Goto Chockstone Home

  Guide
  Gallery
  Tech Tips
  Articles
  Reviews
  Dictionary
  Links
  Forum
  Search
  About

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

  Shop
Chockstone Photography
Australian Landscape Photography by Michael Boniwell
Australian Landscape Prints





Chockstone Forum - Trip Reports

Tells Us About Your Latest Trip!

Author
Red Rocks, Nevada

Megan
28-Apr-2005
4:40:06 AM
I'd been hanging out for the Red Rocks trip since I'd booked my flight ($98 return, bargain) 5 weeks beforehand, and then talked Ben into coming up from Mexico. But then a couple of weeks before the trip, I managed to either partially tear (or strain?) a tendon in my left ring finger. Whatever I'd done, it hurt, and there was to be no hard climbing for me. So, some long easy tradding was planned...

DISCLAIMER

The Red Rocks Trip Report by Megan is a work of fiction. It tells the story of two of Chockstone's Northern Hemisphere correspondents (megan and bne), and their adventures in Red Rocks, Nevada.

Any references to real people, living or dead; and real events, businesses, organizations, and locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.

(and it's also very long)


THURSDAY – In transit

I had arrived in Vegas and was greeted by bright lights, rows of pokie machines, and some scary scary people. I panicked, and started playing Australian music on my Ipod. After wandering around the terminal aimlessly for a while, I received directives to find Oscar (Mr. "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"). I commenced a thorough search of the airport, and found him in one of the bars, surrounding by girls, holding a huge wad of cash he’d already won, and drinking two beers at once (how he managed that with only two hands I never managed to work out). With difficulty, I dragged him outside, despite the protestations of the girls. Once outside, we were soon rescued by Vegas (this is where it gets complicated - one of my friends nicknames is also Vegas - I'll leave it up to reader discretion to know when I'm referring to the climber, and when to the city) and Tammy in the magical hire car, and we then set off to find Ben at the International Terminal. After watching people gradually trickle out of customs, Ben finally came out, and we headed back to the hotel. There was a marked lack of hijinks, as we all collapsed into bed, thinking we were exhausted – it was nothing to what was to come.

FRIDAY – “It's this colour, except brown.”

benWe opened the hotel windows to views over Las Vegas, with the rocks off in the distance. Excited (well, I was anyway), we headed off to the car, on a mission to meet up with the others at Starbucks. We scoped out potential chapels to get married in along the way, and discovered that meeting at Starbucks when in Vegas is a bit like meeting at the casino. Eventually the right Starbucks was found, assisted by Oscar’s special tingling Starbucks spider-senses. Vegas, Tammy, Ming, Todd, Suzy and Mike were located in the carpark, and after hauling everyone away from the coffee, we headed off to the rocks – to the First Pullout. The mission - the Black Canyon, and bolt clipping.

benAfter an uneventful walkin, we got to the canyon, people climbed things. The climbing was pleasant and cool, except for that hour when the sun was overhead, which caused everyone to mysteriously start removing all their clothes. Vegas impressed everyone with his skills when he caught his contact lens during a lead fall, and proceeded to lower, replace the contact, then keep climbing. Ming cursed his new climbing shoes, as they compressed his feet so much that fusion was surely about to start.

As the day wore on, a few of us wandered to the end of the canyon and started trying to stick our head in a hole (yes, it really didn’t make much sense), and throw rocks in another hole, while the hardcore climbers climbed on. James and Julie wandered over towards the end of the day, but decided to keep on climbing, as we all headed off to book into the time share.

As we drove back into town, Ming and Opie became alarmingly over-excited in the car in front, and impressed us in the rear car with their funky dance moves. After booking in, we hit the timeshare, and the showering process of 10 dirty climbers began, as Crazy Gil and the minivan arrived. An enormous esky of beer and soft drinks materialised in the kitchen, courtesy of James (and his work). We start making a dint in it. Meanwhile in the lounge area, trouble was brewing as Ming, Opie and Ben formed the Universal Tasting Society. They concurred initially on the tastes of some chocolates, and then Tim-Tams, and from then there was no stopping them.

at sensiWe were all getting pretty for a dinner at Sensi, in the Bellagio, where Oscar had lined us up with a private room, courtesy of his pastry chef friend, Kenny. Later that night, we were all to fall in love with Kenny. But first there was wine, and delicious food, and then falling asleep. And then the desserts came. We ended up with one of everything, and restraint was needed as we all shared between the 12 of us. The soufflé , the crepe, …. oh, the goodness of the food. But time for sleep and bed, home we went.

