Brits Incomming

Hey guys,

My wife and I are landing in Vegas for a week of climbing, Red rocks has come highly recommended to us. What areas and climbs would be good for acclimatising to the rock and the grades.

In the UK I Trad climb up to HVS 5a(5.9) and E1 5b (5.10a) on a very good day. But I have never climbed in the USA before so Not sure how the grades or climbing will compare.

Any crags you would recommend and or climbs. I like both long and short routes but not really into bouldering or sport climbing.

Your help would be much appreciated.

I think a good thing to start with and highly impressive for it's grade is Birdland,
mountainproject.com/v/birdl…
Frogland
mountainproject.com/v/frogl…
and Crimson Crysalis
mountainproject.com/v/crims….

and then the Mega Ultra Classic Dream of Wild Turkey:
mountainproject.com/v/dream…

The temps/sun aspect may dictate which climbs you want to do. Check out this thread for "All Things Red Rock":

mountainproject.com/v/frequ…

All the before mentioned "trade routes" load up during Spring Break" and thereafter till the Red Rock Rendezvous departs. Going early and being first in the queue is your only defense. Someone mentioned Monday, there were as many as 6 climbers attached at any one time to a 2 bolt anchor on Birdland. This time of year you never know in advance where the 'Clog" will appear ruining your day if you have no "plan B"

Alternate is to select less popular but still quality lines. Check out "best climbs for me" feature here and select something with appropriate grade and quality not a trade route.

we are visiting in just after the 13th and will be around for a week roughly. not sure how that fits in with spring break and the rendezvous

Look for climbs facing North or maybe East if the exposure is North of another wall.
In no particular order:

Black Velvet, Blood Wall, Challenger Wall, Dark Shadows area, Crabby Appleton Area, Cloud Tower area, near Amazing Grace in Ice Box Canyon, maybe right side of Angel Food Wall, Ragged Edges in the afternoon. First Creek is in sun till mid day except the Alcohol Wall. Ginger Cracks and Unimpeachable Groping is in sun till late afternoon. Many of the sport climb areas if you get an early start and early exit. Black Corridor loads up when it is hot. Great Red Book is early to mid day shade.

By 13th Rendezvous is gone, Easter/Spring Break is over. You may find the ratings slightly soft if not on a Joe Herbst route...though the locals will call that a matter of opinion. The Black varnish is more positive edges generally than the red stone and the white sandstone is the softest.

I'm in Vegas now, and am moving to London in may... So would love to meet up with you!

Lets do it, I sent you a face book msg... or at least I hope its you.

lm610 wrote: Hey guys, My wife and I are landing in Vegas for a week of climbing, Red rocks has come highly recommended to us. What areas and climbs would be good for acclimatising to the rock and the grades. In the UK I Trad climb up to HVS 5a(5.9) and E1 5b (5.10a) on a very good day. But I have never climbed in the USA before so Not sure how the grades or climbing will compare. Any crags you would recommend and or climbs. I like both long and short routes but not really into bouldering or sport climbing. Your help would be much appreciated.

When I think of British climbing I think of this:

Abseiling 60m down to the ocean... wind blowing constant 20mph and 6 foot waves crashing against the wall... building a hanging belay out of tiny wires... looking straight up at a 200 foot overhanging wall and not being able to see anything... being scared at every horizontal break that a bird is going to peck my eyes out or spit at my face... feeling like I'm going to die on a 5.8 because I have no fucking clue where I am supposed to be going, I haven't placed any gear in 30 feet and it's starting to rain. Then, finally, I get close to the top, still overhanging, and all of the giant fucking rocks that I'm pulling on are only held together by dried mud. Whoops, there goes a rock the size of my head - hope it didn't kill my belayer...

If you can survive that shit, Red Rocks will be cake.

Seriously though, in my experience it's pretty hard to convert YDS to the British system, and vice versa. I've climbed all over the US and also at a fair share of areas in the UK and I still struggle to describe British climbing with YDS grades. Maybe at a place like Bosigran in Cornwall - I'd give Suicide Wall (E2 5c) a solid 5.10, which puts it in line with the Rockfax conversion chart. But some people say that Corwall grades are stiff. Some people also say that North Carolina grades are stiff, and that is where I grew up, so it's a fair comparison.

I think you'll find the grades a bit soft. The climbing is much more straight forward than many climbing areas in the UK. But you might find the wilderness aspect a bit intimidating and the approaches at Red Rocks are long and sometimes difficult to follow. And I don't mean long by UK standards, which seams to be about an hour... I mean LONG like up to 3 hours. I have no idea where you've climbed outside of the UK but, as I'm sure you are aware, everything in the US is bigger - the pitches are longer, the areas are more vast, etc.

If you are able to deal with the climbing style, and the "everything is bigger" part of it, I'd say you'll have fun on low to mid 5.10. Shit, who cares - you're going to see the SUN! I am jealous...

here we come! If anyone wants to climb with a couple brits, who are used to road side crags, climbing in the cold and hail. then show us the red rock way.