Red Rock – Day 12 and departure

Unfortunately, Day 12, our last full day was not a climbing one. This is because it rained the day before, which means that there’d be no climbing in Red Rock. Why? Because soft sandstones get damaged easily when it’s wet. And it takes time for it to dry. How do we know if it rained in the area? This site: https://wetrockpolice.com/redrock

And what to do during the drying-off period? Plenty of things to do in the area. After all, it’s Las Vegas. A lot of options on this site:

https://www.ladylockoff.com/wet-sandstone

Paul and I decided to check out the nearby Hoover Dam. It’s only 45 mins drive and a fantastic place to kill some time. I have been there before, most recently in 2010 (or was it 11?) during our trip around Nevada and California. It’s been so many years since, that I was happy to go again. So was Paul.

Calvin and Clare decided to stay back and rest. Calvin’s ankles were hurting and they wanted to take it easy. As a matter of fact, they decided to actually cut their trip short and forgo the 2 weeks in Joshua Tree and re-booked their return flight for Monday.

We also had a house guest – Paul’s Australian friend Brendan drove overnight all the way from San Fran to spend some time with us. Since he actually had to do some work that day, he stayed in the house as we went for that quick trip to the famous Dam.

Below: view form the Bridge

The whole thing was as impressive as I remembered. Logistically speaking it’s very easy to get to when you have a car. The attraction is free to walk around – there are a couple of clearly marked free pull-outs for stopping by and seeing the structure from afar. The best view is from the Callaghan-Tillman bridge, a huge bridge that was just being finished when I was there last time.

The car park is clearly marked, and you get to walk the entire length of the bridge for free.

From there we drove through the dam itself, on the other side, and pulled out on the lakeside. There are a couple 10$ parking lots to stop at (presumably for those who want to go to the visitor center and see the thing from the inside?).

There are different tours available. They range from 30$ to 10$ as of the writing of this blog, but best info can be found on the government site: https://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/service/. We decided to skip it.

If you keep driving past the dam a bit you can find free pullouts with magnificent views of the back of the dam and the bridge you just walked on.

Below: back of the Hoover Dam and the Bridge.

We had our lunch there (Desert Bagels are the best!) and decided to drive back home (via the Dam).

There is another viewpoint (via side road) a couple hundred meters past the Dam, on the right, that will give you a great view of Lake Mead, view of the marina, and some info regarding how it all got to be. Fascinating Story. Totally worth checking out.

Below: View of the Lake and the Marina .

From there it’s only 45 mins back to Vegas. Just be vary of evening traffic. It can be bad!

This wasn’t the end of the excitement for me though. I asked Paul to drop me off to the South Point Casino, for their daily 6.05pm 100$ tournament.

This give Paul and Brendan the opportunity to catch up (since they haven’t seen each other in a couple of years), and me the chance to redeem myself, after I didn’t do so well in the last 3 tournaments (cashed once, and went out near bubble twice)

The game took almost 7 hours and it was a full-on battle with 103 players, that finished with a 3 way ICM chop.

The vast majority of amateur poker tournaments don’t actually finish with clear winners, usually, at some point players decide to stop the game and split the prize pool according to the number of chips they have (via the aforementioned ICM formula). In bigger tournaments, that have actual trophies to award, they either finish the game just for it or award it to one of the players.

In this case, South Point gives a nice poker chip token, which both of my opponents decided to award to me. I think mostly because I was visiting and they were local, so they’d have many more chances to win more of those. (and they already owned a few each – both were local pros) Nice lads. Nice gesture. I wish I could actually battle for it a bit, but nobody wanted to sit there for 2 more hours :)

Below: the awarded trophy.

As usual, Paul showed up to pick me up, which was very nice of him, and we headed home. Long day!

Luckily there was no need to get up early, as the checkout time wasn’t until midday.

We had breakfast, packed, and left. Calvin and Clare booked a place for the next few nights on the other side of town, while Paul and Bren had a place on the north side (it turned out to be a total hole, so they decided to re-book for a more reputable hotel on the Strip).

Below: Paul after finding his missing puffy jacket. It will be handy for his layover in New York!

We spent the last day looking for new accommodation for Paul and Bren, but also went for a last short hike and drive through the loop road.