Quote of the day, courtesy of Tammy (pointing at her pale green top) - “It’s this colour except brown.”

SATURDAY - “I concur”

We attempted to rise early. Some people succeeded. Other people rose in a zombie state, ate breakfast, and returned to bed, unable to process the noises coming from other peoples mouths. A crew of enthusiastic happy climbers headed off to Panty Wall. Vegas wandered off to check his email, while the rest of us slumped in bed, attempting to pretend the world didn’t exist.

Eventually we managed to drag ourselves to a state resembling consciousness. Ben and I played the traditional “fit yourself in stupid small spaces into which you couldn’t possibly fit” game, followed by an impromptu wrestling match. We were all awake by then, so we headed off to Panty Wall to join the others.

julieWe didn’t anticipate that on the way to the rock we were going to be waylaid by a gearstore though. Ben needs new climbing shoes. Ming’s climbing shoes hurt his feet… maybe he should buy new shoes too? And Vegas can’t resist trying on some approach shoes… they all walk away with a new pair of shoes. And I get startled by the pet rat that lives in the store, as it was running around on the counter. No, Mr. Shopkeeper man, I’m not afraid of rats, I just wasn’t particularly expecting one to be running around on your counter. They’re not exactly a common fixture in stores.

julieAs we arrive at Panty Wall, I noticed there seemed to be a suspicious number of people huddling under the tree by the cliff (the only shade available) rather than climbing. The enthusiastic new arrivals got harnessed up and started climbing. I top roped a 5.7, then had my arm twisted by Julie (well, sort of) into leading a 5.8, which was fun, and didn’t really require any moves with my injured left fingers. A crew moved to the upper wall and started playing on the silly slab climbs, including Ben’s friend Susan, and her friend Gabe. I watched Ben and Susan

Megan
28-Apr-2005
4:41:56 AM
SUNDAY – Where we discover the goodness of the shrimp brownie

mescalitoThe new arrivals had pushed the number in the 2 bedroom timeshare up to 14. This made creeping out at 5am a bit interesting, as for some reason FIVE people were on the floor in the master bedroom. Nonetheless Boer and I manage to sneak out with our gear, and get to the park in time to queue for a 6am entrance (how hardcore are we!). The race was on once we got into the park, and as we pulled up at the Pine Creek Canyon pull-off, there was only one car ahead of us. Trying to be subtle, I enquired as to what climb they were planning to head up. It wasn’t Cat In The Hat. Phew. We headed off to Mescalito South, where the 5.6 trad multipitch classic Cat In The Hat was located. After a few wrong turns, which I prefer to think of as ‘alternate directioning’, we were at the base of the climb. Boer racked up to run the first couple of pitches together, while I found a cute mouse with large ears, that ate half of one of my cashews (ok, fine, I fed the mouse a cashew, I’m one of those evil people that feed wildlife. At least it wasn’t an m&m).

P4The climbing on the first pitch was nice, then the climb turned into a set of ledges, that we scrambled up to get to the next point where it was worth belaying. As a result I ended up with a short third pitch lead, that seemed like it was over before it began. Boer headed up pitch four, while I continued to find rodent wildlife – this one was small and furry, with some stripes on its head and a furry tail. Boer was greeted by the call of “Oh Boer, I can see a thingy!” (I’m sure he was excited as I was). Half way up the fourth pitch is a new and shiny DMM booty cam. I spend nearly half an hour standing there trying to wiggle the damn thing out. Change stance, wiggle cam, poke with nut tool, pull at lobes. Change stance. Wiggle cam. Repeat. I had to leave it there in the end :(

the creekPitch Five was mine, and a short traverse. Damnit, why am I getting all the boring pitches? I take this back as I hit the runout slabby section on the sixth and final pitch, with a fair chunk of rope drag to make life even more fun. There are some swallows around that seemed to be taking pleasure in whooshing past me noisily at full speed, as I try and stay attached to the rock. Then we’re both at the top – and we haven’t come across anyone else on the climb! Apparently this is highly unusual. We rappel down carefully, far too aware of all the horror stories we’ve heard of stuck ropes on this climb. The rope graveyard of all those old and faded tags of rope sticking out of cracks on the way down makes us even more careful. As we get down to the top of the fourth pitch, we run into some other climbers – Canadians. We wish them luck trying to get the booty cam out, and head on down.

