I’m talking about big routes in late May, not silicone
fakies on the strip – get your mind out of the gutter! My friend Mark and I went to Red Rocks for a
week of medium to long adventure routes.
We had tried the same trip exactly a year ago, but were
thwarted on the first climb of the first day when I tore at least one intercostal
muscle in my ribs when pressing into a stem move on an easy pitch. We climbed
for one pitch beyond that and knew that I was hosed…
We had
to pack up the next morning and head home - one of the most disappointing
climbing trips ever. L So, this year had to go better – right??
Despite a few nagging injuries that put a damper on the training regime, we
both managed to get into decent shape before the trip.
The drive out was uneventful and before you know it we were
pulling into the parking lot at Black Velvet Canyon a little bit before noon on
Saturday after leaving Boulder Friday night.
It was hot. I mean –
HOT. Probably in the low 90s. We grabbed
our gear and did the relatively short but sweaty hike into Black Velvet canyon.
For our first afternoon we planned to get a taste of both crack and face
climbing to get up to speed.
First up was Triassic Sands, a four-pitch 5.10C crack
route that follows a beautiful line for about 500 feet. We enjoyed the
relatively cooler temps in the shade at the base until the two guys in front of
us were on the third pitch. Mark led the first two pitches. Then we swung leads
to the top, it was a super fun route. 
We rapped down and headed over to the main wall in Black
Velvet to climb Yellow Brick Road – a really nice five-pitch 10c face climb.
It was getting to be late afternoon so the wall had emptied
out except for one very loud guy and his girlfriend who were sitting at the
base after they had completed another route. I’m not sure the guy realized how
obnoxious his verbal diarrhea was, but eventually they hiked out and we enjoyed
the rest of the route in silence. We rapped down and hiked out, reaching the
car just before dark – an excellent start to the week!
The next day it was even hotter so we made sure to climb in
the shade. We did some short routes in the Hidden Falls
area, then in the Mescalito area where we did a really great two-pitch 10D
route called the Next Century. After that we did the first two pitches of Risky
Business – an excellent route that certainly keeps your attention. That was it
for day two as the high temps took a bit out of us, even in the shade.
The next day we rested and made plans for Tuesdays outing –
a long day where we would combine Inti Watana (12 pitches, 10C) with the upper
five pitches of Resolution Arete which gives the full length tour of Mt.
Wilson. Unfortunately the weather forecast for that day was 101 degrees – the
hottest day of the week for what was likely the longest climb of the trip….not
to mention most of it would be in the sun.
But, when you only have a week for an agenda, you can’t always
get what you want…
So, we packed up a light rack, single rope and 6.5 liters of
fluid between us. We were hiking by
5:15am, but it was already 80 degrees...
It’s basically a two-hour hike/scramble to the base of Inti Watana with
a good hour of that groveling up a steep gully system – a fine warm up!
By the time we reached the base of the route, my
camelback straps and shirt were already encrusted in salt. It was going to be a
long, hot day. We had a short reprieve from the heat at the base as the first
1.5 pitches were still in the shade. Nice!
At the top of the second pitch, we were in the sun for the next 1700 feet of
climbing as well as the long descent off the summit. We were able to climb Inti
Watana in just under 4.5 hours but it was hot. 
When we got onto the upper pitches of Resolution Arete, we
were starting to drag a little from the heat and dehydration.
The upper pitches of Resolution Arete are nothing
special, but it was a worthy adventure that takes you to the true summit of Mt.
Wilson at just over 7,000’ where it
was still hot! 
We signed the summit register and began the long walk to the
northwest for the descent. The
information available regarding the descent is mixed, but it seemed relatively
clear which gully we should descend after walking the ridge for about a mile.
As we found out about 30 minutes later, we were hasty in our
gully choice. We made good progress down
the gully and thought we were on the right track until we came to a 300’
drop-off... We had perhaps one liter of fluids between us at this point and it
was still stinkin’ hot so bonus exercise was not high on the list. However, we had to hammer about 45 minutes
worth of gully see-sawing before we got far enough north and hit the correct drainage.
From here, it was still over two hours to the
car. Still hot. Really hot. We kept trudging east through the Oak Creek
Drainage knowing that once we got to the trail junction in front of Mt. Wilson,
we could drink our cans of ice tea we stashed on the way in. 
We both slammed our 24 oz cans of tea – yeah baby! We were
both really dry and low on energy at this point, so the teas were a great
treat! 40 minutes later, we arrived back
at the car – 13.5 hours after leaving.
We were both thrashed.
We stopped at a convenience store and downed 6 liters of
fluid between us. At our friend’s house,
I weighed myself for grins and even after gorging on fluids, I was still 6 lbs
down from the day before. The next day
was a rest/rehydrate day for sure! We
started the rest day by pigging out at the Red Rocks Casino buffet. We spent the rest of the day lounging and
trying to decide if we were recovered enough to do the biggest objective of the
trip the next day. By dinner time, it was clear we had not recovered from
dehydration sufficiently for another big climb so the next morning we took our
time and decided to just do a few short routes in the shade.
More to come in Part II!
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