Red Rock Newbies - Recommendations?

Bradley Pazian wrote:How doable do you guys think the NE Arete on Bridge mountain would be for a beginner/intermediate group of 3? With this same group we were able to do Birdland/Geronimo/ Big Bad Wolf/ Physical Graffiti etc in a group of 3. We plan to start early for the approach (from Red Rock Summit). We plan to exit the same day. Doable for a long day (maybe walking out in the dark) in mid February. I may scope out the approach beforehand to make sure we don't have problems the day of.

Mid-February and beginners is the wrong combination in my humble opinion.

I tried it with a friend at the end of April a few years ago. The hike was longer than expected, but we were prepared and planned to spend the night if needed. We got started later than we wanted so about a 1/4 mile from Bridge Mountain we found a flat area of rock and called it a day. It was beautiful when we crawled into our bivy sacks, but by midnight the clouds rolled in. An hour later it was 29-degrees with a full-on hail storm and 40mph winds with sustained gusts up to 70mph. We weren't cold or wet, but I was 100% convinced I was going to blow right into the nearby canyon...

-sp wrote: Mid-February and beginners is the wrong combination in my humble opinion. I tried it with a friend at the end of April a few years ago. The hike was longer than expected, but we were prepared and planned to spend the night if needed. We got started later than we wanted so about a 1/4 mile from Bridge Mountain we found a flat area of rock and called it a day. It was beautiful when we crawled into our bivy sacks, but by midnight the clouds rolled in. An hour later it was 29-degrees with a full-on hail storm and 40mph winds with sustained gusts up to 70mph. We weren't cold or wet, but I was 100% convinced I was going to blow right into the nearby canyon...

Which approach did you use? How long did it take? I am most strongly considering the hiking trail approach from Red Rock Summit. I would consider bushwhacking/scrambling up the north fork of Pine Creek Canyon though if it could be quicker.

Did you guys ever get on the actual route? Fun? Did it take a while or was the ascent/descent truly the crux?

Bradley Pazian wrote: Which approach did you use? How long did it take? I am most strongly considering the hiking trail approach from Red Rock Summit. I would consider bushwhacking/scrambling up the north fork of Pine Creek Canyon though if it could be quicker. Did you guys ever get on the actual route? Fun? Did it take a while or was the ascent/descent truly the crux?

Bridge Mountain NE Arete is a pretty cruiser route, not bad for a beginner. If you've climbed Geronimo, Birdland and Physical Graffiti, as you have said, you won't find any climbing on the NE Arete any more difficult than those routes. This is not a great route, the crack is dirty and vegetated in places, the actual climbing is not very interesting. But the setting and the scenery is totally sublime and makes it all worthwhile. The only real difficulty is the approach and descent. Make sure you have the correct information. Scoping out the area beforehand would not be a bad idea. You need a capable 4WD high clearance vehicle to make the drive up to Red Rock Summit from Willow Springs. That drive takes about an hour. The hike to the base of the route takes about 2 hours. In mid February you'll not have a very long day so you'll need to move fast, because you need some daylight to walk off from the summit of Bridge. The climb itself will most likely be in the shade most of the time, so it's going to be pretty chilly. Good luck!

Bradley Pazian wrote: Which approach did you use? How long did it take? I am most strongly considering the hiking trail approach from Red Rock Summit. I would consider bushwhacking/scrambling up the north fork of Pine Creek Canyon though if it could be quicker. Did you guys ever get on the actual route? Fun? Did it take a while or was the ascent/descent truly the crux?

We got advice from the guys at Desert Rock Sports...
They said start in Lost Canyon and drive the Rocky Gap Road right to the Bridge Mountain Trail Parking. Then hump it in from there.

As it turns out we only made it in about two miles on Rocky Gap before the rental gave up (Jeep Compass = piece of shit). So that meant a 3-mile hike on the road just to get to the start of the Bridge Mountain Trail.

Once we found the trail we hiked east along the trail until we hit the turn off to North Mountain Trail at the top of the ridge. Then we headed south (away from North Mountain) and finally east again toward Bridge Mountain. That was about 2.5-miles, so that means, we were probably 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile from Bridge Mountain (not as close I though in my previous post).

I'm not sure how long it took (we didn't stop, but we didn't rush either), so I would guess 4-hours?

