Brassnuts is still building back up from his bicep surgery and I was excited to have him come to town to drag me up some Red Rock routes I wouldn’t normally get to climb. He only had a few weeks before joining cubicle world. As the youngster of the team (a combined age of 112 with me exactly one decade older), I was happy to let the young guy rope gun for me on some classics. His trip last year was great with details here http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1185764/crimpie-and-brassnuts-escape-Boulder-TR-long-many-pics

Day 1 Tuesday – Pine Creek Canyon. It was moderate hiking up to about Cat in the Hat then it got a little more strenuous. But, I decided it wasn’t so bad when we heard quite a commotion ahead of us and were greeted by 20 Japanese hikers coming down.
Our first objective – Adventure Punks. 4 varied pitches of 10a/b followed by an offwidth pitch of 10d. We hadn’t brought any big gear so we planned on the first 4. Just as we are roping up another party shows up with the same goal. One, Simon, was a local Brit who was showing his visiting buddy from Wales the local fun stuff. They did another route nearby while waiting for us to get up a pitch or two. We were also informed, in a friendly manner, that we were actually doing “Adventure Yuppies” since we weren’t doing the last pitch. The first pitch was pretty sketchy with fragile rock and pretty sparse pro. Glad the youngster was on the sharp end.

Next up was “Challenger”. Due to the hour, we elected to just do the first two 10d pitches. The first was a roof with a “burly” undercling, according to the guidebook.
The next pitch was also quite a “challenge”.
Day 2 Wednesday– rest

Day 3 Thursday– Black Velvet Canyon – Texas Hold’em
I got to actually lead a couple of pitches on this climb, just not the “real rock climbing” ones.
Early on the climb we heard some pretty loud huffing and puffing from Epinephrine from the second climber on the team. Then we heard some sounds that were right out of a movie. You know where the guy goes in the bathroom and starts to puke. It never really sounds authentic. But in this case, magnify that sound by 10 and keep it going for probably a full minute. Dave looked at me then we both began to try to hide the fact that we were wanting to bust out laughing. I hope the poor guy didn't actually coat the chimney.

Pitch 5 is a 180 ft 5.10d. It starts with a technical roof to a crack followed by some pumpy face climbing. One of my favorite pitches of the trip.
Dave pulled the boulder problem off the belay on pitch 7 but the 11c move up higher gave him some issues.
So, we accepted a great day on the wall and headed down.
How to finish off a great day on Black Velvet?

Day 4 Friday – semi rest
After I finished a telecom, we decided on a short day in Calico. First up the Indian Creek like “The Fox”
Dave took the big stuff but never placed the #6.
I had followed this beauty one other time and had considered leading on this trip. What a mistake that would have been. I got up it clean but it kicked my ass.
Next stop, the direct start to Physical Grafitti. Nice 5.9+ start to a run-out slab.

Final stop for the day “Risk Brother’s Roof”

This 5.10d roof was just perfect for Dave. For me? I don’t have the mad crack skills that Dave has. Maura got off work in time to join us for a try. She looked great and got farther than I did but the final bit was a bit much for her “warm-up” climb of the day.

Day 5-rest day
Time to load up for Rainbow Wall so we head where?
We get inspired in the parking lot to see what happens if we can successfully lower our percent body fat.

What did we do get our $4.99 ?

Day 6 – The big day – Rainbow Wall!
Tough but steady hiking for 1:50 to rope up area. Thankfully someone was nice enough to replace the fixed rope up the lower slabs.
They sure go on for a long time.

Dave had put this off for a long time and now it was time to see what this wall was all about.
A party of three showed up as Dave was finishing the first pitch.
As Dave started up the second pitch (5.11d) the leader of the party below us was arriving at my semi-hanging belay. He had grabbed a draw to pull through the crux. At this point the guy on the ground calls up “LEADER, do you mind if we pass”. WTF. Party of 3 about an hour behind us, our leader already starting the second pitch and they want to pass? Dave is obviously perturbed since he is right at the crux of the second pitch. He says “whatever” or something to that effect. He then asks the guy that had just gotten to my belay “Is that guy some super strong climber that will climb right through?” The answer, “Nope, I will be the guy that will lead the next two pitches”. WTF!!! The guy on the ground was volunteering his buddy to pass us. Meanwhile the two other climbers were already climbing to our cramped belay station. Dave saw the obvious cluster about to happen so we decided to bail. Incredibly rude to not even wait for Dave to finish the second pitch and get me off the belay ledge and deciding to cluster their full team of three in the cramped belay stance with me. Not one of the three did the first pitch clean.
New objective.
So, Dave offered to have us traverse over below the slabs and jump on Nightcrawler! This was great news for me to get on something I had a chance to actually climb. I did my minor part and lead the first pitch. The next pitch was a stiff 5.9 that started with a tricky (for me) chimney then some stemming.
This was just a preview of the amazing next two pitches. These pitches, at 5.10c, would give 5.10 sport climbers nightmares. What amazing, delicate, technical, sometimes powerful moves.
After spending a few days in his camper at Camp Afghanistan with Pente, Dave move to my house for a couple of days at the end of the trip. This allowed Pente to get cozy with Kappy.

Another great week of adventures with Dave.