Below: the world-famous Red Rock Canyon monument

As I’m writing these words sitting outside Gate D9 waiting for my flight back home I can only be happy with the way the whole trip turned out. We did fantastic climbing (Paul and I did around 40 climbs) in a world-class area with legendary co-climbers. Calvin and Clare are not just very accomplished climbers (being on the rocks for over 50 years!) but also the nicest people ever! Than you team!

Next month Calvin is being awarded Lynam Award – and I can’t wait to sit in that auditorium and watch and listen to him talk more about his climbing life achievements – hopefully, he’ll wear the lucky Vegas socks I gifted him (the rest of the crew also got a pair! ).

Also, the rumor has it (it took a lot of wine to get that out) that Clare’s new book will be available sometime next year. Can’t wait for that as well!

For her most recent book, “Uncoiling the Ropes”, visit the Mountaineering Ireland store, or any decent bookstore in Ireland! A fantastic read!

This entry concludes the Dal Riada Red Rock 2023 trip. In some weeks I’ll move it to the Club’s official website, so it doesn’t disappear, and hopefully, future generations of climbers can learn from our experiences in this beautiful part of the world.

PS. For gambling tips please contact Calvin @ the casino near you!

Red Rock – Day 11 – Big day out in Black Velvet Canyon

On day 11 we all decided to go to one of the most impressive places in all of Red Rock- Black Velvet Canyon – A home to 150 routes, some being of the world class and fame. The most famous probably being Epineprine – recently featured in Alex Honnold’s HURT (where he free soloed it as part of his full Red Rock traverse). I’m not quite ready for this type of climbing yet (it’s technically ‘only 5.9’, but features mega chimney system for many of its 13 pitches), but the route is not outside of realm of possibilities in the future.

Below: Inside Dal Riada's Las Vegas HQ - sorting gear.

Either way, we left the Dal Riada’s Las Vegas HQ at 9am (which for Paul and my standards is rather early for this trip, but for the purpose of climbing in Black Velvet is crimnally late – more about it later).
We drove 2 cars to the first BV carpark, (Calvin and Clare being in the other) and then we hopped into their more offroady vehicle. That saved us 50min walk to the ‘advanced’ one.

Below: Paul and I setting of towards Black Velvet Wall.

From ther we split into 2 groups. Paul and I walked towards the Black Velvet Wall area, that has so many quality long, multipitch climbs that you simply cant be standing there for hours before deciding.

This took around 40 mins of not too hard walkin. Fun fact: on the way in, right on the path is Return of the Sleepwalker World’s 2nd V17 boulder – and one of a few of that grade in the world. Looks Mega impressive.

We were hoping to jump on the Dream of Wild Turkeys, a 5.10a mega classic, but since it already had 2 parties on it, (and we were late), we didnt want to risk getting stuck in a jam, and decided on nearby Sour Mash, 5.10a.

Below: Paul at the base of Black Velvet Wall. Sour Mash on the left, Dream of Wild Turkeys and Prince of Darknes behind and left.

It has a mix of different styles of climbing, from a moderate trad pitches, well protected crack climbing, to a fully bolted crux pitche. The route goes for almost 200m (and does not top out the mountain).

Below: Paul enjoying the exposure.

Since we were starting late (and likely would have to walk all the way to our car, since we asked Clare and Calvin not to wait for us), we decided that if we want to do the whole thing, and be back on the ground (or ideally in the car) before the forecasted rain at 4pm, we should move fast. This meant that Paul would have to do most of the leading (since I’m much slower). I was fine with that, so was he. So we set off.

Below: Me following on the steeper parts.

Paul and I climbed enough togehter over last number of years, that we can communicate on the wall almost without words – this comes handy, on those 60m linked pitches, when we only have 50m ropes… Handing over leads, re-coiling the ropes, gear handoffs, setting abseils and generally being efficient. It’s even more important than climbing to be good at all of those things. No faff allowed.

Below: Paul starting Pitch 6 (Crux 5.10a)

The climbing wasnt hard at all (albeit I did fall off at the crux section of the 5.10a pitch), and it went pretty fast. As advertaised, the route was amazing. Every pitch had something different to offer and we both enjoyed the quality of the rock, the different styles of climbing required and general exposure and views of the surrounding areas.

