Jubilant Song.In January of 2007, Shirley had a 4-day conference in Las Vegas. She took the rest of the week off and we climbed some Red Rocks goodness in between bad weather systems. This was a month after I sprained my ankle kind of badly in Cochise (side note – almost 4 years later now, the swelling still remains…ahhh, the memories). Despite these two factors working against us, we got two nice longish climbs in: Jubilant Song (5.8) on Windy Peak and Frigid Air Buttress (5.9+; route overview here) in Icebox Canyon…the names seemed like a logical choice for late January …did I mention the in between snow storms part? We also managed to squeeze in the two-pitch long Misunderstanding (5.9) in Black Velvet Canyon.
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Misunderstanding.I recall that the slab moves high on Jubilant Song gave me quite a bit of trouble with one largely immobile joint. The most vivid recollection of Frigid Air Buttress (other than the frigidness) was the PITA rappel. Somehow we missed a station and had to roll our own hanging near the ends of our 60 meter lines (yes, a screw up as I’ve been told, the station is there). Finally, I remember our accommodations quite well: the nice company sponsored hotel for the duration of the conference contrasted well with the crack whore joint we stayed in post conference in Old Vegas.
Photos
South face of Windy Peak from the trailhead. Jubilant Song climbs a dihedral on the left side of page (2004).Windy Peak from the approach hike (January 2007).Windy Peak (January 2007).Leading pitch 1 of Jubilant Song (January 2007).Shirley following our combined pitches 1 and 2 (January 2007).Views from low on Jubilant Song (January 2007).Shirley topping out on P2 of Jubilant Song. Much of the approach is visible below including the Football Field at the upper right hand corner of photo (January 2007).Leading pitch 3 of Jubilant Song (January 2007).Shirley topping out on pitch 3 (January 2007).Leading pitch 4 (January 2007).A slab traverse under a huge roof system; not so easy with an immobilized ankle (January 2007).More pitch 4 (January 2007).At the fourth belay (January 2007).Shirley starting up pitch 4 of Jubilant Song (January 2007).Shirley on pitch 4 (January 2007).Start of the traverse on pitch 4 (January 2007).The highlight of the route: pitch 4 traverse (January 2007).More of Shirley on pitch 4 (January 2007).Shirley arriving at the belay (January 2007).Shirley on the water streak pitch somewhere near the top of Jubilant Song route (January 2007).One more of the same pitch (January 2007).Shirley at a belay station near the top of Jubilant Song (January 2007).Almost back at the base after a friendly hike off (January 2007).Jubilant Song (III 5.8) on the south face of Windy Peak – click photo for a route overlay. View is from near the base (above the Football Field). Above P4, belay locations are approximate (doesn’t matter – plenty of ledges). Photo taken January 2007.Red Rocks (January 2007).Mount Wilson (January 2007).Leading P1 of Misunderstanding. Nice splitter of P2 visible above (January 2007).More pitch 1 (January 2007).Pitch 1 (January 2007).Shirley starting up the first pitch of Misunderstanding (January 2007).Misunderstanding pitch 1 (January 2007).Shirley arriving at the first belay (January 2007).Starting up pitch 2 of Misunderstanding (January 2007).Milking a rest stance on the wide hands splitter of pitch 2 of Misunderstanding (5.9) on Whiskey Peak (January 2007).Shirley starting up pitch 2 of Misunderstanding (January 2007).Shirley on pitch 2 (January 2007).Shirley topping out on pitch 2 of Misunderstanding (January 2007).On approach to Frigid Air Buttress (January 2007).Starting up Frigid Air Buttress (January 2007).Higher on pitch 1 (January 2007).Shirley following pitch 2 (our P1) of Frigid Air Buttress (Jan. 2007).Shirley nearing the top of pitch 3 of Frigid Air Buttress. Photo taken from top of P4 (January 2007).Looking up at pitch 5 and beyond (January 2007).Leading the easy but aesthetic chimney on pitch 5 of Frigid Air Buttress (Jan. 2006).Looking down from lead of the cool chimney on P5 of Frigid Air Buttress. Shirley’s belaying on a huge ledge below (January 2007).Out of the chimney (January 2007).Shirley following the nice chimney on pitch 5 of Frigid Air Buttress. As with most belays on this line, there’s a huge ledge below this pitch (January 2007).Shirley following pitch 5 (January 2007).Starting the lead of pitch 6 of Frigid Air Buttress – fingers (or mostly face) to hands to OW. A decent crack (for Red Rocks) with the OW section slightly reminiscent of Generic Crack in Indian Creek (January 2007).Higher on pitch 6 of Frigid Air Buttress (January 2007).Views from high on the route (January 2007).Topping out on pitch 6 (January 2007).Shirley topping out on pitch 6 (January 2007).Starting the lead of pitch 7 of Frigid Air Buttress – up the short chimney, then up into the narrowing one (easy stemming outside; January 2007).More of pitch 7 (January 2007).Shirley on pitch 7 (January 2007).Pitch 8 (January 2007).Shirley topping out on pitch 8, a large ledge at the base of the crux pitch (January 2007).Starting up the crux pitch 9 (January 2007).More of pitch 9 (January 2007).Chilly Red Rocks in January (January 2007).At the crux of the crux pitch (January 2007).Nearing the top of pitch 9 (January 2007).More views from high on the Frigid Air Buttress (January 2007).Shirley on pitch 9 (January 2007).Shirley following pitch 9 (January 2007).Nearing the top of pitch 9 (January 2007).Starting pitch 10 (January 2007).Shirley belaying the start of pitch 10 (per description) – a cool ledge just above the crux pitch on Frigid Air Buttress (January 2007).
