Red Rock - Day #2

It was a beautiful day to climb. The forecast called for full sun and very little wind, but it was chilly in the shade. My guide Andrew picked me up from my hotel on the strip at 8am and we headed to Red Rock. We were the 3rd climbing party to arrive in the parking lot. After a quick stop at the pit toilets (gross!), we strapped on our packs and started the one mile hike into the canyon. I'm not in the best cardio shape, so this hike with a heavy backpack was no small feat for me. We stopped twice to remove layers & for me to catch my breath. I didn't think about it, but my body isn't acclimated to the higher elevation in Las Vegas (I live 200 feet from sea level & Las Vegas is 2000 feet from sea level).

The original plan for the day was to send Cat in the Hat (5.6), but the first two pitches of the route were in the shade & after a frigid Day #1, I was eager to stay in the sun. We decided to change plans and try Birdland (5.7+). The grade scared me a little bit as I really wanted to get in my second trad lead, but Andrew assured me that I could lead the first pitch, which was graded 5.6. After some scrambling and prickly bush whacking, we finally arrived at the base of the climb. No other parties were there - sweet!

We quickly reviewed anchor building & then proceeded to start racking me up. I wanted everything. I was a little nervous & planned to sew this route up with as much gear as I could successfully place. Andrew was less than pleased with most of my moc gear placements on Day #1 & this made me want to place even more gear to protect myself in case of an unlikely fall. Just as we were reviewing our communication commands, a second party showed up at the base. Great... an audience & pressure to climb fast so as not to hold up party #2.

I didn't let the pressure get to me & tried to ignore their conversation at the base as I concentrated on my gear placements. It was going well until I started to run out of small cams less than halfway up the route. I started to get nervous that I would run out of gear, but Andrew encouraged me to find nut placements. Placing nuts is not my strong suit, but I managed to successfully slot a couple of them. Eventually, the crack widened and I happily started unloading my medium cams.

Towards the end, I gained enough confidence to space my gear out. I must have placed at least 10 pieces of gear on that pitch! When I finally arrived at the belay station, I took a deep breath & started to build my first self equalized belay anchor. There were 2 bolts at the station, which made it fairly quick to set-up & there was a large belay ledge with a nice boulder to sit on. I belayed Andrew up using a GriGri that I attached to the master point of my anchor. This was the first time that I had belayed off of an anchor vs. my harness. Upon his arrival to the ledge, he promptly shared his comments on each of my gear placements with all of them still fresh in his mind. Overall, he was pleasantly surprised & said that he would pronounce me a "solid 5.6 trad leader" in his trip report.

This pitch was great for a beginning trad leader. Lots of comfy holds & a crack that follows you the whole way up making for straight-forward gear placement & no route finding. It was just tricky enough to keep me fully engaged & definitely didn't feel like climbing a ladder. I loved it! Andrew lead pitches 2-4, which were all above my current leading capabilities.

Pitch #2 (5.7) started with an interesting chimney feature that got my adrenaline pumping as I stemmed and clawed my way through it. I think this pitch is where I acquired some of my lovely knee and elbow bruises.

Pitch #3 (5.7+) started with a ramp that was a little scary when you looked down to smear your feet & could see the ground below. This was followed by a tricky traverse and then some easy face climbing. The hardest part for me was transitioning myself from the ramp into the traverse.

Pitch #4 (5.6) was mostly easy face climbing with a nice traverse in the middle. I think I could lead this pitch after having followed it & knowing where the route goes & how to protect the traverse (you need to run it out quite a bit to properly protect your second from a big swing).

Pitch #5 (5.7+) we didn't get to climb due to time. I was a little bummed, but also felt pretty worn out. We rapped down the 4 completed pitches and passed 2 other climbing parties along the way. Party #2 congratulated me on my lead, which felt good. I apologized for taking my time (but not really, as we did arrive at the base first & I could have taken as long as I wanted - and I did!)

It was a fun trip & I learned so many new things, like: how to make an alpine draw, how to create the 'Magic X' in an anchor & what it does, it's better to 'over cam' than 'under cam', when placing a cam in a horizontal crack it will walk less if you place it with the wider lobes facing down, how to build 12-point anchors that are either self-equalizing or pre-equalized, how to coil a rope guide-style to throw off a ledge when rapping & how to set-up a rappel. There's so much more to learn, I feel like I've just scratched the surface.

Red Rock - Day #1

It was a wipe the snot on your sleeve, do jumping jacks to keep warm, drop some hand warmers in your chalk bag (oh yeah!), grin & bear it kind-of-day. For the majority of the day, I endured temps in the 30's and 20 mph winds. My guide called it "self torture". Torture that I was paying for, he pointed out. Yeah, if you had asked me if I wanted to go rock climbing in this weather with shade for about 1/2 the day? Ahh... No. Not that desperate, thank you. But, when you plan a climbing vacation, you don't have the luxury of picking your ideal weather & you make the best of it.

