Rockin' Out in Sin City

So the Vegas REI was holding our 9.5mm 60m Mammut Infinity rope that we had ordered over the phone from Flagstaff, and while I primarily embarked upon this road trip to escape the dregs of civilized culture and modernized madness, I found myself driving towards the heart of The American Dream that Dr. Gonzo himself had entered, and promised myself that I would remain outside of the city and limit my stay to the surrounding rocks. Fortunately those rocks abound, and as I drove towards the flashing lights of Las Vegas I became giddy with the idea of climbing them.

When I pulled into the REI parking lot I was surprised to see an enormous apocalyptic cloud descending upon Las Vegas. I ran into the REI to pick up my rope with the hope that I may get some climbing in before the world ends. But, once inside, I was distracted by all the shiny stuff. So after drooling over trad gear for about an hour I thumbed through the Red Rock climbing guide book, took some route description pictures with my phone on the sly, and then stumbled upon a copy of High Infatuation, a book by one of my climbing idols, Steph Davis. By the time I made my way to the register with my rope and Steph Davis' book (I couldn't resist), I had forgotten all about the doom that lay outside, but I took these pictures just in case the world actually was ending.

Seriously...This thing was scary

I pointed it out for ya

One of the REI employees, a climber himself, gave me some info on where to camp at Red Rock for free. Later I would find out that I could have received a hefty fine had I been discovered by the BLM, who have a reputation for being very strict and unforgiving, and according to a local, had recently shot and killed a drunk pedestrian some weeks ago.  But I didn't know all this my first night, and made myself comfortable in the parking area of the Black Velvet Canyon access trail, where the lights of the city shined bright until morning came.

Parking

Well, in the morning I had planned to meet up with a dude from MountainProject to do some good ol' sport climbing in the Black Corridor. But before I would drive back up towards the Red Rock entrance, I jumped on the Mountain Bike for a morning ride.

The Morning View

This Lucky Duck went Riding!

Shade is a luxury in the desert

After riding I was severely parched, so Shadow and I made our way onto the scenic loop road, a meandering one way street that gives you a drive by tour of the Red Rock Canyon. I parked at the second pullout and met with Matt (I think that was his name) and and we set off to hop boulders and toss Shadow up onto high ledges in order to access the narrow canyon known as the Black Corridor, a a a rocky trench that was as wide as my wingspan. We found amazing sport climbs on either side of the corridor. There were plenty of 10's and 11's on high quality sandstone, filled with large huecos that made perfect knee bars and even hip-in-wall rest areas. It was good fun! And we both onsighted all the 10c's and d's, with cruxes pulling over the final roof. I highly recommend a stop there if you like sport climbing.

The approach

An R rated arete

As the day dwindled down we decided it was time to head to California. The plan was to stop in Bishop, where poor weather awaited. But if the storms passed quickly, we could then make our way up through the Tioga Pass and be in Yosemite by Wednesday, where Bailiff would be awaiting us.

Goodbye Red Rock