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Before
La Cierta Edad.
It’s early November. We arrived in Red Rocks late Friday night & have gotten in a few warm-up pitches on Saturday. We’re hiking back to the trailhead. There’s an old man hiking into Pine Creek Canyon. “Hello Mr. Beckey” I say while scooping my jaw off the ground. He ignores me. Shirley’s hiking 20 feet behind me. She gets a big smile and – as I later find out – a wink from Fred Beckey. Lucky him that he’s 50+ years my senior…. who am I kidding, lucky me that the man is old. A wink and a smile from Fred go a long way apparently. The next day we do Black Orpheus swapping leads, with Shirley leading the money pitches. In fact, this trend has continued – Shirley has been sending all her projects at Smith (including shit that I’ve been hanging on and falling off of…did I mention that Beckey ignored me?), taking half the leads on multi-pitch outings, and tackling crux pitches that I just “was not in the mood for.”
Brass Wall Cragging
Varnishing Point.
It’s mid February. Once again rain has been driving us up the wall. Even Smith has been wet. We extend our Presidents’ Day Weekend by a day. An epic Valentine’s Night flight to Vegas and an even more epic car rental episode culminating with “Mister, I don’t give 2 shits about your reservation – my shift’s ending!!” It’s 3am by the time we crawl into sleeping bags at the 13-Mile Campground. In the late morning we hit the sunny Brass Wall for a short day of cragging. Shirley does the leading while I spray the ever helpful poser beta from base: “this one looks easy”, “that’s too much gear” etc…
La Cierta Edad in Icebox Canyon
La Cierta Edad.
We flip through the guidebook zeroing in on a plan for day 2. It rates La Cierta Edad 10c. Online opinions scatter from 5.9+ to 5.11-. Only one way to find out.
Shirley takes the odd pitches. Despite the tropical-sounding cliff name, Refrigerator Wall is shady and cold. How much worse can it be than Frigid Air Buttress last January? We start late hoping for more warmth. The descent gully next door has much ice. Blocks of it come off during the day – an alpine ambiance. The 160-foot first pitch with 4 bolts is like a cup of coffee. I’m happy to have a top rope. Pitch 2 is mine. Wide chimney to flakey crack. Great fun, especially when viewed from the bolted belay at top. Pitch 3 looks as though it favors taller folks. But that is Shirley’s problem now. She grabs the rack and starts up. Despite accidentally cleaning a flake (makes much noise as it bounces off my helmet), she sends the pitch. OK, time for the crux. Shirley smiles and gives me the rack. 10 feet of sub-vertical wideness, 2 feet of tips and crimps and the angle eases. WTF?! Was that it? The rest of the pitch consists of hollow sounding rock but easier climbing. Guess we’re through. Shirley dispatches the final fun (all pitches on this one are fun) 5.8 wideness pitch. Raps go smoothly and we manage to avoid icefall in the descent gully.
Sedona Scenic Cruise on Rock Of Gibraltar
Sedona Scenic Cruise.
We go to sleep planning on another Red Rocks route but wake up in the mood for a change. Probably the smell of bacon & eggs from neighboring campsite made us lazy. We head to Sedona for a different red rock experience. Once again I find myself “not in the mood” for the route we really wanted. We go for Sedona Scenic Cruise. Five pitches of 5.9 fun with – if you trust online posts – scenic views of Sedona’s suburban sprawl. Search for trailhead seems easy. Start the approach hike – wait, why are we moving away from the formation? Hike back to car. Drive around for half hour. Come back to same spot. Repeat same hike. Second time approach directions make more sense. We’re at the base. Entire formation looks like choss. I start up the first pitch – very nice actually! Shirley takes the even pitches. Crimpy climbing on sandstone takes some getting used to. Views are indeed scenic. Stone is solid. Nice mix of sport and trad pitches. The route is equipped for comfort of climbing: well protected climbing, large belay ledges, largely independent rap line, and a “summit register” hanging at final belay station (well below actual summit). We rap and are back in the car in the afternoon.
A quick dinner & a short drive back to Vegas. Morning flight home and we head straight to work. But wait – the f..ing airline has lost all of our bags: 200 lbs of climbing & camping gear!
Got our bags back later that night.
Photos
Brass Wall Cragging
Shirley leading Topless Twins (5.9) on Brass Wall. She's just entering the crux section. A great fun pitch! February 2008.
