Trip Report
More RRR pics (or to get more hits a Crimpy TR)
Friday April 4, 2008 1:39pm
Some pics of RRR. Great event with amazing climbing until the rain and wind on Sunday morning.

Pitch one of Frogland (Thursday)
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The chockstone pitch of Frogland
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Last Pitch of Frogland
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Birdland's amazing last pitch (Friday)
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Final hanging belay on Birdland (two ropes of two - Nat and me and Stefan and Ross)
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Offwidth clinic (Saturday Clinic with Vera Schulte-Pelkum. I was the only male
in the class. Not a bad morning :)
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Tent City
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Dyno competition
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They fed 1,100 people Saturday night
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The DJ's roost
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Weather moving in over Tunnel Vision. Stefan and Nat got up the first pitch
before they bailed. I didn't even get my shoes on!
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Valley of Fire
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Sunset in Valley of Fire
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  Trip Report Views: 1,552
thedogfather
About the Author
thedogfather is a climber from Midwest.

Comments
bluering

Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
  Apr 4, 2008 - 01:46pm PT
What's Birdland rated, that last pitch looks thin?
jewedlaw

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
  Apr 4, 2008 - 01:47pm PT
Frogland and Birdland look awesome!

And OW clinic for girls, check. Hopefully next year isn't a bunch of guys expecting a bunch of girls...
Laddie

Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV
  Apr 4, 2008 - 01:50pm PT
Great pic from The Valley of Fire.
Tahoe climber

climber
Davis these days
  Apr 4, 2008 - 01:51pm PT
cool shots!
thedogfather

Trad climber
Was Red Rock, now KANSAS
Author's Reply  Apr 4, 2008 - 03:50pm PT
Last pitch of Birdland is not what it appears. It is mainly face climbing with a surprising crux at the anchors. The route is consistently steep and has good pro so it is a must do for moderates in my opinion.
LithiumMetalman

Trad climber
cesspool central
  Apr 4, 2008 - 03:55pm PT
chockstone pitch on Frogland looks fantastic!
maldaly

Trad climber
Boulder, CO
  Apr 4, 2008 - 04:32pm PT
So does anyone else out there think that Red Rocks might be the best climbing area in America or the world? I love Boulder and Eldo is unquestionably my favorite area but RR has it all except for Yosemite walls.
Mal
jewedlaw

Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
  Apr 4, 2008 - 04:43pm PT
RR is definitely a good climbing area, but it doesn't have it all. It's primarily face climbing, the rock can be brittle, and sometimes (not always) the approaches can be kind of long. Also, the loop road isn't open 24 hours?!

(Plus it ate my rope)

Joshua Tree is the king of short approaches.

Oh god I see a thread drift coming up.... Maybe start another thread?
HighGravity

Trad climber
Southern California
  Apr 4, 2008 - 06:52pm PT
I agree with mal, I was up there for the party and did a day of trad, a day of sport, and bouldered the last. The best part was I infected my sport climbing friends with the idea of climbing trad. So many fun easy routes!
10b4me

Social climber
Lida Junction
  Apr 4, 2008 - 07:22pm PT
Mal,
RR is definitely a fun place to climb, but is not the best place in the country, or the world.
thedogfather

Trad climber
Was Red Rock, now KANSAS
Author's Reply  Apr 6, 2008 - 09:55am PT
I don't know anywhere else that you can get so many quality routes of over 4 pitches in the 5.6 to 5.8 range. I love the length of the pitches and the consistent quality in the range I now climb (5.6-5.9).
maldaly

Trad climber
Boulder, CO
  Apr 6, 2008 - 11:37am PT
So 10b4me, what is better and why?





This is going to be a fun discussion.
rgold

Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
  Apr 6, 2008 - 11:38am PT
I agree with Mal. I'll have been climbing for fifty years as of this coming July, and I think Red Rock is one of the very best places in the country for multipitch trad climbing. I do wish so many other people hadn't figured this out too, though---you have to do some climbs like Crimson Chrysalis in full conditions in order to have anything remotely resembling a back-country experience.

