10_25_to_11_01_2014 Red Rocks Pt III

One day, we headed out, we commented that we hoped to see some burros.

Oh, we saw burro...

A proud young man!

And nearby, a mama and baby burro! Adorable!

More climbing!  Here we had the entire Black Velvet Canyon to ourselves. 

In Black Velvet, Dave is starting up the Gobbler which we linked into the Yellow Brick Road and Dream of Wild Turkeys.

Thought I'd die on the Gobbler. Friggin' hard move on it. Dave says it's a 5.3 move. 

And view of the first pitch of The Gobbler. See the death section? :)

Here I come...

Off Dave goes on the crux second pitch of the Gobbler. He calls it "tricky corner climbing"...I call it DEATH MOVES. Haha!

Traversing over to the left on Dream of Wild Turkeys to connect to Yellow Brick Road.  Cool link-up that neither of us had done before.

I'm coming up the second pitch of Yellow Brick Road which is the fourth pitch off the deck.

Red Rocks rock is the best!

More views climbing. Awesome plates!

At the top.

Looking down at Vegas in the distance.

Coming back toward town, we saw a gorgeous sunset.

The next day we headed out to find some more cragging at the Mass Production Wall. We found what may be the most sand-bagged crag at the place. Brutally hard for the grade!

Riiiiip....goes a body part! :) Dave still has a compromised abdominal muscle from this fine climb.

The view from our last day of climbing.

And it was over. We headed home the next day back to work.  Happily the weather was solid the entire week.

I want to add that a week or so after we returned, Dick took a grounder at the gym suffering a Central Cord Syndrome injury. He spent many weeks in the hospital and then some time in a rehab facility. Happily he is home now and making progress. We really look forward to seeing him and Natalie (and Munchkin) this year when we get out there. I know he's got a long road ahead of him, but also know he'll make the most of it!

10_25_to_11_01_2014 Red Rocks 2014, Pt. II

Another day, Dave, Dick, Natalie and I headed out to do some single pitch climbs.  It was also another beautiful day!

And few others out and around at the Stone Wall where we crushed the gnar. :)

MANERGY! HE'S UNCOMFORTABLY ENERGETIC!!

(see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs  for this reference)

Beautiful rock!

Another hike to/from the climbing

Dick preps for another climb at the Wake Up Wall.

Off he goes!

Lotta rock monkeys sitting around!

More views of the wall.  Plus note the guy flying the small white drone in the upper rightish quadrant.

Another view

Dick and Nat yucking it up!

10_25_to 11_01_2014 Better Late than Never! Red Rocks Climbing, Part I

Early in the semester, I saw that the last week of October was open in my calendar. That's a really rare event! So I blocked it off and we headed to Red Rocks near Vegas.

The weather was perfect. We rented the smallest car ever - and it was a gem. We got it back to the Black Velvet parking lot multiple times without  a problems. It's got such a short wheel base and not nose or tail so it went down into the deep and steep washes without effort! Hilarious!

After arriving and before heading to Dick and Natalie's house, we head to Black Velvet and climbed Sour Mash, a six-pitch 5.10a (or something) route. Great climbing!  Dave had last done this route in about 2006, and I'd done it in about 1999.  Very fun!

Black Velvet Canyon never gets old.

Gearing up at the base....

Posing with your now-always-worn brain buckets.

Off Dave goes on the first pitch.

Nearing the top.

Great views.

There were only about three other people back in the canyon. It was awesome. It was only topped later in the trip when we can and climbed having the canyon totally to ourselves all day!

I'm coming up some pitch here. We rapped the route then hiked out. We headed to Dick and Natalie's home. I'd not been to their new place and I'd not yet met their new dog Munchkin.  Always great to see them!

The next day, Dick joined us and we headed in to do some more climbing. Here is Dave heading up the first pitch of The Next Century. This day had the worst weather...much colder than it looked. Though I'm sure others would say "worst" is hardly accurate. Dave liked it. I froze. I did one pitch then rapped to sit in the sun.

The view out of the canyon. We are in Juniper Canyon for this route.

Dick completed the climb with Dave.

While they were rapping, I heard some terrible screaming. Turns out the party next to us had dislocated his shoulder. Obviously that is VERY painful. We went over to help them out (his leader was up the long first pitch and needed a 2nd rope to descend). Then we assisted as he tried to get his shoulder back into socket. It took a very long and painful time for this to happen. Dave was able to gently tug on it and it exploded back in place. The poor guy's relief was palpable!  We all hiked out together and headed back to the house.

01_07_2014 Look what came in the mail today!

Who knew how much work is behind a book? I now do. She arrived in the mail today!  I fly to San Diego on Sunday to present it at the sales meeting!

I thought it'd be a good book, but it's a friggin' awesome book!

Yay!