After most of the day spent in the sun, we head for the creek. There is talk about doing another climb, or at least the first pitch or two of another climb. But time flies as we lie on warm rocks in a creek full of cold snow melt, and in the end we walk out and head straight back to the timeshare. Showers are had, some of the guys hit the hot tub, then we head out for all-you-can-eat sushi. Things are relatively quiet as plates are stacked with food, and starving climbers are satiated.

Megan
28-Apr-2005
4:42:40 AM
After the initial starvation pangs had disappeared, somehow, and I’m not really sure how, Ben and I come up with the concept of sushi brownie. We were thinking of using salmon, but when Ming offers to eat our creation, he showed a preference for shrimp… sooo, shrimp brownie it is. Ben and I headed off, and created our food masterpiece – Ben was keen on adding some Wasabi, but I was pretty sure that the delicate flavours of the shrimp brownie are probably quite enough on their own. Ming went through with it and ate our masterpiece. And although I’m not entirely sure what sort of score it would have received from UTS, it was acclaimed as a brilliant fusion, a transitional dish between the main course and dessert. Ben and I retired from our roles as culinary geniuses – there was no way we could have beaten the high point we had reached.

By then, the tiredness was kicking in again, and everyone was beginning to find everything unusually funny. Silly conversations abounded. Following dinner, the piker-crew (aka. the Monday multi-pitch crew, of Megan, Boer and Ben) headed off with Vegas to drop off Oscar at the airport, then go to bed. The others head out onto the strip, to do their crazy thing again.

MONDAY – “Like climbing on a sandcastle”

I awake to Ben hurling himself on top of the bed between me and Tammy. It’s not official multi-pitch time yet though, so I keep napping. Tammy and Opie tell us garbled stories of people going out on the strip and selling all of the beer (and the esky) and then gambling away all the profits in a dramatic fashion. Boer sticks his head in and tells us it’s time to get up. Booo! Mean Boer! We herd all of our stuff together – it’s check out today, so we need to store everything in the car. Another early morning drive out, but today we arrive at the park closer to 7am than 6.

megan and benWe park at Oak Creek Canyon, and start another long hike in. The rock seems so close, but as we keep hiking it just doesn’t get any closer. Some steep scrambling on loose red dirt and rock ensues, during which I manage to save Ben’s life. We’re at the base of the climb, and I’m incredibly disappointed as we find another party already on Johnny Vegas (the 5.7 multipitch classic choice of the day) – we have to wait, and nap in the sun. Curses. They’re finally clear and out of the way, and we send Boer up to lead the first pitch. Ben and I second up after him, one on each of the double ropes. We’re unimpressed by the rock quality; after losing two footholds at once and taking a fall, Ben says it’s like climbing on a sandcastle. I’ve already lost one foothold myself, and am inclined to agree with him (the quote from one of the Grampians guide books comes to mind, about a climb so hideous that if you woke up next to it in the morning you’d chew off your own arm to get away from it). Now we’re learnt the hard way what to avoid (pretty much everything), we manage to not break off any more holds. And despite the poor rock, the position is excellent, and we’re not getting too hot – if anything, it’s a bit cool.

Megan
28-Apr-2005
4:42:45 AM
boerBoer somehow ends up having to lead both of the next two pitches, while Ben and I sing (the Beatles, as well as various other random things – ‘One Way or Another’, ‘My Highland Goat’, ‘Magical Trevor’, ‘Charlie the Wonderdog’, that sort of thing). The third pitch provided some interest, as Boer disappears off the edge of an arête to the right of us, then reappears below us somehow. On track again, he sets straight up the face. Ben then bravely volunteers to lead the final pitch (10 metres of 5.0). He proclaims the rock and gear solid, and Boer and I head up after him in bare feet. Boer doesn’t deal well with the lack of shoes – I begin to have suspicions that he isn’t really hardcore at all. boer and ben

From there it’s an exposed walk to the base of Solar Slab. It looks much nicer than Johnny Vegas, but we don’t have time to climb it now, so we head off down the Solar Slab Gully. It’s an interesting rappelling journey down – it’s not what you’d call a vertical route. I think the rap was done in about 7 steps. It was scenic though. Most amusing moment (for me anyway, yes I know no-one else finds it funny), was as I was clipped into the fourth or so rap station, feeding the rope through the chains. Somehow I was blocking Ben’s view of what was going on, and he got the idea in his head that I had passed the half way point in the rope, and was in fact feeding the whole rope off and down the cliff. Boer picked up on Ben getting worried, and their looks of concern, and Ben’s panicked cries of “Megan, the rope!” as I flicked the end of the rope off the end of the cliff was priceless. But enough of that. We didn’t get the ropes stuck (hoorah!), and got back to the car after a long long long trek.

