We made it to Las Vegas last night, just in time for 5pm creeping traffic in Sin City's searing heat. We jumped around different air conditioned stores running errands, and finally found ourselves at another Walmart for the night. We got up early to hit Red Rock Canyon before the sun really came back. We are a little out of season here, as the canyon faces east and is relatively low in elevation, so it is primarily a winter climbing destination that gets a lot of sun. We picked one of the few shaded routes in the canyon, Dark Shadows, that goes halfway up the pinnacle in the center of this shot:
We alternated leads, and Emily somehow got the tricky pitch that was still in the sun (not sure how that happened). There were some really cool features even on this one classic climb, so we'll definitely have to come back and hit the canyon again during the real climbing season. Rappelling seems to be getting more complicated as we go, and this climb was no exception. Descending directly below would dip you right into a flowing creek, so even after some delicate traversing, pulling the ropes put them right in the water. Couldn't complain though, as the cool water draining from the ropes down our backs were nice on the hike out.
After the climb, we decided to leave Vegas head straight for the Sierras to do some higher elevation climbing in preparation for Mt Whitney. Driving through the Mojave Desert in the middle of day during the summer with no AC is a little...uncomfortable, so we splurged for a hotel tonight here in Barstow to recharge and refresh. We were excited to see the largest thermometer in the world in Baker, but it was broken. Maybe it was too hot.
We are essentially winging it right now, as we are a few days ahead of schedule, planning to climb in the Needles for a couple of days near Isabella Lake in the south Sierras, then head back to Lone Pine for Whitney. It will be nice to get the sand out of our shoes and back on more familiar granite walls...
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