Red Rocks - Dark Shadows

The last day, we climbed "Dark Shadows." It was forecast to be high 80s and this route's in the shade. This was my favorite route. It starts above a small pond and as you can see, stays directly above it the whole way.

Red Rocks - Olive Oil

They brought me to the base of Olive Oil in the short bus. There was one group ahead of us at about 1PM so we waited 20 minutes to start. Here's Marianna leading the last and longest pitch at about 190'. In the background of the shot below, the tall tower you see is the route "Crimson Chrysalis."

Marianna and I topped out at about 4:30 and waited at the base a long time for the others. In fact, it got dark before we saw their headlamps coming down the steep descent gully. Then we had to run to the parking lot to get to our cars before they got ticketed at 8PM.


Moving lights at Olive Oil from rgsletten on Vimeo.

Red Rocks - Day 4

Marianna and Erik left our rented house about 5:30 in order to beat the rush at Epinephrine. When they got to the base about 7AM, there were 6 groups ahead of them. So they did a little 10c called "Prince of Darkness." As you can see, they were cold the whole time. This was on an 80 degree Vegas day. I used my jacket on all the climbs we did unless I was in the direct sun. Waiting at the belays with the wind, was chilly. The temps were high 70s to 80s every day.
BTW, they used a 7mm haul line as their 2nd rope for several 2 rope rappels. Here's the system they used. They thought it worked well - the skinny rope was a lot lighter and smaller to carry. The only drawback was the skinny rope is easier to tangle.

Tunnel Vision

"Tunnel Vision" is one of the many classic climbs at Red Rocks. We figured there'd be a long line when we arrived at the base at 9:30, but no one else was there. The famous "Tunnel" pitch looked intimidating but was quite easy. Here are Kyle, Erik and Marianna starting up into the tunnel.

Red Rocks

Here's a sunset climb Peter A. did last week at Red Rocks. He started climbing while it was still light and finished in the dark using Eirk's headlamp to see the holds. In the last photo, Erik used his laser pointer to show where the anchor chains were.