johnny vegas viewsThe climbing gym was calling us to shower, so we headed there and paid the $4 necessary to get clean, before moving on to meet the other guys at the Buffet in the Bellagio. At the Bellagio, we joined the long queue. Thankfully we got our table reasonably quickly, and descended upon the food. Oh the food, so much food. So good. At this point we were all so tired that we’re laughing hysterically at everything – EVERYTHING! Except for Boer, who was looking at us all as if we’d gone mad (he claims he was too busy with the eating of the food to actually pay any attention to what we were laughing about – hah, why would you laugh, all that time spent with your mouth open, and no food going into it). Tammy can’t stop laughing at mine and Ben’s feeble attempts to tell our funny stories from the day. Ming was just adding a Viking hat to everything anyone said, and finding that hilarious. It really just degenerated from there, and I was laughing so hard I was crying.

We leave the buffet, say bye to Ben and Boer (who are going to be sleeping in the car overnight) and head to the airport. There are hoards of people crowding to get through security, and it was a relief to reach the relative sanity of our departure lounge (I say relative, as most departure lounges aren’t packed with pokies – this one was. Of course, it’s Las Vegas). I sit and take the yoga guard position, as Ming and Tammy sleep. Finally it’s home time, we pour onto the plane, and sleep beckons. We arrive home to a DC that’s beautiful and warm… mmmm, warm. What sort of reality is this? I feel obliged to skip work.

PS Ben says everyone is invited to Mexico

PPS My full gallery of photos from the trip can be seen here.
bne
28-Apr-2005
6:00:09 AM
I concur

Rich
28-Apr-2005
9:04:54 AM
Man thats a great, albeit fictional, trip report Megs! Well done! How did you go getting down after turfing your rope?

Megan
28-Apr-2005
9:24:57 AM
Heh, it was all good, I didn't really turf it off. We had doubles anyway, so we still had the other one.

sarah
28-Apr-2005
12:40:37 PM
hey that tammy girl makes comments like i do, she sounds cool. Great trip report sounded like an "awesome" trip!!! your stories are always good
gfdonc
28-Apr-2005
1:30:42 PM
Cool trip report. Better than cool. Thanks!
- Steve/gfdonc

cheesehead
29-Apr-2005
12:54:44 AM
Yeah! Isn't RedRocks ace, even if it is a huge sandcastle?
Amazing to hear there were no Benny epic tales of near-disaster
bne
29-Apr-2005
1:59:50 AM
well, now that you mention it mat, the roprt did omit a fictional climb where susan got only half way up a route, lowered down and i tried to continue. passed her high point...bit of a run out, reached the next bolt..."draws...sh*t" "DO I HAVE ANY DRAWS?"

well, the beauty of sport climbing crowded crags is a friend conviniently loweiring down the route next door.
bne
29-Apr-2005
2:06:40 AM
oh...and the 5.0 was undergraded...it was at least 5.1....

Megan
29-Apr-2005
2:23:54 AM
Ah, damnit, I'd forgotten all about you forgetting to bring draws with you on that climb. Now that was entertainment.

Jackie
29-Apr-2005
3:36:59 PM
fantastic Megal!!!...hope you dont mind if i pinch a copy for Crapon...

There are 14 messages in this topic.

 

Home | Guide | Gallery | Tech Tips | Articles | Reviews | Dictionary | Forum | Links | About | Search
Chockstone Photography | Landscape Photography Australia | Australian Landscape Photography | Landscape Photos Australia

Please read the full disclaimer before using any information contained on these pages.



Australian Panoramic | Australian Coast | Australian Mountains | Australian Countryside | Australian Waterfalls | Australian Lakes | Australian Cities | Australian Macro | Australian Wildlife
Landscape Photo | Landscape Photography | Landscape Photography Australia | Fine Art Photography | Wilderness Photography | Nature Photo | Australian Landscape Photo | Stock Photography Australia | Landscape Photos | Panoramic Photos | Panoramic Photography Australia | Australian Landscape Photography | High Country Mountain Huts | Mothers Day Gifts | Gifts for Mothers Day | Mothers Day Gift Ideas | Ideas for Mothers Day | Wedding Gift Ideas | Christmas Gift Ideas | Fathers Day Gifts | Gifts for Fathers Day | Fathers Day Gift Ideas | Ideas for Fathers Day | Landscape Prints | Landscape Poster | Limited Edition Prints | Panoramic Photo | Buy Posters | Poster Prints