Sherri's Las Vegas story on Climbing

[billcoe]

Sherri had her Vegas Black Orpheus story published!

 

http://www.climbing.com/exclusive/above/getting_down_the_crux/#

 

Good stuff! Check out her mural:

[rob]

fuck yeah, sherri!!

[lancegranite]

Great read Sherri!

 

[Crillz]

No shizzle? I didn't even notice that you had made that mural when I read the story. Nice job on that too - that thing's pretty killer!

[112]

That mural is awesome. Nice read

[spotly]

Nicely done.

[olyclimber]

Great art and great story Sherri!

[denalidave]

Very Cool.

 

I love that route. That 5.9 corner is one of the coolest pitches I've ever done. As is the layback above it.

 

Love the mural as well. I remember when you said you were starting it...

[Sherri]

Thanks everyone. It was an exciting day/night on Black Orpheus--I'm not too proud to admit I was scared up there. Figured it would make a fun read. And I owe huge kudos to "Argus" for coming out the next day to help me retrieve my stuck ropes. (We did so by climbing "Plate of Fate", a 5.9 3 pitch route which shares that same rap line). He even carried my ropes out on the hike. :kisss:

 

 

That particular mural was commissioned by a climber in California last winter. I really enjoyed it while it was hanging on the wall here before I shipped it off to him; felt like I was like looking out the window onto Red Rocks. Love that place.

 

Dave--you're right. That corner was classic!

[denalidave]

I epic'd on my first attempt on the route... We got to the crux pitch just before dark and bailed off nuts and got back to the car a couple hours before sun up. Came back a year or so later and finished with it daylight to spare. Got any pics of that crux pitch your gonna post up? I love the way you step out over the abyss to the perfect finger crack.

[lancegranite]

As posted before, we found a single womens approach shoe in the scrub below the route, ouch.

[billcoe]

As posted before, we found a single womens approach shoe in the scrub below the route, ouch.

 

You can tell she's not married from a shoe? OMG, that there is some mad tracking skillz. I need to hang with you dude and learnz all of dis!!!

 

 

ps, I really like the way the grain of the rocks in Sherris mural runs, it nicely duplicates and reminds us of that colored grain flow effect that you see out there in the Red Rocks all the time.

[stevetimetravlr]

yeah, Sherri rocks!

[Sherri]

I epic'd on my first attempt on the route... We got to the crux pitch just before dark and bailed off nuts and got back to the car a couple hours before sun up. Came back a year or so later and finished with it daylight to spare. Got any pics of that crux pitch your gonna post up? I love the way you step out over the abyss to the perfect finger crack.

 

Wow, Dave! THAT would have made a great story. I think bailing off that thing would be almost harder than continuing.

 

I didn't take my camera because I knew we'd be pushing the clock and didn't want to slow us down with photo moments. Moving efficiently is paramount on those longer routes, I'm learning.(apparently I need more practice... ) That crux sequence was sweet; reminded me of a move from "The Zip" in Squamish. Perfect finger lock. The exit from that 5.7 lieback was bizarre, eh?

 

As posted before, we found a single womens approach shoe in the scrub below the route, ouch.

 

You can tell she's not married from a shoe? OMG, that there is some mad tracking skillz. I need to hang with you dude and learnz all of dis!!!

 

 

ps, I really like the way the grain of the rocks in Sherris mural runs, it nicely duplicates and reminds us of that colored grain flow effect that you see out there in the Red Rocks all the time.

 

Thanks, Bill. :kisss: Sweet of you to appreciate the fine details in the woodwork and link the post. The "red" wood is high-grade cherry from a yacht-maker's scraps and the lighter wood is cedar from our property here. I was lucky to have some nice grains with which to work.

 

Oh, and it wasn't my approach shoe. I'm not single.

[Bug]

CinderElla where are you?

 

Nice TR Sherri! Adventure is addicting. Be careful.

[denalidave]

As posted before, we found a single womens approach shoe in the scrub below the route, ouch.

Seems I remember reading about an epic last year when a gal lost her shoe on Black Orpheous or Eagle Dance. Maybe it was hers?

[area51]

Nice write-up Sherri! Black-O was one of my intros to long routes too.

 

I climbed BO spring break 1986. Had just moved west from U-Maine to Colorado State and my first road trip ever was to RR with Craig Lueben and a few other guys! Back in ’86 you could drive pretty far up the canyon and camp out.

 

We still got up early and watched Halley’s comet overhead as we sipped coffee in the pre-dawn darkness. I remember much fun climbing, then to the rap gulley. Looking at the new guide, it show’s the descent off to the climbers left. We however headed right, and started down a tree filled gulley….

 

With much cursing over stuck ropes and climbing up to free them, darkness was falling. About half-way down we came across some other poor soul’s rope that had been cut in half. We grabbed that and continued on. A few raps later our rope got really stuck. Hoping we were close to the ground we could not see in this pre-headlamp ownership era, we decided to tie the ropes together and continue on.

 

We had about half the rope available from what was stuck up higher, so we tied that into an anchor, tied our other rope into the end of that and down I went, over 200 ft. Shit, not long enough. I still had the found piece. So in the darkness I groped for a crack, sunk a single nut, and rapped another 80 ft to a ledge.

 

At this point there must have been some moon light, b/c I could just make out the ground another 20 ft or so down. Nothing to do but down solo, so we did. A bit of stumbling through the cactus got us back to camp, and the good natured heckling of Craig and the others!

 

[rmncwrtr]

Great story, Sherri! And that mural is to die for! Gorgeous!

[Sherri]

Nice write-up Sherri! Black-O was one of my intros to long routes too.

 

I climbed BO spring break 1986. Had just moved west from U-Maine to Colorado State and my first road trip ever was to RR with Craig Lueben and a few other guys! Back in ’86 you could drive pretty far up the canyon and camp out.

 

We still got up early and watched Halley’s comet overhead as we sipped coffee in the pre-dawn darkness. I remember much fun climbing, then to the rap gulley. Looking at the new guide, it show’s the descent off to the climbers left. We however headed right, and started down a tree filled gulley….

 

With much cursing over stuck ropes and climbing up to free them, darkness was falling. About half-way down we came across some other poor soul’s rope that had been cut in half. We grabbed that and continued on. A few raps later our rope got really stuck. Hoping we were close to the ground we could not see in this pre-headlamp ownership era, we decided to tie the ropes together and continue on.

 

We had about half the rope available from what was stuck up higher, so we tied that into an anchor, tied our other rope into the end of that and down I went, over 200 ft. Shit, not long enough. I still had the found piece. So in the darkness I groped for a crack, sunk a single nut, and rapped another 80 ft to a ledge.

 

At this point there must have been some moon light, b/c I could just make out the ground another 20 ft or so down. Nothing to do but down solo, so we did. A bit of stumbling through the cactus got us back to camp, and the good natured heckling of Craig and the others!

 

Great story! Sounds like that climb/descent has been the perfect recipe for an adventure for many a climber.

 

 

My partner down there often talks about the pre-headlamp days. She said flashlights were too heavy back then so they learned to navigate by boulders and other natural landmarks. We're spoiled now, in comparison, with all the trails, headlamps, guidebooks...

[stevetimetravlr]

Sherri Sendmaster! Way to go get it.