Red Rocks, Las Vegas, Nevada, USACat in the Hat (5 pitches, 5.6+) Johnny Vegas (3 pitches, 5.9) |
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| Johnny Vegas, located in the Solar Slab area in the Oak Creak Canyon, was the last great classic in the Red Rocks Canyon we climbed on this trip. We had been extemely lucky with the weather, and I think very few people have been as lucky as we managed to climb four of the major classics almost without any company. The only downside to climbing Red Rocks Canyon in February is that the park closes early at 5 PM. If your car is not out of the National Conservation Area (which is where all the climbs are!) you will get a fine. It was sometimes a bit stressfull getting back to the car in time, but somehow we always managed to do it. Just by getting up early and climbing fast! | |
Elvira on the approch to the Solar Slab area (the big sunny slab above her head). Move the mouse cursor over the picture to see the route Johnny Vegas. |
Elvira leading the first pitch - her first lead of a 5.7 climb! Again, I was a bit nervous and quite happy when she yelled that she was safe in the belay! |
Elivra at the first belay looking up at a perfect dihedral which was great fun to climb. Our ropes stuck on the second pitch on the rappels - so I got to climb it twice and downclimb it once! |
Elvira approaching the second belay. |
The third pitch was the crux (5.9) with a fantastic layback in the dihedral shown above. The crux move was to traverse from the dihedral to the bolt on the picture. Not much for the hands and even less for the feet! |
Elvira on the final moves on the route. Actually there is a 5.4 slab as a fourth pitch which we didn't bother to climb. Have a close look at the big boulder in the middle of the picture...... |
It can be climbed if you trust it to stay in place! |
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