Prologue:

I truly admire all the folks who write supertopo trip reports filled with fantastic climbing photos. Unfortunately, I cannot be one of those people, as I rarely take a camera when I climb. Nonetheless, here’s an account of my recent trip to Red Rocks, with a few climbing photos courtesy of Daphne’s cell phone, plus a few “on the ground” photos.

I’ve been coming down to Red Rocks off and on for a long time, but typically during Spring Break in April and around Thanksgiving in November. Consequently, my strongest memories of those trips is freezing on shady side routes, waiting in line for sunny side routes, and doing lots of sport climbing and casino hiking when the weather gets crap, as it routinely does those times of year.

Hence my brainstorm to do a mid-October trip to Red Rocks. Of course, the plan is to take the RV down. The first hurtle is to co-ordinate RV use with the hubby, who wants to use it first in Coalinga at the State Hi-Power Championship and in Arizona for the Creedmoor Cup. Once the match schedule comes out, we figure out that it gives me a perfect Red Rocks trip window. A precise and elegant handoff schedule involving Coalinga, the RV, Las Vegas and two cars is devised.

Next hurtle: scheduling partners. My first thought is to try to get Daphne to fly down for a 3-day weekend. We have fun together and I’d like to prove to her that she actually doesn’t hate desert climbing. The lure of the RV lifestyle is powerful. She says yes.

Next partner on my wish list is Chris. She loves Red Rocks, has done a lot of the routes I want to do, and unbelievably, she wants to repeat them! Her only hesitation is the whole RV resort thing. Unlike me, she would prefer to stay in Afghanistan and be minutes from the loop road entrance. I am appalled, and use all my partner capital to convince her that we should stay at the Oasis Resort near the Strip: two heated pools, a hot tub, full hook-ups and amazing hot showers. Then the universe smiles on me. We get a call from her sister (and my good friend), saying that she would like to fly in from Colorado to join us for two days of hiking, and can we all go to Cirque du Soleil together? This tips the center of gravity for the driving a bit more towards the airport and the Strip, so I get my way on the Oasis bivy site.

Fast forward – Thursday 10/6/11: Las Vegas! Daphne flys in and is thrilled to find out there’s a Whole Foods directly between the airport and the RV. We stock up on supplies and then retreat home to review route possibilities over a glass of wine.

Friday: I’m keen to finally do Johnny Vegas, a 3 star 5.7, followed by Beulah’s book, a starred 5.9 which is right next door. I am thrilled at the paucity of cars at the Oak Creek parking lot, and when we get to Johnny Vegas, we are able to jump right on the route. I enjoy the route but I’m a little disappointed. The route description promises runout 5.7 face and some steep crack action, but the whole thing feels like pretty well-protected 5.5. It’s enjoyable, but IMHO not nearly as good as Birdland, at the same grade. But Daphne is happy because the climbing on her first-ever Red Rocks route is so much fun and the views are gorgeous. We make fast time on the route, but need almost the same amount of time to descend, due to belay station traffic and rope tangle voodoo. Time is a now a little short for Beulah’s, so we decide to do Solar Slab Gully, a 5.3 that the guidebook says is a “worthwhile route in its own right”. It is actually quite fun and has a couple of moves that we thought were as hard as Johnny Vegas. Quite possibly we were off route, but the folks who rapped down right after us had the same opinion.


Saturday: We decide to go into BVC and do a few routes on a “new to us” formation, Lazy Buttress. We start on the three pitch “Schaeffer’s Delight”, which is indeed delightful. After a few more pitches, we head out to indulge in an evening of killer marguaritas and Mexican food, followed by a good long soak in the hot tub. We do not participate in the karaoke contest.

Sunday: Frogland! I’ve done this route once before but so long ago that I can remember nothing about it, except its popularity. I convince Daphne that we have to be the first people on the route. To accomplish this, I guessimate that we need to get up at 5:30 AM. This sounds nauseatingly early, so we decide to get up at 30 minutes to six instead.

The plan works and we cruise up the route with no traffic ahead of us, and no one at our heels. The route is amazing. How could I have forgotten that cool thin traverse under the roof and the tunneling behind the giant wedged boulder?


