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.