The Black Corridor and Treasure Island

Tuesday morning we decided to check out one of the more popular sport climbing areas in Red Rocks,  "The Black Corridor." It's a small slot canyon off the scenic red rocks loop that has been grid bolted to exhaustion.   In true Vegas fashion it is notorious for being full of loud, possibly drunk shirtless dudes trying to impress their girlfriends while ignoring basic safety.  Although overrun with trash in the past, a recent effort to keep things clean seems to be going OK as it was remarkably clean for Vegas (so... sort of dirty for everywhere else.  Keep it classy Vegas climbers!).  We went on a super hot day early in the morning so thankfully it was empty of the usual rubbish, human and otherwise.

The Black Corridor,  free from the  hordes of uncaring, unclean Vegas climbers on an early morning.

Until about 1pm both sides of the canyon are in relative shade.  The sun hits the area for about an hour after that, but soon the left wall is shaded again.  We spent the sunny hour standing against the walls chatting with a pair of guys visiting from either Alberta, Wisconsin, of Minnesota.  Needless to say the conversation was gripping and I was paying close attention.

We ticked off six routes that day, "The CEL," "Bonaire," "Rebel Without a Pause," "Vagabonds," "Nightmare of Crude Street," and "Burros Might Fly."  "Rebel Without a Pause" is supposed to be one of the best at that area.  It's short but fun, and I found it harder than the internet claims.  I think people are afraid of saying stuff is hard on climbing forums.  All the comments are about how easy the climbs are, and how people are inflating grades everywhere.  I thought it was hard for a '5.11a'.   Feel free to judge me Mountain Project.

Spelunking!

 We left the area about 4pm to check into our hotel.  We decided to stay on the  Las Vegas strip at Treasure Island,  take warm showers, and sleep in real beds for a night.  I think Vegas is fun and weird.  There is so much stuff that does not need to exist there.

Athena watches the fountain show. Although you can's see, she's looking beautiful.

We played some slots, and lost a bit of money.  Then I played some blackjack, and lost a bit of money.  And then we won some at Roulette.  I'de been practicing blackjack for a couple days, and had memorized all the rules for when to hit/double/split/stay.  So I did all the right things, and just had bad luck.  Sucks to loose but it was sort of fun to know what the right call was with every hand.  My dealer was dressed a Elvis, and was awesome.  Then he left and Prince took over.  He was also fun.  There were a bunch of Koreans at the table with me with tons of money.  It was fun to joke a bit with the dealer about the calls that the Koreans were making.  Just some ridiculous strategy.  But that's fine when you have money to throw at everything.  I think they had fun.

So my 'skill' lost us money faster than it should have. Thankfully we won some back by guessing black or red a couple times.  What a funny town.

We walked the strip for a bit as well.  Lots of pretty women and drunk people and unhappy looking people and homeless people being ignored.

We managed to 'win' 40 cents at two different casinos.  What luck.  We cashed them in person so the cashier staff would be jelly of our winnings.

The hunched over chain smokers playing slots by themselves in silence are some of the saddest people I've seen.  They don't really move or make facial expressions, they just sit silently in the middle of all the flashing lights and half naked women and stare at a computer screen tapping a finger to throw money away.  With such vacant faces.  I think it would be super interesting if someone did a documentary on them.  What are their expectations?  How did it get so bad?  Do they enjoy it or are they just addicted?  How much do they spend a night?  Have they ever won big?  How many hours do they spend a day at it, and do they have a family left?  I would also want to hear about their superstitions. What weird stuff do they do because they think it might be lucky?

"Please help up conserve water by using your towels more than once."  How about just turing of the giant fountain n00bs?

Tonight I have a couple boulder problems I'de like to get on in the Calico Basin area.  We are just waiting for the temps to come down a bit and the headache from last  night to go away.  Tomorrow will be another long multi-pitch trad day, Friday we are thinking of climbing "Prince of Darkness", a 6 pitch '5.10c' that looks really fun, and on Sunday we leave for the Palm Springs area to do some hiking with my Dad.  Should be fun.