Mt. Charleston and Leaving Red Rocks

I saw a roadrunner!  Running across the road and into the desert outside Las Vegas.  It looked much like this, and not like the purple kind that coyotes seem to find so elusive.  I just got a new bird book and was really happy to be able to check off this awesome bird first.  Fun fact: the Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx Californianus) will sometimes hunt rattlesnakes in pairs.  One bird will distract the snake from the front while the other comes up from behind to pin its head.  They then bash it's head in and sup together in victory I suppose.  I was also interested to learn that the road runner is in the cuckoo family (Cuculidae).  It sort of makes sense if you look at other cuckoos, but definitely not a connection that I made at first.

Anyway... the roadrunner was seen on the way from our campsite on Lovell Canyon Road (have I mentioned how trashed this area is? Just terrible) towards the Red Rocks scenic loop and Las Vegas.  We were headed towards Black Velvet Canyon in order to climb the immensely popular 'Prince of Darkness."

I've got a sweet farmers tan going on.

As for why this climb is so popular... I have no idea.  The hike was really pretty, and you get to pass by the well known V12, 'Wet Dream.'  Once the wall came into sight we took a break to wait for the route to enter the shade.  The approach trail follows a dry stream bed, and involves a great deal of boulder hopping.  We found two of these boulders in the shade and had lunch of tuna on Triscuits and a mango.

Our coordinates on a helpful post.

The climb was painful and stupid.  It's so polished from the number of people that do it that the holds are greasy and the smearing a bit sketch in places.  It's closely bolted... so that's nice if it's your thing, but the constant edging is just terrible on your feet.  In my opinion there are way better multi-pitch climbs in the area.  Skip this one.  We did the first two pitches, decided the next four pitches probably sucked just as bad, and rapped.  Athena liked the climb a bit better than I did, so maybe I was just having a bad day.  (More likely it's just a terrible climb.)

The most painful way to get a nice view of Vegas.  It's somewhere in the background behind the smog.

We had Mexican afterwards as I was feeling bad about giving up on a climb.  That was probably the best part of the day aside from the roadrunner.  If you happen to be in that area, "Juan's Flaming Fajitas & Cantina" was amazing.  They bring roasted jalapeños and onions with your chips before the food and you get some delicious soup with your meal.

The next day was a slow start and we really only went bouldering.  I wanted to try sending "The Pearl" in the Kraft Boulders so we went for that.  After a couple warmups and a couple tries on the first move (a tough deadpoint from a good edge and pocket to a poor edge) I sent.  We also tried a couple other problems in the area, but nothing of note.  Sometimes it's nice to just play on things without caring if you get to the top.

The Pearl.  Trying really hard to keep at least one foot on.

To escape the heat we headed north to Mt. Charleston the next day.  There is a bunch of limestone and sandstone climbing there, and it's a much higher elevation that Red Rocks so it's much cooler.  All of the climbs we did were approached from the Mary Jane Falls trailhead.  The trailhead is hidden behind the Trail Canyon parking lot which was sort of odd.

We climbed at Sesame Street crag the first day, then Walla Walla Wash and Yellow Pine the next.  We managed a good number of routes, although most were rather low grade.

• Sesame Street: The Count Becomes Difficult, Snuffleupagus, and Don't Cry Big Bird
• Walla Walla Wash: The Hundredth Monkey, Lost and Found, Where's My Dog,  and Nighttime Shenanigans.
• Yellow Pine: 1057, some unknown 5.10b just to the left of 1057, and Yellow Pine

All the routes were good... only 1057 bordered on being really good.  Altogether a really nice area though, as you can just park at Mary Jane falls and reach a large number of moderate sport climbs.

We left Mt. Charleston that night to do some bouldering in the Red Springs area in Calico Basin.  Red Springs is next to the kraft boulders, and unfortunately isn't on mountain project. Hopefully some local will add it soon.  There was one problem (Spring Board) that I wanted to send and a couple others I wanted to try.  Only Spring Board (and some warmups) were sent.  The temps were still in the 90s as the sun was setting, so the bouldering was a bit... slippery.

Trying really hard on a VB.

We spent the night at Lovell Canyon again.   It was our last night in the Vegas area.  We headed down to meet my dad in palm springs the next morning.

Although climbing in Red Rocks in the summer was doable, it was difficult.  If you want to do long multi-pitch your climbing day starts at 1pm for most climbs, as the climbs that will get shade at some point are sunny till then.  Bouldering has to wait till 6:30pm or later, so you really only have a couple hours unless you want to wake up super early.  Even then it's still hot so everything feels really slick and hard.  That leaves sport climbing, which although fun in Red Rocks might as well be done at Mt. Charleston where the temps are better.  So... either be OK with starting the day at 1pm, or just go to Mt. Charleston.  We used the 'Vegas Bouldering' guide, and the 'Red Rocks, a Climbers Guide' books along with mountain project for each area.  If you need a guide, get these books.

The amazing taxidermy at the Mt. Charleston Visitors Center.  If you take a close look at this anorexic chipmunk, you will notice that one of his front legs has come to rest between his hind legs.