Time for another climbing mission. A mission is a climbing trip that is very objective oriented and usually involves big routes and long drives. There is typically an early morning wake-up and a walk back to the car in the dark. Climbing missions are for weekend warriors, which is a term that adequately describes me these days. Climbing missions usually account for groggy Monday mornings.
And there is no one more fired up for a mission than Lauren Goddamn Ditolla. These weekend she and I pointed her Jetta South and ended up in Red Rock National Conservation Area, just outside Las Vegas. We were set up to climb Levitation 29, a route put up by Lynn Hill and John Long way back in the day (1980) and Cloud Tower, the "Astroman" of Red Rocks. It was a fairly ambitious plan, given that both climbs are .11+ and I only climb 5.10. That, and the fact that each climb is guarded by a death march. Death marches...what good can one say about death marches?
Lauren is a super good climbing partner. She's always fired up for climbing, drinking red bull or beer, or hanging out with buddies. She and her husband Mike are dear friends and people that I really look up to.
We left the SLC at 4 p.m., undaunted but daunted by the 7 hour drive to Red Rocks. The camping scene at Red Rocks is perhaps the most pitiful patch of gravel ever to be called a campground. No trees, no shelter, no shade, and no courtesy from the 105-year old campground "hosts" who drive by every 5 minutes in their diesel Ford F-5Millon. Try as I might to look upon the place with optimism, it resembles a barren wasteland in every sense of the word. We slumped into the campground at midnight after blitzing through the neon lights of never-ending Charleston Avenue. We threw the sleeping bags on the ground and were out for the night.
Which wasn't all that long, mind you. We were up and driving at 6 a.m., headed for Oak Creek Canyon and the approach. The approach to Levitation 29 is gorgeous; though long, it takes you up a winding, boulder filed sandstone canyon, with rock walls soaring precipitously upward. I have never seen so many flowers in Red Rocks. The desert was going off! We took some photos of the creosote bush in bloom, yucca in bloom, and some other plants that I don't know the name of.
Three hours after starting the hike, we arrived at the base of the climb and started. The first pitch featured some of the most bullet-hard varnished sandstone ever. Chocolate-y goodness, that had some long reaches past blank sections. I was able to lead through it okay, figuring out the balancy-techniquey sequences slowly but surely.
Lauren took over for the second pitch--a dramatic funky roof that is ever bolt clippers idea of a good time. It actually had a stalactite coming down from the roof, although I can't figure out how it formed. Pimping a flake through the overhang while focusing on good feet solved the puzzle and led to the third pitch.
Which was thin 5.8 trad, very enjoyable and mellow. The 4th pitch was good edges, with a thinnish 5.10 crux on verticle edges. We linked the 5th and 6th pitch (.11c and .11a). I sent the crux, which involved overhanging wide fist jams and a big reach, but took a fall on the enduro crimpfest above. Crap.
We fell asleep on the top of the 6th pitch on a shitty sloping ledge. We we're both freaking tired and needed a break. We probably rested an hour before climbing the next .10d pitch, which was pretty burly. Damn, now I was really tired. We linked the last 2 pitches, a .10a and .9 with some crap rope drag and called it a day. Nine raps later we were at the base, back in comfy shoes and eating snacks. We hiked out, got back to the car at 9:30, and got beer and pasta at the store.
Back at the campground, moving super slow in a haze of exhaustion and jubilation, mouths full of pasta and Fat Tire, Lauren spoke:
"I've got about 3 minutes before I faceplant into my pasta" Well put. Bed time.
The next morning we easily gave up on the plan for Cloud Tower, sent Starbucks and Trader Joes instead, and got the hell out of Vegas. I felt a little sheepish about backing out on Cloud Tower, but we were both freaking exhausted.
And it's always going to be there...
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