We started climbing before 11am, went up 200m, abseiled 4 or 5 times, and were walking off at 3.20pm – so pretty good time! The descent is simple (except of the last part where it makes sense to abb left to the bolts at 25m, rather than abb off some bushes/trees).

Below: Obligatory 'summit' photo (there was no summit, climb ends at pitch7).

By the time we got to the 2nd car park, as predicted C&C were already gone. The walk from the base of the climb to the first car park (where our car was) was 90 mins.) As predicted by the weather people the rain started at around 4pm, but we didnt get wet at all. It all stayed in the mountains.

Below: Last abseil – Fred Becky style. (not mandatory, this will take you from the base of the climb to the path – it can be downlimbed as well).

This however means that there is no climbing in Red Rock for the next 24h – The local rules call for no climbing on sandstone after rain – this is because the rock is so soft, that climbing after rain ruins it completely.

Below: The incredible rain clouds of over Red Rock.

There are limestone alternatives nearby, something we will have to check out for our last full day.

While we were battling the 7 pitches of our route, Calvin and Clare Climbed a good one too. They did 3 pitches of Arrow Place. A very intersting 5.9

Below: C&C enjoying each other's company on Arrow Place.

On Friday I’m flying out home (via Philadephia), Calvin and Clare are driving to Joshua Tree for another 10 or so days, and Paul stays till Sunday (when he flies back to Dub via NY). He wont be lonely though as another friend from California will visit him to keep him company.

Red Rock – Day 10 – Back to the Icebox!

On day 10 Paul and I decided to go back to the Icebox Canyon (which we previously visited on day 3).

This time however we decided on the other side of the canyon and visited Sunnyside Crags area. Spoiler Alert: it wasn’t sunny at all!

But it didn’t matter – it was still quite warm (mostly because it wasn’t windy at all).

For some reason, there aren’t huge crowds at the crags of that canyon – despite a pretty easy approach (straight path, maybe 20 mins walk), perhaps because the area is mostly trad, and almost all in the shade and most will prefer the sunny bolted crags of Calico Hills.

Either way, we started with my lead of Shady Ladies (5.7), – it was a nice and pleasant corner with an exciting finish to the anchor at the grade I’m feeling comfortable right now.

Below: Paul following on Shady Ladies.

Then Paul took over and did a couple of progressively harder routes Cold September Corner (5.8) , – which has an amazing leg press sequence to get from under the roof.

Below: Paul at the crux section of Cold September corner.

Paul also did Magellanic Cloud (5.9), Bad Day at Black Rocks (5.10a) which I followed,

The final route of the day was Mercedes (5.11a/b), which was too hard for me to get on, so Paul cleaned it on the way down.

Below: Mercedes

Since the car park closes at 5pm (and besides it gets dark not much before that), we walked out to the beautiful views again.

As we were in the shades of Icebox Canyon Calvin and Clare came back to Calico 2 for another day there. Calvin’s ankles are flaring up a bit so they are taking it slow. And that’s a good thing!

Red Rock – Days 8&9

Day 8 was a Sunday – another super busy one. Literally, all of the crags are overrun, so we couldn’t get an entry pass until 11am slot. The plan was to go check out Calico hills, and maybe find a few climbs in the shade. Calvin and Clare went before us, we drove out shortly after

We rolled into First Pullout in Calico Hills, but it was immediately obvious it’d be just too busy. We quickly went back into the car and drove further to find a less busy area. We settled on the Willow Spring area, but further up the road (the 2nd parking).

We simply picked one of the few trails there and started walking.

The trail took us up the back of a mountain, a couple hundred meters of elevation gain, around 10km there and back.

We met some interesting wildlife, plants, and man-made mining shafts. And of course some amazing views!

Below: wildlife.

Below: mining shafts we definitely did not go into.

Below: view from the top: matching hats are accidental.

Calvin and Clare took an easy day off after finding out how busy the crags were and just got back to the Las Vegas house (AKA the Dal Riada USA Headquarters) Clare found for this trip.

Since the day was relatively easy for us, I decided to get back to The South Point Casino and play their Sunday evening deep stack event. Paul dropped me off for the 6pm event.

