The second major area I climbed at was Red Rocks, near Las Vegas.
I spent three weeks sport and traditional climbing on the excellent sandstone here.
The weather was great in May and I climbed almost every day. On my rest days, I would head into 'Vegas and catch a $1.00 double feature at the Red Rock theater.
Then it was off for a gorging at the local all-you-can-eat 'Souper Salad'.
Camping is free accross from the Gypsum mine to the south, past Blue Diamond-a tiny town with a pay phone and grocery store.
It's not much to look at, but the price is right. The porta-potties and water tanks are a nice touch.
This 'ghetto in the meadow' is also the final resting place for my pony tail, which I chopped off here and threw to the wind.
Taking care of that mop of hair on the road with only a sun shower was more than I was willing to deal with.
The thing to do at Red Rocks is trad climb in the canyons. The sandstone is excellent with clean cracks and featured faces galore. I met up with a local climber who was very familiar with the area. Jake and I made the most of my three weeks here by checking out many classics together.
Some of my favorites are: Triassic Sands .10a, Crimson Chrysalis 5.8, and Epinephrine-an 18 pitch 5.9 with three pitches of solid chimneying to start.
Black Velvet canyon is the most popular of them all, and can get crowded on weekends. The road is bad, though, so I stayed a few days and found some great desert mountain biking.
You just have to watch out for the plants-they're all dangerous! I also met rattle snakes and even the dreaded Tarantula Hawk. Scary!
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