[TR] Tour of Moderates - Red Rocks, Nevada- 3/21/2006

[goatboy]

Climb: Tour of Moderates - Red Rocks, Nevada-

 

Date of Climb: 3/21/2006

 

Trip Report:

No photos to add while on the road, but here's a quick update of routes and weather for Red Rocks...

 

DAY ONE: Went to Cat in the Hat, but it was (predictably) crowded as hell, so we climbed "Cookie Monster" after starting up the wrong route (to the left). Fun, three-pitch 5.7 which joins Cat in the Hat higher up. Due to huge crowds there, we descended Cookie Monster instead of the regular descent.

 

DAY TWO: Climbed a great route called BIRDLAND (5.7+, 6 pitches). Very fun and kinda spicy for the rating. It's in the new red book by Roxanna Brock. Highly recommended! It looks a lot harder than it is, but feels more like 5.8 or so here and there...probably pretty hard for a 5.7 leader, I would imagine.

 

DAY THREE: Geronimo (5.7), an excellent and direct route featuring several very long pitches (i.e 180-200 feet).

 

DAY FOUR: Rest day, friends went sport-climbing

 

DAY FIVE: Cat in the Hat in a snowstorm

 

At this point, weather turned to shee-ite so we went to friend's house in Cedar City, UT and went skiing at Brian Head...

 

Heading back to Vegas tonight and flying back home tomorrow.

 

Generally, the spring breakers were abundant, 15-passeneger vans all about, the campground was very full and the so-called "campground hosts" were on full alert, patrolling, busting people constantly for minor offenses, and generally making folks feel less-than-welcome.

 

Weather: Bleak at the moment, but supposedly improving later this week to nice again.

 

My evaluation of the routes, best to worst:

 

1) Birdland was excellent and sustained

2) Geronimo - great long pitches!

3) Cat in the Hat - probably not the 5-star route its hyped to be, but very fun when not crowded

4) Cookie Monster - good alternative to Cat in Hat

 

Gear Notes:

Was excited about my new "Link Cam" from Omega, but the damn thing broke after being placed about 5 times. Trigger attachment is super-weak and fragile -- DUMB!

[Alpinfox]

 

I just did birdlands about three weeks ago after LanceGranite's recommendation and I agree that it is .

 

I don't know if you are still down there, but in the easy multi-pitch trad vein I also recommend: Johnny Vegas, Frogland, Ginger Cracks, and Crimson Crysallis (very crowded). I do NOT recommend: Beulah's Book, Lotta Balls. I give Tunnel Vision a mediocre rating. One unique and odd feature, but overall not that interesting of climbing.

 

That campground (and it's hosts) suck some serious ass and are the worst part of the RR experience in my opinion.

[iain]

as far as I can tell each campground driveway has pressure sensitive pads under it to detect when an extra car is parked there for more than 2 milliseconds.

[AJScott]

I thought lotta balls was a pretty fun route, the ending sucked, and rapping sucked. I cant remember if there was a walk off, but we rapped. I thought the climbing was pretty fun and unique though...i'd recommend it

[Cobra_Commander]

I thought the climbing sucked too. Run out iron nubbin pinching on slab? In a nice wind? SWEET!

[Alpinfox]

I thought the climbing sucked too. Run out iron nubbin pinching on slab? In a nice wind? SWEET!

 

And don't forget that those little nubbins' are mighty polished after the 46,312th ascent.

 

If memory serves, I think the commander and I did that route on the same day!

[Cobra_Commander]

hah perhaps, perhaps

[slothrop]

I thought the climbing sucked too. Run out iron nubbin pinching on slab? In a nice wind? SWEET!

 

This thread is not about Smith. Get back on topic.

[willstrickland]

This is a pretty nice line at RR

 

[layton]

funny story about Mark L.... putting up birdland

[lancegranite]

I left my business card on his pack that afternoon...

[jordop]

This is a pretty nice line at RR

 

That might be easier without mittens on.

[willstrickland]

Might be. If the dude is crankin' .13 cracks, I figure it's not hurtin' him too much.

[texplorer]

Desert Gold?????

[John Frieh]

Yup. The roof is even more impressive.

 

I will never be able to climb that

 

Edited March 22, 2006 by John Frieh

[shapp]

I think I could, looks like A0 to me

[G-spotter]

The roof is the easy part, it's like 11b.

 

And you can traverse in from higher up and skip the 12d finger crack start if you just want to climb the roof.

[Alpinfox]

 

 

 

So is that thing a handcrack?!? Lance?

 

Looks PIMP!

[willstrickland]

Yup. The roof is almost perfect hands after the first couple of jams. Theres a good pic somewhere of RoxBrock in the roof.

 

Edit: Here it is...

 

[lancegranite]

I belayed John the Gambler on Desert Gold... the headwall crack is overhanging and so haaard. the roof is pretty easy.

I deftly pulled on nearly every piece following the first part, managed to follow the roof with little trouble.

Those with big fingers might do better, as the hard part is mostly 1 - 1.5"

 

[colt45]

Just got back from a few days at Red Rocks myself: while 2 days of snow slowed us down a bit I can confirm that there are lots of sweet crack climbs, and some of them are actually easier than 5.13.

Red Zinger (10d):

Our Father (10d):

I disagree with Alpinfox regarding Beulah's Book, I thought it was awesome!

Other cool climbs we did that are worth checking out include unimpeachable groping (5.10+, 7 pitches, fully bolt protected) and the super classic dream of wild turkeys (~12 pitches, 5.10).

[dbb]

mike- I think that alpinfox went out onto the arete instead of the chimney on beulah's. are those bolts in the chimney there? I guess you don't need giant gear to do it

[colt45]

There's a beefy bolt, visible in the photo below my left foot, and a perfect #3.5 (and/or #4) camalot placement near my left shoulder, so pro isn't an issue. There is less than 20 feet of chimneying and then you turn a roof of sorts to gain an awesome (and also well-protected) dihedral.

 

Even if the bolt were missing it would still be well protected because you could get #1-#2 camalots in the crack near the bolt.

[goatboy]

Funny observations from FIVE NINE CLIMBER.COM about the camping scene at Red Rocks:

 

The camping scene: Both good and not so good. The good is that there IS camping here and it is clean and safe and convenient. The not so good is that it is too clean, too safe and too convenient. The 13 Mile Campground is a compound, a gated community guarded by overzealous retirees. These RV dwellers are volunteers for the BLM, and they take their job seriously, some may say a bit too seriously. what you get is elderly conservatives reigning over the young and the restless. Bad setup. If you act extremely mature, and follow a number of clearly spelled out rules your stay at 13 mile will likely be less aggravating, but, alas, much less fun too. And you're on vacation after all. Or just fed up with the rules and regs of an overcrowded world. Well, here at Camp 13 Mile straight, upstanding behavior is the standard against which all is judged.

 

TRUE! TRUE!