The 2 previous times I played there I finished near the bubble, which is very frustrating, but this time I finally cashed. I finished 19th out of the field of 147 entrants. I feel I could have done better, as I played a solid game, just didn’t get the right amount of luck in the later (bubble) stages of the tournament. The stack I built first halfed when my 77 lost to jq on AJxxx board, and then 3 blinds/ante of orbits and being card dead got me down to <5bb. Last hand was my All in with 2BB UTG with K9 off (already in the money), and getting called with AT, which held.

Day 9 was back to climbing. We all booked in for 10am Loop Road entry (it is incredibly annoying to have to do it every day!) and headed for the area of Calico Hills known as The Black Corridor.

Technically speaking the best access to The Black Corridor is from 2nd Pullout carpark, but it being very small (around 20 cars), its almost impossible to get parking there. And if you get there to find it full, that’s it, there is no going back to 1st Pullout (since the loop road is 1 way!).

For that reason, the best thing to do is to just park at 1st pullout (which is very spacious), and hike the extra 15 mins. And that’s what we did.

Before that however, we went in for a quick look to the Red Rock Visitor Centre (which is located at the start of the loop road). its quite interesting – just a pity that you have to visit it first, before you drive off – again – because the road is 1 way, there is no coming back.

Below: Paul under attack at the Visitor Centre.

Once we got to the crag (it was around 30 mins total walk from 1st Pullout), we found Calvin and Clare and we climbed for the day in each other’s company.

Below: entrance to the Black Corridor crag.

The crag is quite interesting – it is quite long and narrow, with climbs on both sides. It’s also divided by large boulders into 2 distinct sections (lower and upper).

Below a rare picture of Clare bouldering. To move between levels you have to beat a V0 boulder.

Climbs vary from some slabs to more vertical and overhanging ones. They are mostly in moderate to hard climbs – so you’ll see a lot of people trying hard and top roping as well.

Below: Paul on one of the 5.10a routes.

There aren’t too many easy ones, with the 5.9 ones being on the harder end of the spectrum!

Below: Clare leading one of the 5.9 routes (definitely harder than it looked!)

Below: Mic leading one of the easier routes (757 2x4) 5.7.

In general, we had. a very good day of climbing, with everybody enjoying climbing at their own levels or current abilities.

Below: The Dream team scoping the next routes to do.

We left a little bit later than usual (around 4pm), which allowed us to catch a glimpse of a sunset over the mountains (Remember, that to get out you have to drive the entire length of the loop around (almost 20km). It was however spectacular!

Below: Sunset over Red Rock National Park.

This place is truly amazing, and we know that the 2 weeks won’t cover even the 1% of what’s here to do.

Red Rock Day 7 – Back to Calico Basin

Day 7, Saturday – and a holiday for that matter. November 11th in the States is Veteran’s Day – a guarantee for big crowds everywhere.

Clare and Calvin figured out that the best bet was to escape to some far away, rarely visited crag, ideally outside of the loop road. They decided to go to Southern Outcrops, way out of everyone’s sight.

As usual, they were gone before Paul and I even had our bags ready. This time it paid off not to be fast, as we soon got a text from Clare that said that the access road was in bad shape, and it was best to pick a different spot. They decided to go and do Lotta Balls (5.8, 3 pitches 140m) in First Creek Canyon – the crag’s classic.

Below: Calvin on Lotta Balls

Clare’s text was good intel, so Paul and I decided to go back to Calico Basin’s Gnat Man’s Crag – a place we all visited earlier in the week.

While the place was completely overrun, and the car park and most of the roadside spots at capacity, we managed to squeeze in on one of the side ones. A short walk and quick scramble up to the crag and we were in a nice shade, with almost nobody nearby. All the tourists were down at the path below, and all the climbers were at the crags that were accessible easier.

The first few routes we’ve tried weren’t actually in our guidebook but looked manageable from the ground so we gave them a go. I turned out stuff was harder than expected. Still not a problem at all for Paul, I did struggle a bit at this elusive 5.11a grade… (F6c sports or E4 6a for trad).

Below: Paul on top of the Gnat Man Crag sector. Some routes you can lower off, and some require sketchy walkoff.

We did the following routes (mix of bolts and trad, Paul on Lead, me on 2nd):

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/119843421/mad-mission

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105733025/p-coat-sleeve

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/120206528/jonnold-arete

https://www.mountainproject.com/route/119918035/night-slabbing

We also walked in to check out The Fox – one of the Red Rock Mega Classic Cracks, which we passed earlier, but unfortunately, someone beat us to it and was just setting up at the bottom of the route.