We top out to midday sunshine and 360 degree views. After relaxing with an energy bar lunch and chatting with other folks who eventually arrive on the summit, we head back to the RV, where we eat, drink lots of wine and watch “The Hangover”. What a perfect day!


Monday: Daphne flys out, already planning her next trip back to Red Rocks, and I get a couple of days to do laundry and relax. I do my part to stimulate the U.S. economy by replacing some of my threadbare climbing clothes with outlet mall goodies.

Wednesday: Chris’ AM flight arrival gives us time for a half day of climbing. We try the Winter Heat wall at Kraft Mountain, drawn by the promise of some starred crack climbs. But the rock is choss, so we decide to do a couple of nearby sport climbs. I start up a 10.c which feels like continuous and crimpy 11 something. I’m not into working that hard, so we bail and enjoy the rest of the hike around the mountain.

Thursday: My first time on Crimson Chrysalis! We arrive at the Oak Creek parking lot at 6:45 AM to find two other parties of two with the same objective. We run down the trail, hoping to beat them to the base, but it’s a lost cause. I can still out-climb plenty of guys in their 20s, but I can never out-hike them. They catch up to us at the ramp and pass us on the steep uphill. We debate doing Ginger Cracks but decide to stick to our plan, hoping the guys will climb as fast as they hiked. That doesn’t happen, so Chris and I have plenty of time at the belays to chat and enjoy the scenery.

We rap after finishing pitch 6, to avoid clusterf*#k with the 6 people above us who will be coming down soon. This turns out to be a fortuitous decision. My guts, which have been rumbling for the whole route, start sending me unmistakable signals on the way down. I barely have time to get to the ground, tear off my harness and run to the bushes before a liquid explosion of frightening volume lets loose. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest idea to have sushi with lots of wasabi for dinner and leftover spicy Thai curry for breakfast?

Friday: Sourmash. Hoards of people are headed into Black Velvet Wall, but none of them want our route. Sourmash was SO MUCH fun! Lots of variety and good belays. And the best part was climbing in shorts and a T-shirt. The last time I was on this wall, I got hypothermic.


We are finished and down with plenty of daylight to spare, and head out the dirt road looking forward to a hot tub and dinner. As we are talking about the next day’s objective of Frigid Air Buttress – BANG! - a noise from the car that sounds ominous. I stop and look underneath to see that some piece of metal has broken completely. I know nothing about cars but this seems to have something to do with the suspension. So I call AAA (thank God for cell phones!), tie up the broken part so it doesn’t drag on the ground and proceed VERY slowly out to the parking lot. The tow truck shows up an hour and a half later and diagnoses a snapped sway bar.

Saturday: With the whole morning spent at the Subaru dealer and arranging another car, what should have been a full climbing day is reduced to a few hours at Calico Basin. But the routes are fun and some climbing is always better than none.

Sunday: My husband has gotten in from California and my friend arrives from Colorado. The four of us spend a fun and relaxing day, hiking in Icebox Canyon and then hanging in the sun, eating frozen yogurt and talking politics and the economy.


At night, we go to see Cirque du Soleil’s “O”. It is wonderful! The performers are amazing and the technology and mechanics of the floor of water is astounding.


Monday: Our friends have never been to Mt. Charleston so we opt for a day of hiking up there. The air is cool and the hiking is perfect. Most of the aspen leaves are already fallen, no doubt brought down by the hard rains and winds of the previous week. Some of that precipitation was deposited as snow at this elevation, and it makes for a very pretty picture. I guess the beauty of nature was an inspiration for the couple who decided to get it on perched on a log on the side of the trail. Ah, youth! I comment on the couple’s activity to my hiking companions, who all claim not to have looked.

Tuesday, 10/18/11: The Subaru is miraculously repaired on time and Michael heads to Arizona and the comp. I head back to the Bay area in his car. The ten hour drive goes by in a flash – after driving 14,000 lbs and 45’ of rig down to Vegas, driving a small passenger car back home feels effortless. All through the flatlands of I-5, my body is vibrating in that euphoric memory of easy pitches and sunshine, while my mind drifts through a reverie of friends, laughter and adventures.

Epilogue:

Michael did well at the Creedmor, eight out of 115 overall, and first place master class (despite a concerted invasion of the RV by field mice).

I am already dreaming of a month in Red Rocks next Fall.