eat next to nothing before and during a day of climbing.
Soundcheck at the Danny Gans Theater
Sunday! Up at dawn and back to Mescalito to climb Dark Shadows, a phenomenal 4-pitch 5.8. Once again, we were the first on the rock, and only one pair of climbers followed us up. Stefan tried to identify the climb:
The climb itself is fantastic; the setting is bonus. Big flat rocks to lay out your gear, shady pine trees, and running water add to the charm of the start, and to the view from the top. For the first move of the first pitch, you step off that rock, across the water, and straight onto that wonderfully sculpted face, which has two bolts:
Here's an overview of Dark Shadows, straight up that corner, and right up a crack just before the big roof:
Stefan charges up the face:
One foot out on that smooth varnish, second pitch:
Howdy from the bottom of the third pitch:
And the incredible 110' third pitch gets better with every move, ending up on a tiny ledge with barely enough room for the two ropes:
The women behind us charge up the final pitch against the impressive backdrop of sheer rock:
Gleefully at the top!
We brought two ropes up for the long, incredible rappels.
Such a relief to be in the desert again. As a Southern Californian, desert landscapes are my 'home setting'.
Soundcheck. Sunday night. |
