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Red Rock Canyon trip reports all generally share the same characteristics; great photos,great weather, great climbs. This one is no different- just a fun week exploring new routes in one of my favorite areas.
We showed up midday on a Saturday, found a campsite, and went out to Juniper Canyon and climbed Y2K- an easy 5.10 that got us psyched for desert varnish and clean cracks. I didn't take my cameras, so sorry, no pictures of this cool climb.
Camping out beneath a full moon was an added bonus
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Sunday, after sleeping in and having a casual start to shake off the road weariness of the drive from Montana, we headed out to Windy Peak and climbed Jubilant Song, a route I saw recommended here on a previous thread. No one else was around, which was a great bonus for a weekend climb.
Greg climbing beneath the big roof on the 3rd pitch.
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Jubilant Song climbs the sunlit buttress, through the right side of the roof, and up to the top of the peak.
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Monday, after sleeping in and enjoying the warmth of the morning sun, we headed over to Dark Shadows. Strolling in mid day worked well, as the conga line was dissipating, and we were able to enjoy this classic 5.8 with minimal interruption.
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looking down at the start of the climb from the top of the 2nd pitch
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Dark Clothing on Dark Shadows makes a Dark Picture
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Tuesday we decided to check out Black Velvet Canyon, an area I hadn't been back to since 1986. We decided to climb Sand Felipe, to get a feel for the rock and grade.
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It was awesome. Since we were in the area, we did a quick romp up Schaeffers Delight, a great mellow climb.
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We scoped out Black Velvet Wall and got psyched on Prince of Darkness. It was a more feasible route for us than Rock Warrior, and shares a similar line, right up the center of the huge face, just left of the black water streak. It was our goal for the following day.
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We were first into the canyon that day, and was great fun. Here's a shot of Greg on the final rappel back to the ground.
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Black Velvet Canyon, left side
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We wrapped up our trip the next day with some sport climbing in the Corridor
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and some bouldering in the Calico Hills
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Looking forward to next year!
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