Below: The Fox - mission for another day!

So finished the day on https://www.mountainproject.com/route/113755256/gnat-man-on-ranch-hands (which I didn’t try).

Below: Paul eyeballing first super high bolt of Gnat Man on Ranch Hands

Red Rock Days 5&6

For Paul and me, day 5 was meant to be a trip to Pine Creek Canyon and climbing Red Rock classic – Birdland – a 6-pitch 5.7+, 180m.

We thought that since it was midweek, we might get away with not having to get up at unholy morning hour, and just show up at the base and climb at leisure 10am or so. After all, for the last couple of days, it is what we did and it worked ok.

Calvin & Clare (who decided to take it easy and rest at home) just looked at us and smiled (knowing very well it was a risky plan) but wished us luck nonetheless as we were leaving the house at 8:45am.

By the time we strolled to the ‘viewing’ distance of the face, it was obvious to us that we wouldn’t be climbing it that day. As a matter of fact, we wouldn’t be climbing anything in that area – the place was very busy. Birdland had a party of every pitch already, with another one waiting to set off at the base already. There were climbers on all popular adjacent routes as well.

Below: Many teams on Birdland. How many climbers can you spot?

We just looked at each other and decided to take a day off too. We did a little looped hike to check out the area a bit, and back to the car it is.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing with C&C at the house, and in the evening Paul dropped me off to the South Point Casino, for the 6pm tournament.

This time I finished 18th out of 114 players (16 was the bubble). Deep, but not deep enough for my liking. The game ran great for me in the first couple of levels, where I made it to 300BB in the first 20 mins! With time, however, others caught on (as it’s expected in semi-fast tournament play).

Below: 300 big blinds after 20 mins? Happy Days!

The pivotal hand was when I lost a big pot (25bb, 1/3rd of my stack) when I raised 2.5x from the Button with black K9s, BB called. Flop 499 (2hearts). BB checks, i Cbet for 1/2 pot and get jammed on. Can’t fold here. I’m only beaten by 44 and A9. People here will jam with all sorts of over (and UNDER) pairs, as well as flush draws. Unfortunately, this nice lady woke up with 44. Cooler. A little card dead from then on, won some and lost some, but blinds rose quick in the middle stages of this game.

The final hand was in the Bubble stages of the tournament, I had 5bb, MP limped (always suspicious!), but I couldn’t ignore my TT, and pushed for all of it (in 3 hands blinds would get to me, and after BB+ante, I’d be left with 2BB). The player to my left just called my all in. It’s back to the initial raiser who suddenly re-raised all in. Everyone at the table immediately knew what it meant. The Caller folded reluctantly, and as we all correctly guessed, the limper was trapping with AA. K high runout was no good for me, and that was it.

The buy-in was still worth the 5h of entertainment value. I hope I can play this game once or twice more before we leave in 6 days.

Day 6 – Return to the Pine Creek Canyon.

Calvin & Clare decided to go to the Brass Wall Area of the Pine Creek Canyon

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105732063/brass-wall and targeted some lesser climbed lines (mostly to try to avoid the crowds). Somehow they always get up before us and are out of the house first (They are that good and motivated, or maybe we are just lazy!).

Below: Clare on one of their routes on the Brass Wall.

Nontheles they had a long day, and returned home at the same time as us. Clare said that access there is particularly challenging and convoluted.

We decided to go back to Pine Creek, but instead of going for Birdland and getting disappointed again, we aimed at the opposite side of the Canyon and hoped to get on https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105732018/ginger-buttress and hope that either https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105732431/unimpeachable-groping (7 pitch 5.10b bolted + some trad, 230m) or https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105732260/ginger-cracks (7 pitch 5.9 trad, 270m) will be available.

Little did we know, the traffic on those routes wouldn’t be a problem – but getting to them would! To be honest, we probably still left too late….

Below: Our main objective for the day.

The approach is a maze of interconnected paths, shrubs, cacti, boulders, and other obstacles, with a lot of it uphill. The book says around 1h approach. We gave up after 2 hours, after getting lost one too many times. By the time we knew where we were, it was rather late to start such a big route. We turned around and went back down towards the main path.