Prior to today, the coldest temperature I've climbed in was 55 degrees. I had on a base layer long sleeve & a fleece sweatshirt for this day (which was my first trad lead!) Today, I had on a base layer tank top, base layer long sleeve with thumb holes, fleece sweatshirt, fleece jacket, goose down vest & a scarf to wrap my ears with occasionally. 2 pairs of pants completed the ensemble with wool socks & comfy sneakers enjoyed between climbs.

My guide Andrew was a 24-year old full-time mountaineer man. He is the new lead guide in the Red Rocks area for his employer & has spent many months in Alaska leading expeditions with 4 summits to Mount McKinley under his belt so far. He was great. I learned more from him today than I have all year about constructing anchors. I'm confident that my first self-constructed belay anchor will be bomber when we climb multi pitch trad on Friday.

Today we climbed 6 single-pitch moderate routes on his lead, along with a lunchtime session on gear placement and anchor building. The plan for Friday is to send Cat in the Hat, where I plan to lead at least one pitch (maybe pitch 4?) in the morning and then hit another 5-pitch trad route about 15-20 mins away where we can bail after any of the pitches if we start to lose light or stamina.

It was a great day considering the weather. Looking forward to Friday's big multi-pitch routes after a day of rest.

Am I really doing this?

Next week I leave for Las Vegas, Nevada on a solo trip to explore Red Rocks.  This trip came together for me a couple of months ago as I thought about how I was going to get through the long New England winter without any outdoor climbing?   Simple... I wasn't!

Don't get me wrong -- I love climbing in the gym.  It's very social, relatively safe (when your belay partner is actually paying attention to you & not the hot guy walking by...) & it keeps me active during the week.

But, on the weekends I crave the outdoors.  Winter hike?  No thanks.  I'll happily daydream about an outdoor climbing getaway only "xx" weeks away.  So, without a partner to make this winter dream come true, I started researching Red Rock guiding companies online & decided on the American Alpine Institute.  They're headquartered in Bellingham, WA which is just outside of Seattle & they have some guides located in Las Vegas year round for guiding in Red Rocks.

I just started learning to lead climb & really want to continue my training through the Winter months to be more experienced when Spring rolls around again.  I'll never be a 5.10 lead climber, but I'll be pretty damn happy if I can trad lead a 5.7 or 5.8 route by the end of next Summer (which I feel is my current gym climbing ability).

After signing on for 2 full days of guiding, I received an equipment checklist & proceeded to go to work gathering gear.  Gym climbing for chicks requires minimal climbing gear + spandex pants + sexy tank top.  Outdoor trad climbing, with temperature variants of 20-30 degrees and elevations of 500+ feet, requires special climbing gear (cams, nuts, slings, etc..) multiple technical clothing layers, hydration equipment & nutritional planning.  Oh, and cell phone protection...  I just shelled out $50+ for an Otter Box Defender Series cell phone case that must have doubled the weight of my iPhone5.  I'll do anything for a great climbing pic... stay tuned!

So, while I'm really excited for my solo journey next week... I'm also nervous.  I can only prepare myself physically & mentally so far... (physically, I've been training at the gym every 2-3 days!).  However, when I take a step back & really think about it, I'm putting my life in my own hands & the hands of my guide.  Am I really doing this?  Yes.  And it's going to be awesome!

Brick Tower: For Sale by Owner

A close friend of mine recently told me that I have the biggest emotional wall she's ever seen. She lovingly described my wall as a brick tower.  With barbed wire.  And a moat.  With crocodiles... lots of crocodiles.  (Or were they alligators? I always get those two confused.)

At that moment, I had to laugh at the ridiculous picture that she'd painted in my head.  Truth be told, I also felt a little proud - like she had just awarded me 1st place in some sort of contest amongst her friends.

 But now, a few days later... that picture is still in my head.  Except, I'm not laughing. I'm alone in the dark. I'd like to give my blue ribbon back, please?

I know why I built the brick tower. I needed a safe place to hide while I licked my wounds and regained my strength. The barbed wire and moat were added as extra security when my tower came under attack. I think I ordered the crocodiles online in a late night shopping spree? Not sure.

The good news is that I've been safely locked in my tower long enough now that all of my wounds have finally healed. I have scars, but I'm confident that these will fade over time. I'm also pretty strong from climbing my walls. What else do you do to pass the time while locked in a tower?

But now I'm ready to climb the walls outside of my tower. Anyone want to buy a tower? I'm selling below market value. I'll even throw-in a free pair of climbing shoes.