Red Rocks

While in Vegas I was forced to take in the sights. I said it, and then heard it from at least two other people independent of my saying it. "The Vegas strip is everything that is wrong with America." It was interesting to see, but I don't feel the need to go back for anything but the climbing. I really hated the cigarette smoke. On our last night we ate at an Irish restaurant in NY NY called Nine Fine Irishmen. The food was awesome, and the company was even better. They also had a very good Irish band that was fun to listen to.

We got to see the Desert Bighorn Sheep. I have seen sheep in the Catalinas, the Silverbells, and now in Red Rocks. It is always a treat for me to get to see them.

I have been saying that climbing Crimson Chrysalis was the highlight of my trip, and it was very good, but the best part of the trip was the good people that I went with. CC is on the far right of the rock with the red cap. It is 960 feet tall, and 9 pitches long.

This is from the top of the third pitch. It really was an adventure. We had at least two other parties bail off below us. It can be intimidating.

Here is Mike on top. 960' off the ground. It was a hard won ascent. We got up with the alarm at 4:00 am. We parked outside the gates of the park because it doesn't open until 6:00, and we wanted to be the first on the route. The approach is steep. At one point we had about forty yards to get to the base of the climb, but I had to do it in three pushes. (Before you judge me please know that I had started to get sick on Sunday, and this was Tuesday. I tried to pretend that I wasn't sick because I didn't want to ruin anyone's trip. I had a splitting headache though.)

Mike lead the first pitch at 7:30, and we swung leads from there. It was awesome leading 100+ foot pitches. What wasn't as awesome was that every pitch ended in a hanging belay. When we topped out we hung out for a few minutes, and then started the long process of rapping back down the way we came. I think it took us as long to rapp off as it did to climb the route. Mike tied our backed up European Death Knot, and we proceeded to get our rope stuck, (but not irretrievably so), on just about every pitch. The route is famous for trying to hang on to your ropes. It is also famous for having to rapp straight down the route. It is hard not to hit the party climbing behind you with your ropes. It requires good communication, and a little diplomacy. Our rope hit the ground at 5:20 pm. We threw our hands in the air and cheered like two men who had just received a call from the Governor. We knew we would live, not loose a rope, and have a great story to tell.