Below: So close, but still so far away...

After some deliberations, the main motivator to try to find an alternative area was the thought of “What will we say at home to Calvin and Clare? Two days off in a row? We will never hear the end of it :)”

Either way, once on the main path we we walked back a bit and headed towards the Flight Path Area, on the opposite side of the Canyon. This was our 3h of walking.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105732090/flight-path-area

We did 4 out of 5 routes found in the particular section we were in.

3 of them that Paul led were bolted (with supplementary nuts needed). All of them felt like they’d be in the HVS range.

The Crack I led (Picture below), while impressive looking from the distance (or as seen on the picture taken from the top of the route next to it) was only at around HS 4b in difficulty, but very pleasant to climb!

Below: Paul on "Belief in proportion to the Evidence, 5.10a" and exposed start of “They Call the Wind #!&%”

All routes were nice, earning 2* (in the 4* system on mountainproject.com).

I was glad we went there, it was a nice way to redeem ourselves after the failures of the morning. Pine Creek Canyon is truly impressive and a host to a number of classic lines. The fact that the approaches are longer than elsewhere doesn’t seem to take away from the popularity of this truly breath taking place.

Below: Pine Creek Canyon as seen from the star of approach path, late in the afternoon (with majestic Mescalito, smack in the middle of it).

This weekend is a public holiday here in the US (Memorial Day) – with nice weather we expect all the popular areas to be very busy, so we are going to figure out what to do next later (maybe its time for some obscure area nobody wants to visit?). Time will tell.

Red Rock Day 4 – Willow Spring

Day 4 was Willow Spring – a neighbor to yesterday’s Ice Box Canyon, and as cold!

We showed up an hour earlier than usual – booked for 9 am park entry. Since the Willow Spring is around mile 7 of the loop road, it meant that we were at the car park around 9.20am.

We headed out for Hidden Falls Wall area, mostly because it was quite close.

The entire area was covered in shade, and we kind of knew it, so we brought extra layers, but as it later turned out, it wasn’t enough. It was around 12 or 13C, with rather strong cold winds through the days…

The first route we encountered – we climbed. It was a gnarly looking crack with an offwidth in the middle – called Black Track, that runs at 5.9 (or Around HVS 5a in our money).

Bolted belay at the top was a nice addition to the route, allowing us to get down efficiently.

Directly right of if was another route of interest: Sole Slasher AKA Big food – https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105732938/sole-slasher-aka-bigfoot

This was totally different type – face climbing with 4 bolts. I wouldnt exactly call it sports – as it has massive runout at the top (8 or so meters), and what’s worse, the first bolt was probably 8m off the ground too (albeit if someone really wanted they could put a cam on the way to it).

This route has a 5.10a grade, Around French 6a+ (if anyone is wondering).

Below Paul at the upper section of Sole Slasher/Bigfoot

Those two gave us a good warmup (albeit it was still quite cold!), so after a brief nap, we moved to a different sector.

Below: sleeping Slate Dragon no3.

We got out of the shadows to the main path and move along the walls towards area known as Ragged Edges.

This is where some awesomenes lives: a ton of routes of different character and difficulties.

The section we focused on had these 3 routes we climbed:

Ragged Edges (https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105732437/ragged-edges) – 5.8 (around) Vs4c, 2 pitches – Mega classic crack smack in the middle of the wall – I did the P1, Paul did the 2nd. Top tip – bring big cams, #4-#6 (we didn’t) or you are running 20m out). The route itself is fantastic. Not too steep, but also not too easy either. The first pitch has more interesting moves, but I think overall they are easier than P2. P2 has harder crux, but its short lived (just off the belay) – then its just the battle with the exposure and lack of big cams for 40 meters.

Above Paul following P1 of Ragged Edges.

Below Paul and half the gear placed on P2 of the same route (the middle cam is stuck there for a while- Jason – mission for you for next year to free it!)

Next was – Chicken Eruptus – https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105732836/chicken-eruptus – This is another classic of the wall – super exposed, super runout, 50m of continous super fun. 5.10b – (Paul thinks its around E2/3 5c). Clare and Calvin did it last time they were in this area 5 years ago. She thinks its more of an E3.