On the other hand, it seems that you can still have the routes---in fact the whole canyon---on Windy Peak all to yourself on most days.

By the way Dog, I think the picture of Frogland in your post labeled as the first pitch is actually the third pitch.
Chiloe

Trad climber
Lee, NH
  Apr 6, 2008 - 11:55am PT
Back in the early 70s, when I showed a few Boulder friends some slides of this new place we'd discovered, they were thinking (I learned much later ) "That rock looks like choss, why would anyone climb there?"

But at the same time I was thinking, "Maybe I shouldn't show these to anyone, keep the Red Rocks a secret for at least a few more years." So we didn't write up the early routes.

But that's all ancient history now.

The Velvet Wall with no bolts, no routes, nothing named:

thedogfather

Trad climber
Was Red Rock, now KANSAS
Author's Reply  Apr 6, 2008 - 11:58am PT
rgold, you're right it is the third pitch. I lead the odd number pitches I assumed it was pitch one but I skipped over a couple. Thanks. Here is a pitch one pic with same perspective.

Toker Villain

Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
  Apr 6, 2008 - 12:23pm PT
Its Valley of Fire,.. shhhhhhhhhhh!
Gordon

Trad climber
South Florida
  Apr 6, 2008 - 01:34pm PT
Years ago, I climbed Frogland with a small bullet pack on my back. Below the slot on the chockstone pitch, I placed a piece and then climbed up into the triangular hole. I made two or three attempts to get through but got stuck each time. It just wasn't going to go...

I backed off, stemmed below the hole, and considered what to do. I girth-hitched a sling to my belay loop and then, with one hand, fought to remove the damn pack without losing all the slings I had over my shoulder. Of course, one foot then went seriously "sewing machine" on me as I struggled to clip the pack to the sling. Grumbling aloud, I then negotiated the slot as if possessing the world's largest scrotum. My partner nearly peed himself laughing below. I should have just dropped the pack on his head!

Not much of a story, but I still chuckle thinking about it...

Crimpergirl

Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
  Apr 6, 2008 - 03:57pm PT
Nice Dogfather! I know that generating these TRs is time consuming. I think that these are some of the best parts of ST.com. I am now shamed into finally writing a TR of my recent trip to the SE - the reason I wasn't at RR this year.

tenesmus

Trad climber
slc
  Apr 6, 2008 - 05:47pm PT
redrocks is my favorite place to climb. I love that people think its only a face climbing area. but that's just if you got on only Urioste routes. Unless I'm mistaken its a pretty big place.
Brian in SLC

Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
  Apr 6, 2008 - 06:10pm PT
Red Rocks has to be near the top of the heap for me. But, it has the kind of climbing I enjoy, in spades.

If they put a drive in and out campground via a separate road inside the loop, near enough to the rocks to park the car and climb (say, near Pine Creek, Juniper, Oak Creek, even Willow Springs), with enough space for a few folks, maybe a Climber's Ranch type cooking area, tent camping, some frickin' shade (!), and a nice view of the actual Red Rocks (unlike the POS that passes for the campground now), then it'd be world class.

Probably a number of areas in Europe that rival it in terms of the number of routes in the longer easy/moderate/hard grades but with more user friendly camping/lodging and food options.

For the U.S., its hard to beat.

-Brian in SLC
Phantom Fugitive

Social climber
Misery
  Apr 6, 2008 - 06:15pm PT
dogfather, I gotta call BS on your 5.6 - 5.9 range... you just CHOOSE to climb routes in that range. I have seen you climb 5.11, so no SANDBAGGIN!


FAntom

Prod

Trad climber
  Apr 7, 2008 - 01:40pm PT
Great TR Dogfather.

I'm heading there in 2 weeks and looking forward to it. We're planning on doing Birdland, Solar Slab, Black Orphious (sp?), and maybe a day of sport climbing, or just single pitch climbs, topless twins looks pretty nice, as well as that 5.9 splitter finger crack.

Cheers and thanks.

Prod.
mike m

Trad climber
black hills
  Oct 17, 2011 - 12:38pm PT
Red Rocks is so cool.
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