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A scenic hike through Pine Creek Canyon |
Another scenic shot of boulders in Pine Creek Canyon |
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Our two ropes tied together for the rappel |
A distant climber on a multi-pitch route in Pine Creek Canyon |
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Here's where the climbing starts |
Brass Wall, where we did a two-pitch trad climb |
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One of the many caterpillar nests in the bushes. It seemed like an infestation! |
Many potential climbing spots at Calico Canyon |
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A lizard basks in the sun in Calico Canyon, complements of Laurie |
A shot of another lizard at Calico Canyon, taken by me |
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Steph spots a butterfly |
A desert flower |
Red Rocks, Part IV
After having a record number of climbers on the trip the year before, this year we had a record low and the annual Vegas trip almost was cancelled due to lack of interest. Besides Steph and I, however, Justin and Laurie were the only other ones interested in going and after having missed it the year before they were determined to go regardless; thus it became a couples trip with just us four. We started the trip by meeting up at Panty Wall, a classic face and a great crag for warming up and gaining confidence in leading. Despite the weather being a little brisk and windy when we arrived, Justin and I tore up all the moderate sport routes on the face and by the time we finished, we had each lead 4 routes, the weather had warmed up a bit, and our confidence was high for our first encounter with multi-pitch trad climbing the next day. For the multi-pitch climbing spot, we decided to head out to the other side of Red Rocks canyon to a scenic area called Pine Creek Canyon. Unlike most of the sport climbing crags in Red Rocks where the approaches take 30 minutes at most, the approach to Brass Wall was an exhausting hour hike that finally took us the base of the massive dark face. The route we chose to try was called Vanishing Points (5.8+), and we chose to try our luck out on this one because the two pitches appeared to be pretty short (~80 ft), the first one being 5.5 and the second being 5.8+, therefore we thought it would be a great introduction to our first multi-pitch experience. Justin decided to go ahead and lead the first pitch and he ended up running up it quickly with relative ease. Upon reaching the ledge at the top of the first pitch, he was pleasantly surprised to find a little present for him, booty! It appeared that the last party had to escape after the first pitch, therefore they had left a small cordlette and two stopper nuts in a crack to use as an anchor to rappel. Justin happily claimed the booty, and then setup an anchor and lowered down. At this point we weren't sure what to do from here, so the girls both decided to top rope the route while Justin and I discussed our options. After the girls both finished, we decided that we'd take everyone up both pitches with us, so I got a turn to lead the first pitch and then setup a top belay on the ledge above pitch one to belay everyone up to me. Once we had our full party on top of pitch one safely and comfortably (there was a small cave where the girls could rest), we checked out pitch two and Justin decided to give it a go on lead. Immediately within 15-20 feet up the pitch, there was huge overhanging ledge that was the crux of the route, and after scoping it out Justin decided to bypass it to the right and do a variation up a slightly thin area that had some precarious moves. Fortunately there was a thin crack on the right where he could setup some pro, and he got passed it without any problems and proceeded to get up the rest of the pitch. Note, I couldn't really tell how long the second pitch was and assumed Justin would be done soon after the crux, but he kept going and going and it ended up being a lot longer than I imagined! Once Justin safely reached the top and setup anchor, Laurie was then next up to clean the route and trail up a second rope so we could rappel down on top of pitch two. Laurie was a bit intimidated at first because it was the first time she had climbed anything so high, but she was able to make it to the top and clean all of Justin's gear on the way. At this point it was Steph's turn to go, but after starting the beginning of pitch two she didn't feel comfortable and had to go down. This was a scary point of our day, but fortunately Justin was able to send down the second rope so I could use it to lower Steph back down to the ground. I won't go into further details, but instead I'll recommend any climbers out there to check out my anchors page. After Steph made it down, I proceeded to trail the second rope up with me, following the same route Justin took, and meet up with Laurie and Justin on top of pitch two. At this point Justin decided to use his rope to lower Laurie and I down both pitches, and then he tied both ropes together so he could rappel himself the full length. By the time we all got to the bottom of the face, dusk had arrived and Red Rock's park was going to close in 10 minutes! Luckily, we found a number to call in our Red Rock's guide to notify the rangers that we planned on not making it out by 8 and to not ticket my car, and my cell phone had just enough juice to make the call before it died. We then jammed back down the hiking trail in break neck speed to my car and almost in complete darkness if it weren't for Justin and I packing our trusty headlamps. The next day we decided to take it easy and do some sport climbs at a new climbing spot in Calico Canyon called Cut Your Teeth Crag. Before heading out, we had a nice lunch at the Calico Canyon oasis, and then hiked on the scenic trail to find this newly bolted face. However, our luck was not that great, and we ended up just doing some site seeing and then headed back to Vegas. Overall we had an interesting experience this year we'll probably never forget, and learned some important lessons, ie. we need to practice more multipitch!
Climbs Done:
Panty Wall
The best moderate sports crag at Red Rocks. Located off the First Pullout, can be spotted from the road by looking for the giant pine tree.
| Approach | 20-40 min. up moderate-steep hills |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | High |
Silk Panties (5.7 ***) Lead: Great beginner lead on the far right side. Has a couple reachy sections which makes it an interesting lead.
Boxer Rebellion (5.8 ***) Lead: Classic climb, just like all the moderate routes at Panty Wall. Very fun start on a huge side pull, which leads into a slightly steepening face to the top.
Sacred Undergarment Squeeze Job (5.8 ***) Lead: The guide says this is TR only, but sport bolts were placed recently. A little thin in the beginning, but well protected. This was one of my favorite routes.
Brief Encounter (5.8+ ***) Lead: This is probably the hardest of the moderate sport routes on the face. Slightly steeper that the rest of the climbs, but there's abundant jugs to ease your mind.
Brass Wall
Lies on the other side of Red Rocks Canyon, at the last pullout called Pine Creek Canyon. Brass Wall is a popular trad climbing spot with some recently developed routes, therefore there should be less traffic than some of the other classic trad climbing spots. Out original plan was to climb the six pitch Birdland (5.7+) on our last day of climbing, but we realized we weren't prepared for serious multi-pitch trad climbs on our second day out.
| Approach | 45-60 min. up moderate-steep hills |
| Poison Oak | None |
| Sun Exposure | High |
Vanishing Points (5.8+ **) Lead: Easy first pitch (5.5), followed by a spicey second pitch (5.8+). The crux of the second pitch is a big overhanging corner with a finger sized crack just up the first 15-20 feet of pitch 2.
Note on climb ratings: * - Good, ** - Excellent, *** - Classic
§ Special thanks to Laurie and Stephanie for providing many of these pics.