I got the pleasure to second it, and I can only say its the type of thing I’m certain I would never be able to lead. The route starts ok, very similar to neighbouring Ragged Edges, but higher you go, the holds thin out and the gear becomes more sparse and once you get to the hand traverse around 1/3 up(see pic at the top) – the game is on. The 2 bolts that protect the semi-blank section are super spaced out, tiny crimps are only visible due to residue of chalk of previous ascents, but they keep comming. Hats off to those who know how to beat this. Totally worth all the effort.

Above: Paul looking at the upper, exposed section of Chicken Eruptus . Its really hard to describe what it’s like being there. Page 246 of the guidebook has a fantastic picture, which I’m pasting below, just to show (as its impossible to photograph it while climbing).

After we were done with this one (both routes share the walk off descent to the right), we decided to do 1 more route – left of Ragged Edges crack, called Plan F – https://www.mountainproject.com/route/107793518/plan-f-first-pitch-510a

This is actually a first pitch of a much harder multipitch – but since its easily accesible and mutch easier than the top section, often done alone. This 5.10a ran at about E1 5b, with the crux just below the bolted anchors. Paul lead it and I cleaned it on TR. While the route looks like a nice finger crack, you can actually just use the small features around it (ableit it’s totally possible to just stay in the crack).

Below: Paul at the mid section of Plan F.

While we were at all of this, Calvin and Clare were exploring other crags of the same areas. It was even colder further up (they parked at the 2nd car park of the Willow Springs). It was a good reserch so we know not to go there on a colder day! :)

Next update in a couple of days.

Red Rock Climbing Trip – Day3

Day 3 was a very different experience from the first two ones.

Because of the heat, we decided to search for a more sheltered spot – we settled on getting into the Loop Road and visiting a place called Icebox Canyon – it did not disappoint. It was all in the shade all day, and with a wind, it felt like being in Kerry’s Gap of Dunloe in April or May.

The place is located around 15 mins drive from the entrance, and parking is very easy to find. Just off the road. Then just follow the trail for Icebox Canyon. The place itself has a number of sectors, we decided to go to one called Necromancer Wall – it’s the very first obvious wall on the left.

https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105732111/necromancer-wall

Walk off from the main trail isn’t obvious, and we missed it, but you can kind of whack your way in just trying to eyeball it. In reality, the first place that looks like the walk-off (down to the valley bed) is probably the one you should take.

The Wall offers 4 super climbs, all trad with additional options short walk nearby.

Paul and I landed under Hop Route – a 100m 2 pitch 5.7. The first one, a gnarly-looking offwidth, wasn’t actually too bad. Paul lead it and enjoyed it immensely. There is an option to belay after 25m, but it’s best to run to the top of the first pillar – it took 45m. Some big cams were useful, but the climbing didn’t feel harder than VS 4c. Build your own belay on top of the pillar.

I quickly followed (but had to warm myself up – I wish i brought more layers!), and was up with him in no time.

I took the rest of the gear and set off for P2. This meant traversing the pillar to the left edge and following the obvious crack to the top. This was easier than P1, and ran around HS4b. The crack ends after around 45m as well at the top of the pillar. I think in reality you meant to jump 1 more boulder to the very top, and then scramble down around to the back for bolted belay, but I’d be very hard with the rop drag.

I built the belay, brought Paul up, and then we did a short 10m traverse to the back pitch directly to the back belay off. From there 2 abseils had us to the ground (the 2nd set of bolts is somewhat hidden, its possible to get down in 1 go (that’s what C&C did, as their route shared the descent), but there is a risk of ropes being tangled).

It was still early so we decided to do another route – Sensuous Mortician – an obvious classic – a crack turn into fantastic face climbing with an exciting roof finish at the end. It goes for 37m at 5.9, which was around HVS/VS 4c. It generally has very good gear where needed but runs out in places. Still highly recommended! The roof has good jugs and is protected ok.

Paul and the ledge before the roof of our 2nd route

Paul led that, and belayed from the top, as our 50m ropes would be too short for up&down setup.

By the time we were down, Calvin and Clare were back too, after doing Fold out. A multi-pitch on the right side of the crag. They said it was very good too, with challenging route finding (as the 2nd pitch wanders to the left a lot).

Again, since the 5pm exit is heavily enforced, we finished the day at around 3.30 and headed to the cars.