Shirley leading the crux of Varnishing Point (5.8+) on Brass Wall in Pine Creek Canyon, Red Rocks (Feb. 2008).
Unknown climber leading No Laughing Matter (5.10a) on the Brass Wall. Shot taken from near top of Varnishing Point. Juniper Peak forms the background & Community Pillar (route & formation) are at the far left (Jan. 2008).
Shirley rapping down from top of Varnishing Point (lower/easy 1/3rd of route is the crack on left) on the Brass Wall. Beautiful Red Rocks varnish glowing in a January sunshine.
La Cierta Edad in Icebox Canyon
La Cierta Edad route on the Refrigerator Wall. Icebox Canyon, Red Rocks, NV. Note that we took the right hand side rap option - the left one is not based on first-hand knowledge. All raps were done using 2 60 meter ropes (double 50's would probably work; single would mostly likely NOT work). Photo taken February 2008.
Shirley leads the first pitch of La Cierta Edad belayed by yours truly. Long 5.8 slab/crimp pitch with a handful of bolts. The upper pitches follow the chimney/flake on right (not the one with ice; Feb. 2008).
Shirley leading the first pitch of La Cierta Edad - a 5.8 slab on nice sandstone with well-spaced bolts for pro. Yours truly belaying. The rap gully on right is nicely iced up (Feb. 2008).
Leading pitch 2 opening chimney on La Cierta Edad. A great pitch! February 2008.
Leading the fun chimney on pitch 2 of La Cierta Edad (Feb. 2008).
Shirley following the nice crack on pitch 2 of La Cierta Edad. Wide angle view of this moment is here (Feb. 2008).
Shirley following pitch 2 of La Cierta Edad. Most of the route is visible in shot. Slightly different perspective on same instant in time is here (Feb. 2008).
Shirley leading pitch 3 of La Cierta Edad - a nice 5.10- stembox with some wide crack sections (Feb. 2008).
Yours truly following P3 of La Cierta Edad - nice wide stembox (or if you're short, a less nice dihedral; Feb. 2008).
Yours truly following the stem box (if you got the reach; else a stem dihedral) on pitch 3 of La Cierta Edad (Feb. 2008).
Looking down to Shirley at the hanging belay from a stance just above the crux of La Cierta Edad on pitch 4 (Feb. 2008).
Shirley leading pitch 5 (another fun one) of La Cierta Edad (Feb. 2008).
Yours truly following the final pitch of La Cierta Edad - a 5.8 wide crack/face pitch. Beautiful position & fun climbing (Feb. 2008).
Following the fun final pitch of La Cierta Edad (Feb. 2008).
Sedona Scenic Cruise on Rock Of Gibraltar
Sedona Scenic Cruise route on Gibraltar Rock (Feb. 2008).
Leading pitch 1 of Sedona Scenic Cruise (5.9). Shirley's falling asleep on belay duty at base (Feb. 2008).
Shirley starting up pitch 2 of Sedona Scenic Cruise - a bolted face pitch up some sandy face climbing (Feb. 2008).
Shirley at pitch 2 belay. The OW crack directly above is NOT pitch 3 (which had me going there for a while esp. looking at our lack of OW gear). Insead, you traverse left from belay (Feb. 2008).
Yours truly following pitch 2 of Sedona Scenic Cruise - great fun climbing with some colorful desert views (Feb. 2008).
Starting the scenic traverse on pitch 3 of Sedona Scenic Cruise - great pitch: short face traverse to a nice corner to a nice hand crack. For a view the opposite way, see here (Feb. 2008).
Shirley belaying me on the nice face traverse that starts P3 of Sedona Scenic Cruise. For view the opposite way, see here (Feb. 2008).
Shirley seconding pitch 3 of Sedona Scenic Cruise on Gibraltar Rock (Feb. 2008).
Shirley starting the lead of pitch 4 of Sedona Scenic Cruise....this actually turned out to be a fully bolted pitch (oh well, no rack needed). February 2008.
Leading past the chockstone on pitch 5 chimney of Sedona Scenic Cruise (Feb. 2008).
Looking back towards Shirley at belay from midway up pitch 5 chimney on Sedona Scenic Cruise (Feb. 2008).
Shirley hiking out after our climb of Sedona Scenic Cruise (5.9). Gibraltar Rock is in background & SSC follows (roughly) the left skyline (Feb. 2008).
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