The photo below shows me a little worried. Probably because I am 35’ in the air on a wobbly scissor lift drilling holes in the wall. (More likely, I am worried because I just figured out I am dumber than my new smart phone.)
This is the scene at 3PM Monday as the top rope anchors are installed on a few routes.
This is what you can do. Lisa is now teaching classes in how to make rope rugs. It is super EZ and fun.
Lisa and her friend went to this winter camping symposium last weekend in Wisconsin. Here is a photo of her new winter tent that she made. You can see the stovepipe of her new wood-burning stove that she also made. Talk to her about winter camping. She is super excited about it and will be too shy to mention it without being asked.
A “Chicks with Picks” post about trad leading in NC with a new partner. They forgot to secure the rope at one of the rappel stations and dropped both ends. Not a big deal, since it is so busy where they were climbing. I liked this quote and had the exact same experience at Red Rocks when I climber there last week. When I recover from my trauma of leading at Red Rocks, I will write about my experience out there with leading.
“I looked down and left at my last piece of gear, and assessed the fall potential. If I took a fall, I would swing about 10 ft down and left to below my last piece – not pretty. I could feel
that process starting in my mind where you start panicking, and I told myself to pull it together. I managed to step back down and left back to my stance.”
You are going to love climbing there.
Now I see why people like Red Rocks – predictable, sunny weather, easy access to Vegas, thousands of named routes (I just searched Mountainproject for moderate routes between 5.5 and 5.9, and found 560) and great rock.
The second day, we hiked about 30 minutes into “Cat in the Hat” This is perhaps the most popular multi-pitch climb in Red Rocks. There was a group of four climbers 3 pitches ahead of us. We caught up with them and passed them. Which I had 
This is a photo of Russell leading the last and hardest pitch. Below him, is the l
On the third morning, we picked up Miriam, (“The Killer”) at the airport and tried out two of the sport areas in Red Rock. First we went to “The Panty 
Next we hoofed it over to the “Black Corridor.” There we encountered 15-20 people all dressed as Superman. (What you do in Vegas, stays in Vegas.) This is a great place to climb – a 25 foot wide slot canyon with 80-100 foot high walls and bolted routes on both sides. And it is very popular; there were 40 or so people climbing while we were there. And we did three climbs. Here. Here and here.
Here are Russell (Hondo) and Killer (climbing a route near the mouth of the canyon) in the Black Corridor.
I was surprised that on a Wednesday, there were so many people climbing the sport routes. We probably saw 60-80 climbers in just three areas. Of course, these are all within 20 minutes of the highway.
I know there is a controversy regarding Red Rocks and a nearby housing development. The opponents of the housing say it will “ruin” Red Rocks. I don’t know how seeing some houses in the distance, would ruin the experience for me. (I could see The Strip in downtown Las Vegas from almost everywhere we went.) What would ruin Red Rocks for me is having all those climbers. So I would want to avoid it during the weekends and holidays.
Here is a list of recommended climbs for first-time climbers. There is even a first ascent program from the American Alpine Institute. And here’s a video slideshow of our trip:
Here’s downtown Vegas taken from the summit of one of the routes Russell and I climbed called “Cat in the Hat.” All photos here.
One of the best routes on the “Panty Wall” at Red Rocks, was the climb “Undergarment Squeeze Job.” Here’s Miriam doing her second lead at Red Rocks on this route
Our room in Vegas is right next to the Presidential Suite. We call our room the "Presidential Sweeet!" Here are two photos to prove it.
This is the closest grocery store to the Red Rock park entrance. We met several climbers buying their victuals there. As well as guides meeting their clients. One guide we met was called Rainbow. I think that name must appeal to the ladies. (In fact, a young woman in an expensive Mercedes sports car picked him up for a day of climbing.) If I hired a guide named Rainbow, I would run far away.
This is a photo of us buying snacks for the day. The good news is you could also gamble in the grocery store. What you eat in Vegas baby, stays in Vegas.
This is Russell sorting his.gear before going up to Juniper Canyon to climb with me today. Here is Russell in his Mustang convertble after our climb. It is 80 & sunny here. I won $7.90 at the casino after our buffet dinner. I did not know I could be filled up for a mere $13. And get to gamble too. Viva Las Vegas, baby. What you climb in Vegas stays in Vegas.
I’m not sure what the moral of this story is. A husband skiing with his less experienced wife, does not turn on their avalanche beacons. When he triggers an avalanche and she is killed, he is convicted of manslaughter.
“After testing the snow-pack with other tourers the woman went on ahead with the man following behind to help in case of problems. He apparently triggered a slab measuring 80 by 250 meters which buried his wife.”
I would’ve thrown myself on the mercy of the court because now I am a widower.
Quite a shot of probably the hardest off width ever done by trad climbers. This is in the Canyonlands of southern Utah. The story here.
