More about Red Rocks

Ahhhh, life has finally slowed down for a little bit. I just got back from Red Rocks (you'd think I would be bored with that place by now!) with Darrell, Greg D. and Rob. The plan was for a day of sport climbing and then long routes the next 4 days with the last evening in a hotel on the strip. I had a great trip and felt really good about my climbing. The first day I redpointed an .11c sport route at Dog Wall that I had been projecting for 2 years now. Apparently that meant that I was ready for some heavier stuff, so I followed Darrell on a mixed 4 pitch .11c on one day and then we hiked in to the base of Levitation 29 for an early start. Levitation is a 9 pitch 5.11c and the supposed "best" route at RedRocks. I had looked at it in books and pretty much dismissed ever climbing it but Darrell convinced me to go and WOW! what a climb! I led a .10 and a .8 pitch and Darrell led the rest up to pitch 5. The rock quality is just incredible on the whole route, it protects very well, and the climbing is incredibly diverse along the way. The coolest feature in my opinion is the big roof on the second pitch that has some huge jugs in it. Way gnarly! Unfortunately, it was also snowing for a good portion of the day (in April!?!) so we bailed after the crux pitch. I will have to go back and finish that at some point. It is just too good.

While we were camping up the canyon, we saw the most interesting wildlife. I spotted eyes in the shadows watching us so we lit it up and there was a little Ring Tailed Cat. It looked exactly like a ring tailed lemur which was kinda creepy but it was way cuter. There were also several herds of Bighorns up the canyon. Oh, and Perigrines too. There was a nest near the route and I got to see a few of them up close. And Greg caught a scorpion trying to enter our tent. I guess that is the one plus of winter there; no arachnids.

Ever notice that it snows on trips alot if you are an OMC member? It really is kind of a guarantee that you will see some snowy weather on OMC trips. So Rob thought up a new slogan for mountain club. "Oregon Mountain Club: Get Snowed On!" I think on a sticker it would work nicely.

I officially lose my job on June 5. Man, job hunting sucks. Among others, I got 2 apps in to a place in Corvallis in March and called the other day to see what the deal was and they said the hiring comittee made its decision early July. Sooo, now I am looking again. Maybe I will just hang out with Greg and go climbing for all of June. If you havent heard, Greg quits Target June 1. Way to go Greg!

Unfortunately, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but here are some from the trip and a few from the past weeks.