Red Rocks, May 2001
Lisa, Tony, Hali, & Mike


This is the pictoral presentation of one excellent vacation taken by four friends, for four days, in the wonderful month of May.  Three straight days of great, single-pitch, sport climbing in the beautiful Red Rocks of Southern Nevada.

Please note that both digital and film cameras were used during this trip.  The shots from the film camera have a higher aspect ratio than the digital shots, and generally display a date stamp.  Also note that Hali has spent a great deal of time enhancing "problem" images.  If the image looks a little blurry, then it was probably a useless image before Hali worked her digital magic.

Day 1 -- Arrival at Red Rocks:
These photos were taken at the visitor center as we first pulled in.  We were awe-struck by the views, and pretty pumped up just to be there.  Of course, we just had to take some pictures!

 
Day 1 -- Mass Production Wall:
This not-so-easy-to-find crag was well worth the hike.  We didn't see a single person all day except for the hike in and the hike out.  The wall was mostly in the shade, and offerred some great views.  The climbs were pretty much vertical with varied holds (including some nice cracks).  "Hit and Run" was one of the trip favorites for both Tony and Mike -- a very fun route with some cool moves.  The seclusion and views made this Tony's pick for the best crag of the trip.  The women made our hardest route of the day ("Trigger Happy") look easy, and put the men to shame!  Lisa made it clean, and Hali nearly so.  Why are there no photos of this event?  The two major photographers (Hali and Lisa) were busy climbing, and the guys were too busy being impressed.

 
We tried to follow the trail descriptions in the guidebook, but we did some wandering before we finally found the place.  Turn right 250 yards after the native american sign?  Left at the pine tree?  Is that the red wall?  It's definitely not that way!  Let's rest in the shade and look at the book again!
 
When we found the wall we just had to take some "we made it" photos...   Great views!
 
It's time to climb!  We followed the shade up the wall during the course of the day.  The ladies took a break and did walking about -- with cameras in hand.
5.8 "Parts is parts"; T+,L,M,H*
5.9 "Battery powered"; M+,H,L,T*
5.9 "Hit and run"; M+,H,L,T+*
5.10a "Trigger happy"; T,M,L,H*



 
 
 

Day 2 -- Panty Wall:
Compared to finding the Mass Production Wall, finding this place was a piece of cake.  This wall started in the shade, but quickly became sunny and warm.  The belay ledge was a little intimidating in spots -- thin, angled, and a 30 foot drop just a few feet away.  The belayers were usually tied to an anchor.  Since it is now Saturday, we met many climbers during the day -- mostly tourists.  The climbs at this wall were pretty much vertical with a little slabishness on the top of "Silk Panties".  The holds looked a little fragile, but nothing broke off on us.  "Silk Panties" had home made bolt hangers, which made the easy (5.7) climb a little more... interesting.  Climbing at Rumney has apparently spoiled us!  The highlight of our time at this wall was the brief, but windy, passing rain cloud.  We thought we were in for a real downpour, so we yanked the two ropes from the anchors and ran for shelter.  Five minutes later the sun was out and the wind died to nothing.  That was the worst weather that we saw there, so I guess we were pretty lucky!
5.8 "Boxer rebellion"; T+,L,M,H*
5.8 "Brief encounter"; M+,H,T+,L*
5.7 "Silk panties"; T+,L,M+,H*

 
Day 2 -- The Black Corridor
This is a great spot because it's an easy hike and there are a bunch of moderate climbs.  As the name implies, this area is corridor between two walls with routes on both sides (with a neat little tree growing right in the middle of the corridor).  This area is in the shade for most of the day.  The only down side is that this area can get a little busy.

We had heard that the ratings were a little soft at Red Rocks, and we finally found a couple of routes that we thought were a little over-rated.  We thought "Bonaire" and "Bon Ez" were a good half-grade over.  These were the exception, though.  Most routes felt just a hair softer than Rumney ratings.
5.9 "Bonaire"; T+,L,M,H*
5.9+ "Bon ez"; M+,H,T,L*
5.10d "Nightmare on crude street"; M,L,T*
5.10d (using a 5.8 variation at crux) "Crude boys"; M,H*
5.10a "Vagabonds"; T,L,M*


 
 
Day 3 -- The Black Corridor
We started early and went straight to the upper portion of the corridor.  The ratings seemed a little harder on the upper wall, but maybe we were just tired!  There are some fun routes here, including my trip favorite "Dancin' with a god" (many cool moves).  In early afternoon we ventured out in an attempt to hit the Magic Bus crag, but we were eventually turned away by a daunting approach (we later learned that an alternate route exists, but was not included in our guide book).  We then came back to the Black Corridor to hit a couple of routes we had climbed the previous day.
5.9+ (PG) "Thermal breakdown"; M+,H,T,L*
5.9+ "Crude behavior"; T+,L,M,H*
5.9+ (PG) "Crude street blues"; M,H,T,L*
5.10a "Dancin' with a god"; M,H,T,L*
--------------
5.9 "Bonaire"; M+,T*
5.9+ "Bon ez"; T+,M*

 

 
Final drive along the loop road
Whew!  We were pretty pooped at about this point in the trip.  We just had to stop a few times along the road to get some scenic-view photos.
 
 

 
That was a truly excellent trip!  Great climbing, great company, and even great food (ala "Claim Jumper").  We can't wait to go out there again.  Please contact us if you would like full size images emailed to you.  Thanks!! -Mike & Hali


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