We went home quite quickly, I cleaned up and Paul dropped me off back at South Point casino so I could participate in the 6pm 100USD tournament.

That was a lot of fun, and i finished 26th out of 104 participants, going out on a bad beat when my all-in A6 lost vs opponents limped A4 and A4xxx runout. Very sad about that, as this double-up almost certainly meant I’d make the money (top 16 were getting paid).

The game is incredibly soft and enjoyable and I’ll be sure to be back there again!

All pics: https://photos.app.goo.gl/htbVKjH5dh7PkUyS6

Red Rock Climbing Trip – Overview and Day1 and 2

I was lucky enough to be invited to Dal Riada’s Club Red Rock Climbing Trip.

More about the area here: https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105731932/red-rocks

This has been in the works by the legendary Calvin Torrans and Clare Sheridan for quite a while (over the summer) and we are finally here. Plan was simple -rent a house in fabulous Las Vegas, get 2 cars (1 for each pair), and explore nearby crags and mountains of Red Rock and other surrounding areas (all weather depending).
Expected conditions are mid 20C – just need to be careful of sun-exposed crags (easy to get baked in the sun) and rainy dais (where climbing on soft sandstone is forbidden then). The forecast has it full sun for extended periods.

I partnered up with Paul Collins (whom I’ve climbed with for quite a while over the years).

I arrived in the US a week before everyone. I’ve spent a week in my company’s HQ in Philadelphia, working on a big project with my US colleagues. This allowed me to not only accelerate the work but also break out the jetlag.

The plan here is to climb for 2 weeks, after which Paul and I are flying back, while Calvin and Clare will move further south for another 2 weeks.

In this series of blogs, I’ll try to give a quick day-by-day overview of the areas we visited and the climbs we did.

There was no time wasted – The team arrived on Schedule on Sat 4th evening and were ready to go from following morning.

Day 1

Sunday – we’ve visited the Nearby Calico Hills area. It’s within the Red Rock Loop Road – which requires a special park pass (20USD single visit, 50USD for the year)+ a daily booking in advance (2USD per booking). It’s rather inconvenient, but unfortunately necessary to prevent overcrowding of the area – its very popular with tourists…

We arrived at the gates around 11, did all the reservations from the phone online, and waited patiently till our 12pm entry slot.

Waiting for the entry to the park.
From left Clare, Calvin & Paul.

Once we were in we headed towards one of the areas (First pullout), and did a bunch of sport routes in the 5.7-5.8 range. https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105731953/first-pullout-calico-i

The crew in between the climbs. From left me, Paul and Calvin

Paul also wanted to try the crag’s classic – a 5.10a trad crack – https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105732941/panty-raid – which I was happy to follow him on too. It was everything that it was promised – great climbing on immaculate rock.

It’s mandatory to leave the area by 5pm (Parks regulation), so we finished around 3.30 or so and headed home). On the way back Paul and I visited a local Wallmart to do a supply run and got home to.

Quick dinner left us with plenty of time to visit nearby South Point Casino – where i spent some 3h battling poker cash games with the locals. I won’t talk about the results (as there arent any ;)), but it was a lot of fun – and I’ll be sure to come back more than once!

DAY2

Somehow the guys aren’t suffering too much from the jetlag, and are always ready in the morning for another adventure. Day 2 was as sunny as day 1 and we wanted to find more shaded areas. This time we went to a place outside of the loop road, that didn’t need timed entry.

We approach the other side of Callico hills from the side known as Callico Basin – the areas called https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105732135/dickies-cliff and https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105732138/gnat-man-crag

where we did a bunch of trad and sports routes.

Paul also did a route called https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106060936/gigantor – a 5.10c which happened to be too hard for me.

Paul on the way down from Gigantor 5.10a

Above – overview of the Dickies Cliff and Gnat Man Crag with overlay of routes Paul and I did.

Calvin and Clare went on further up the crag (right based on the pic above) and did a combination of aptly named (in Clare words!) https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105933142/spontaneous-enjoyment https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105933183/geriatric-therapy

Talking to them later – It was quite an adventure mostly due to the high winds they encountered, but everything worked out fine, and we all finished safely around the same time, and walked back together towards the car park (no snakes were encountered this time).