In the fall of 2015 I met up with Dawn to climb at Red Rocks on my way to Estes Park. Since we were climbing in Black Velvet Canyon we stayed away from Vegas and the Red Rocks Campground. Instead we camped to the west up Lovell Road which was a bit farther than ideal, but nice in that it was legal and relatively quiet and secluded.
As a warmup we climbed "Frogland". We were the only car in the lot when we got there, but by the time we were setting up to start 2 other parties were on their way. Luckily there were various alternative belay points and variations to the route so it wasn't too crowded. In addition the climbing was fun and despite the heat it was pleasant in the shade. When we got to the top we stayed in the shade and took pics for a few hours until the descent was mostly in shadow. There was no rush to head back to camp which would be sweltering in the middle of the day anyway.
| |
|---|
 |
|---|
for epinephrine we would have to carry everything on the approach up and over the climb and back down the descent. This meant we had to pack carefully. Ideally we would have not had any packs, but I had too much stuff to skip that completely so I took my little hydration pack along with about 3 liters of water, headlamp, food, one long-sleeved hoodie top (around my waist), and my Evolv Cruzers. They barely all fit in the pack.
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
We left early, arriving at the parking lot around 5 am. Unfortunately there was already one car there - of course they were climbing Epinephrine. We finished the approach hike just as it was starting to get light and we could see the party ahead of us on a ledge by the start. It turns out they missed the direct start and scrambled up to the ledge and then started up the wrong crack and had to retreat. By the time we had our gear on and started up they were just starting the second pitch (we planned to link P1 and P2). We stopped on the ledge and waited a long time before they were about to clear the next anchor. It was a nice flat ledge to wait on and I found 2 stoppers that had fallen from above, but I'd have rathered been making time.
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
I led the second pitch too, then Dawn took the 3rd and once again caught up with them. In fact she just built an anchor a little lower. The next 5 or 6 pitches were in the chimney which can make for slow climbing. Eventually they cleared that pitch and I headed on up. It featured some grunty climbing and I would have been happy not to have so much stuff strapped to my back. It had a combination of chimney and offwidth moves (in the chimney). It didn't feel like you were going to fall but it could be a lot of effort to make upwards progress too. At least it was cool back in the shade. Dawn didn't much care for chimney leads and the folks ahead of us weren't making the next pitch look very easy either so she sent me up that one too, but before then the folks above dropped a climbing shoe. I tried to catch it but it was out of reach. I was able to catch a sock though. While I climbed this pitch they debated their options eventually deciding to bail. That opened things up for us but we were definitely behind schedule. We went up the rest of the chimney as best we could and then switched to face and crack climbing mode.
This was more straightforward climbing and went a little faster but by now our feet were starting to hurt and the physical nature of chimney climbing was taking its toll. Also most of Dawn's water drained out when the bite valve got squeezed against the rock at a belay. As the shadows got longer we tried to go faster, but there is only so much faster you can go. Finally around sunset we topped out on the climbing. From there we had a lot of scrambling up a huge ramp system before things eased up a lot. We made it to the big tree and the end of the hard scrambling just about when it got dark. There we switched shoes and put on our headlamps and scrambled up to the summit. Fortunately there was a nearly full moon to complement the lights of Las Vegas down below us.
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
 |
|---|
It took a little bit of casting about to find the trail down but once we did it was fairly straightforward and quite long. The night was warm and the moonlight bright so it wasn't bad, although I'd have been happy to have more water or be done sooner. When we finally returned to camp I think I ate a banana and went to bed. So much for dinner.
The next morning we slept in a bit and then had a nice big breakfast and gear sorting party before parting ways. I spent most of the day in the Las Vegas library on the internet before heading to Castle Valley.