We never actually made the route because when we finally crawled out to the bivy sacks the next morning it was still below freezing, there was ice on everything, and the wind was howling! Even packing up to hike out was miserable - it was so cold you could only keep you hands unexposed for 30-secs.

One final thought, if despite my recommendation of not doing it, you decide to, then you really should be prepared for any weather and I would absolutely recommend the pre-hike to make sure you know exactly where you're going. If we didn't have the gear we did and got stuck out there it would have been bad.

Good luck.

Our goal is to do one big easy route on our trip. The ne arete is appealing because of the interesting approach and easy climbing. Would solar slab via the gully and walking off be less of an undertaking? How about cat in the hat to the top of mescalito and walking off? We were also considering one of the first creek slab routes either Romanian Rib or Sunset Slab. I'm more excited about climbs that reach an actual summit.

PS sorry if this is a hijack

you cant walk off solar slab gulley unless you do "solar slab" proper or another route like "going nuts" to get you up n over the shoulder and into the painted bowl descent. Ive never done the full CitH top out, so cant say much other than Ive heard of a few groups that have had problems finding(or not liking) the last pitch at the top, and that the descent can also be a lil confusing. If you do end up on this, Id def. think about doing cookie monster link CitH top out.
Hopefully youll get someone like John Wilder to chime in with their recommendations.

Bradley Pazian wrote:Our goal is to do one big easy route on our trip. The ne arete is appealing because of the interesting approach and easy climbing. Would solar slab via the gully and walking off be less of an undertaking? How about cat in the hat to the top of mescalito and walking off? We were also considering one of the first creek slab routes either Romanian Rib or Sunset Slab. I'm more excited about climbs that reach an actual summit. PS sorry if this is a hijack

How about MysterZ to Birthday Cake? That will get you all the way to the top of the Brownstone Wall. It's a lot of climbing (and some scrambling), should be manageable if you're comfortable at the grade and allows for an easy, if long, walk-off. It also has the added benefit of allowing you to bail at the top of Mr Z if you aren't feeling it...

-sp wrote: How about MysterZ to Birthday Cake? That will get you all the way to the top of the Brownstone Wall. It's a lot of climbing (and some scrambling), should be manageable if you're comfortable at the grade and allows for an easy, if long, walk-off. It also has the added benefit of allowing you to bail at the top of Mr Z if you aren't feeling it...

I love this idea. I was looking through MP and the Handren guide and saw suggestions of this linkup. In fact I was even flirting with the idea of Armatron as the upper route in this scenario. Armatron seems pretty doable with most pitches at 6 and 7 and the one 9 pitch. How stiff is the 9 pitch. From the photos I've seen it looks super well protected and pretty straight forward.

BigB wrote:you cant walk off solar slab gulley unless you do "solar slab" proper or another route like "going nuts" to get you up n over the shoulder and into the painted bowl descent. Ive never done the full CitH top out, so cant say much other than Ive heard of a few groups that have had problems finding(or not liking) the last pitch at the top, and that the descent can also be a lil confusing. If you do end up on this, Id def. think about doing cookie monster link CitH top out. Hopefully youll get someone like John Wilder to chime in with their recommendations.

The plan would be to get to the top of the entire solar slab not just the gully. Approaching via the gully just seems like it will make things go faster as the pitches seem pretty cruiser. I know Solar Slab is a long day but with bolted belays the whole way up it could go pretty fast. If we needed to bail we could always rap off before committing to the final (non bolt belay) pitches.

If we decide to do CITH I plan to hike up mescalito beforehand to get a good idea of the descent. I have a week without a partner before my climbing partners arrive so I will have time to check out the shenanigans on some of these approaches/descents. Honestly I love the adventure of crazy complicated descents/approaches. As long as you're not benighted and doing an unexpected bivy its all part of the adventure imo.

Bradley Pazian wrote: I love this idea. I was looking through MP and the Handren guide and saw suggestions of this linkup. In fact I was even flirting with the idea of Armatron as the upper route in this scenario. Armatron seems pretty doable with most pitches at 6 and 7 and the one 9 pitch. How stiff is the 9 pitch. From the photos I've seen it looks super well protected and pretty straight forward.

I've never done Armatron, so I have no idea.