Red Rocks Continued... Solar Slab

On my last day in Red Rocks, Riley and I decided to head up Solar Slab, a 9 pitch 5.6 trad route that requires a multi-pitch approach. Riley and I chose to approach with the classic Johnny Vegas route (3 pitches of 5.7). I was excited for a long day of getting high up on a wall, while also anxious to do my first trad leads of the trip. 

We camped out near the trailhead to ensure an early start and started hiking to the base of the wall right as the sun was coming up. When we arrived, we realized we weren't all that sure exactly where the route started. Riley pulled out the topo we had copied from the guidebook, and after 30min. of fumbling around, we finally figured it out. We still managed to be the first ones up the route, but only by a minute. Another group showed up right behind us and another started up a nearby shorter route, all of us gunning for Solar Slab. 

Riley trying to find the climb

Riley leading the first pitch of Johnny Vegas

Me following up Johnny Vegas

At the anchor

After topping out on Johnny Vegas, we were now at the Solar Slab terrace. Unfortunately another group chose to approach with a shorter and easier route leaving us just behind them. We took the opportunity to have lunch and enjoy a nice break while waiting for them to complete the first pitch of Solar Slab.

Riley topping out from Johnny Vegas

Eventually it was our turn and Riley and I began our way up the wall. Riley took the lead on the first pitch and besides some unprotected slab at the beginning, it was a nice climb up a fun crack. 

Riley leads the first pitch of Solar Slab

Me following on Solar Slab

The next pitch was one that I got to lead which was very exciting for me. It was only 5.5 but there really is a different feeling when there's no rope above you and you're the one placing gear. It was an awkward route from a gear placement perspective, which forced me to get creative with my protection. I had to run out a couple spots, but overall it went great!

Me placing a cam on the second pitch of Solar Slab

The team behind us coming up on the second pitch

Riley and I decided to link up the third and fourth pitch, with Riley taking the lead again. There were a couple different anchors and rappel chains in place, making it a bit confusing to stay on route. Once we both got to the bottom of the fifth pitch, we realized that it was getting late in the day and probably time to turn around. Both other groups had already decided to turn back at this point. As I looked up at this beautiful crack that I really wanted to lead, Riley told me to go for it and he would skip it to save time.

The crack was just as fun as it looked. It was only 5.5, but for my fourth trad lead, it was definitely the most challenging route I'd led. I was so stoked to have had the experience to not just lead that route, but to get so high up off the valley floor. At that moment I realized I was really hooked on climbing. I rappelled down to Riley and we began our descent back to car.

Riley on the rappel

Rappelling down the Solar Slab face definitely took longer than expected. We had hoped our 70m rope would allow us get down without two ropes, but we found that fairly difficult. Riley ended up having to do a couple jugs up the line that resulted in a few super short rappels that were very time consuming.

Having to down climb at dusk was less than ideal, but at least it was beautiful!

We eventually made it back down to Solar Slap terrace at sunset. I took one last opportunity to take in the beauty of the area before we started our rappel into the Solar Slab gully, and also into the darkness.

Sunset view from the Solar Slab terrace

Rappelling in the dark was interesting. It was the first time I had that experience, and I have to say that part of me really enjoyed it. At one point as I was coming down the rope I looked over to see two little eyes shining at me.

When we finally made it to the valley floor, we took an opportunity to grab some food and water we had stowed in our bags before starting our leisurely walk back to the trucks lit up beautifully by the almost full moon. 

Red Rocks Climbing

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from my good friend Riley inviting me to join him and some friends on a climbing trip to Red Rock National Park outside of Las Vegas. I was lucky enough to have two weeks off and nothing to do so off I went. While I have dabbled in climbing over the last year or so, this was my first real climbing trip, and I was excited to get to climb multiple days in a row in an environment that was totally new to me. 

My first climb of the trip was Dark Shadows, a 5.8 trad route located in Pine Creek Canyon. We had started off the day with the plan of doing Birdland, but after glancing up at the wall and seeing four parties climbing and a couple more in line, we decided to head to plan B. Dark Shadows is 10 pitches in total, but due to time constraints, our group chose to just climb the first four pitches which were said to be the best of the route. The climb had a beautiful creek running at its base, which made for quite an aesthetic spot as well as adding the extra entertainment value of seeing the various approaches to keeping the rope dry after the repel. As the name implies, the climb was located in the shadows of the canyon making for a nice cool temperature and consisted of some really cool features. On the walk out that day, we were lucky enough to catch a sighting of a huge big horned sheep. It was a magical first day in Red Rocks.

Nick on the first pitch of Dark Shadows 

Up to the next pitch...

Riley repelling down the route

Look closely and you will find the big horn sheep

The next day we decided to go "cragging" which basically means we headed out to spot with lots of shorter bolted routes and sessioned them all day. We "boondoggled"(another word for getting lost and generally fumbling around) a bit at the start of the day, all of us with different ideas of what the approach looked like. There were a few of us in flip flops and someone carrying a heavy cooler for what turned out to be close to an hour hike in, up and over a saddle. But alas, we eventually made it to the Sunny and Steep wall and began to climb. The weather was beautiful and the climbs were, well, mostly out of my league, but there were a couple easier climbs that got me off the ground. 

Nick and Matt both high up on the rock 

Sam checking out a tarantula 

Matt getting his first 12a onsight

The following morning, Riley and I committed to getting on Birdland, the six pitch 5.7+ trad route we had wanted to do the first day. Because of the crowds on our previous attempt, we chose to get up early to make sure we wouldn't be stuck behind too many parties. To our amazement, we ended up having the wall to ourselves almost the entire day. We were not only the first ones on it, but we didn't see another party until we were on the repel down. Being high up on a rock like that is what has really turned me onto climbing. I love the exposure that comes with multi-pitch routes and the engineering geek in me loves the gear involved. I didn't lead any routes that day, but following Riley up I made notes of his placements to prepare me for a future lead. 

Riley on the first pitch of Birdland

Me following on the 5th pitch of Birdland

Time to descend...

After a nice "easy" day with me, Riley took off to go on a much longer and harder climb, and I teamed up with Audrey, a friend of a friend who was also in town to do some climbing. We decided to call it a "skills day" and spend some time getting better at some general climbing maneuvers. We headed up to the Panty Wall where there was some nice moderate single pitch sport climbing to get feeling comfortable with leading as well as some other basic techniques. Being the more experienced one in the group, Audrey led most of the pitches, though I did take the lead on a nice 5.7 pitch before heading out for our next goal of the day, which was a two pitch 5.6 trad climb that Audrey wanted to try her hand at leading. On the walk out from the Panty Wall we experienced a photo shoot that reminds you that even though you're in a national park in the desert, you're still only 20 miles from Vegas. 

When Vegas and Red Rocks collide

Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the base of the climb, Physical Graffiti, it was already late in the day and we realized that doing both pitches was probably out of the question so we played in conservative and decided to just go up the first pitch. It was a really cool crack and a great climb for Audrey to have one of her first trad leads- it was challenging enough to get the adrenaline going without being above her head skill wise. After she successfully reached the top, I followed, getting to enjoy the sun setting over the Red Rock desert. We walked back to the truck by headlamp, having just enjoyed another wonderful day in Red Rocks. 

Audrey geared up for her lead

Sunset over the desert

The next two days were rest days/ harder days for the crew, so I took the time off to get rested up and ready for my final day of climbing. Riley said he'd go up whatever I picked out, and I read that guide book many times over before deciding that I wanted to finish off on Solar Slab, a longer 5.6 multi-pitch trad climb, whose approach was the classic Johnny Vegas, 3 pitch 5.7 route.

To be continued….