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.

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.