[TR] Red Rocks, NV - Off the beaten path 4/19/2007

[colt45]

Trip: Red Rocks, NV - Off the beaten path

 

Date: 4/19/2007

 

Trip Report:

After a few trips to Red Rocks, I thought we were running out of routes to climb. But it turns out there is a lot out there besides the usual line-ups like Epinephrine and Crimson Chrysalis! In addition to some great climbing, we ran into some great people--Gary Brill and Mark Fielding on Frigid Air Buttress, Fred Beckey at the Las Vegas public library, and Joanne Urioste near the old Oak Creek campground.

 

Frigid Air Buttress (5.9+, 9 pitches):

Has a few cool pitches, but they are separated by ledge systems. Watch out for some loose rock (Yuko took a 15' swinging fall when a hold broke). This pitch, near the top, had the best rock on the route:

 

In this photo, The Woman of Mountain Dreams is marked with a green line and Dogma is marked in red.

 

The Woman of Mountain Dreams (5.11, 16 pitches): Awesome adventure route. The 5.11 water streak pitch:

 

Some loose rock near the top (photo tilted; steeper than it looks):

 

Dogma (5.11+, 17 pitches): Spectacular, one of the best routes we have ever done!

 

5.11 crack pitch on the lower section of the route:

 

Approaching the Horseshoe Wall:

 

Climbing the upper section. The angle is hard to capture; the route is continuously overhanging for 5 pitches. In this photo my arm is pointing straight down, as is the quickdraw visible above me. The rock quality is incredible. Basically, take Prince of Darkness--make the holds a bit more positive--and tilt it slightly beyond vertical.

 

We have done the relatively straightforward First Creek descent off Mt Wilson twice, but since the Brock & McMillen guide recommends rapping Dogma instead we decided to give that a try. This works but is a huge hassle and takes a lot of time. Plus we came up WAY short on some of the raps with our 60m rope and had to do intermediate rappels off single protection bolts in a couple of spots...so if for some inexplicable reason you really want to rap the route instead of walking down, I would bring a 70m.

 

Sick for Toys (5.10+, 4 pitches)

Cool slab route. The boulder mentioned in the route description fell over, and someone bolted a new direct start to make up for its absence (this section felt like 5.10+). Looking down pitch 3:

 

We rounded out the trip with a lap up Levitation 29. I had climbed it before so Yuko led all the pitches. Here she is on the roof pitch, en route to her impressive and casual onsight of the route:

 

We intended to walk to the summit of Rainbow Mountain afterwards, but we couldn't really tell which of several high points was actually the top. So we eventually headed down.

 

Our time was up, so we headed back to Seattle (although before leaving, we had already compiled a list for our next Red Rocks visit...)

[Argus]

Awesome tr. It's nice to see some different routes. It really amazes me that there are thousands of unclimbed lines there, yet everyone feels the need to climb the same 10 climbs.

[Alpinfox]

 

Sweet!

[Kat_Roslyn]

Nice Pictures and report! How hot was it there at this time of year?

[kevbone]

Fucking rad.

[TeleRoss]

Sweet! I think I'll have to add Dogma to the to do list.

[Blake]

where was the loose rock on Frigid Air? I remember all of the non-scrambling sections being really solid.

 

Nice TR, I'm sure that there are heaps of climbs down there which don't get climbed often, but are *** routes.

[jhamaker]

>>Brock & McMillen guide recommends rapping Dogma<<

 

Question. Would a regular pair of 50M ropes work for you rt and the Dogma rappell?

[colt45]

Nice Pictures and report! How hot was it there at this time of year?

The long routes are probably 20 degrees cooler than the city. For example when we climbed Lev29 (which faces directly south), it was 92 degrees in Vegas but we were perfectly comfortable. Early in the week, when temps in Vegas were in the 60's, we wore lightweight puffy jackets for belaying.

 

where was the loose rock on Frigid Air? I remember all of the non-scrambling sections being really solid.

It was slightly off route about halfway up; I agree that the rock quality was good overall. An unexpected fall can definitely change your perceptions though!

 

Question. Would a regular pair of 50M ropes work for you rt and the Dogma rappell?

That would definitely work, but in my opinion there is no reason to rappel the route unless you are bailing from partway up, in which case it would be possible to get by with a single 60m and a few bail biners.

[fgw]

Excellent! Always enjoy your Red Rocks TR's.