Red Rocks, NV - Viva Las Vegas

The weekend planned for Red Rocks finally arrived. It started out on Thursday night at Dave's place sorting thru gear and making sure we had all we needed. Friday morning came early and Karen (Dave's gf) volunteered to drive us to the airport. We ended up leaving Dave's place a wee bit on the late side and arrived to a huge line. It was a good thing we used online check-in because we skipped thru to another line to hand off our baggage and head over to security. Another long line at security delayed us further but once we passed the metal detectors we were off in a sprint to reach the furthest gate in D concourse possible. Final call for boarding but we made it - Whew! What we didn't know was that one of our bags wouldn't make it onto the flight and our plans to climb that day would be significantly hampered. Once we arrived in Vegas we had to rearrange plans and instead spent the better part of the day dickering around buying food and supplies for the weekend. Finally we hit the rock and decided to check out Calico Basin - I hadn't been there before and the rock was quite aesthetic. We ran up a two pitch route called something like "Over the Hill to Grandma's House" which has a nice roof with two variations. Sent both options and they seemed about 9+ish or maybe a Canadian 10 at most. Dave needed to blow some rust off his gear placing and so he ran up the route to the left for practice.

Yours truly taking the lead on the right variation of the 'Grandma' roof

Night came quickly and due to the rapid growth and urban sprawl so near to the canyon, Vegas like festivities are now within minutes of the crags. Off we went to some local strip mall to eat at a place called Agave. Now I can't complain about the drinks because I had a couple of fine Mojitos and the food was pretty good but the scenery was un-silicone-believable; it was obvious we were in Vegas and the surreality confirmed that.

Although it seems odd even as I write it, our evening of entertainment ended by heading back to our tent at camp and crawling into our bags. I tried to illicit some response from Dave about the next day's itinerary but he didn't seem to care at the moment and so off we went to dreamland with no fixed plan for the morning. At 5:30am I was awake thinking we should get an early start if we are going back in Oak Creek Canyon and doing a bigger climb but Dave wasn't stirring. I slept a bit longer until the sun was higher and warming the tent ever slightly. Breakfast yielded way to conversation about itineraries and we decided that we would go for Eagle Dance on Eagle Wall even though the hour was getting late.

Dave ahead on the trail to Oak Creek Canyon with Mt. Wilson

Parking lot elevation (we'll go to over 6000' on the route later that day)

Parking lot departure time

Note the helicopter practising rescue work (red circle)

Looking up Oak Creek Canyon

Spring time in the desert gives way to blooming cactus

Find the climbers doing Johnny Vegas

Oak Creek Canyon approach is tough going with ankle wrecking boulders - is that foreshadowing??

Eagle Wall up above from the creek bed

So it was about at the point where this picture was taken that I hoped over a boulder and landed on another with uneven footing. Unfortunately the ankle Gods weren't with me and I rolled my ankle. Ouch! I heard and felt the pop and somehow knew this was not good. I was not happy, we made good time to this point ~1.5 hours, the weather was ideal, the climb was clear and I was feeling strong both mentally and physically. As I sat and debated my condition, my ankle and Dave's desire for a climbing weekend, I decided that I would suck it up and continue on. Slowly I got up, shouldered my pack and we continued at a more moderate pace up the canyon. My rationale being that we had plenty of time and could turn back if things got any worse.

The 2 large pines are sentries to the ramps that lead to the climb

Dave ahead on the final ramps to the base of the route (say it "root")

A view back towards the start of the canyon and the back side of Mt. Wilson

These are called "Wife's Fingers"

The route starts in the weakness right of the big mushroom block

We arrived at the base 30 minutes behind our 2 hour allotted approach time but not bad for having a 20 minute stop to deal with my ankle and the slower pace we adopted. As long as I kept moving I didn't feel that I would be hampered that much by the strain. Dave and I discussed the need to move as fast as possible and if we had to walk off we'd need to be doing 45 minute pitches or we'd risk losing light. As Dave lead off I noticed rap anchors about 100' up the wall to our left. This gave me hope that the route may have been retro bolted and equipped with rap stations. I mentioned this to Dave and as he reached the end of the long 200' pitch he confirmed that there was a nice set of bolts and rings. Since we only had one rope we would need to confirm the trend on the rest of the route.

Super Dave leads off on P1

Work them pieces in!

We continued on with wonderful climbing and I kept an eye on the time, pitch lengths and rap stations. So far so good - we could rap the route! Around the 3rd pitch were the route passes through the eagle formation we encountered a couple of raptors that had made their nest on a large ledge. They squawked and squealed and one eventually started dive bombing to scare us from their nest. I tried to keep a low profile as to not stress or disturb them. The next pitch from this nest area requires one's own Eagle Dance to get off the ledge since the hand holds are all but gone for the first 15' or so. We paused at the top of pitch 4 to enjoy some Fillet Mignon Fajitas that were wrapped up the night before while hanging from the anchors 6000' up above Vegas.

I lead the last short crack pitch with much pain. I believe that the pause for lunch caused my ankle to start stiffening and this was not so good. The next pitch was an aid pitch which on any other day I would have been happy to shuttle but I wasn't interested in standing in aiders/slings with a knackered ankle. So I handed the rack to Dave and told him to do his best impression of some French climbers - easy there Francios!

Dave becomes an A0 aid master

We reached our last pitch and I beckon to Dave that we need to start our descent since it is now 3pm and based on my mobility and the number of raps we should take advantage of the light. We were down by about 4:30 with no hitches on the raps and started our way back. Almost out of the canyon, I was joyed that we got the route in even on my crappy foot. Then just 1.5 miles from the car - agony! I roll my ankle again on a loose tennis ball sized rock. Excruciating pain up my leg and a scream that woke James Brown. I was down for the count and had no ability to weight bare on my foot. At first I thought I could crawl out but the terrain was rough and I kept getting cactus needles in my hands. Dave said he would piggy back me and I couldn't believe we could do it but for the next 1.5 miles we worked out a system. Dave did an amazing job of taking his time and being solid on the trail. He would take a rest by walking back the distance we travelled to fetch the pack each time until we arrived at the 1 mile marker from the car. We ditched both packs and decided to go all the way to the car at this point. Fortunately some other climbers caught up from behind us and saved Dave on the last 1/4 mile. Not that he needed it but I'm sure he appreciated it!

Final verdict is I tore my posterior tibial tendon and I am in rehab for about 4 weeks before I can get serious again.

Red Rock winds tear a skylight in our disposable tent - note the poles thru the roof!