Franck Vee wrote: What? Are you scared of gremlins? The overhangs are always dry in the Red, period.
Not strictly true. Condensation happens, and so does the runoff and the seepage. Overhangs are not immune to those.
But to answer the OP: we climbed this past weekend. Saturday was perfect. Sunday the rock was slightly damp at the beginning of the day, and then got better. It rained from Saturday afternoon on and off all through Saturday night and most of the day Sunday. About an inch total, so lots of areas had dripping tops of the routes, but if the route was dry it was decent.
Today is cold, but I expect that every day starting from Tuesday would be good conditions. You'd have to pick and choose the routes on Tuesday/Wednesday, because the tops will probably stay wet for a few days. But there should be plenty to climb
My anecdotal experience from climbing in the Red for the last 4 years is that the stone actually does get softer and has increased risk to break when damp. However, there is not an established ethic to stay off of SE sandstone when wet. And the degree of fragility is certainly not the same as SW sandstone. The approach for most people around here is if it is dry, climb it. And like others have said, No the overhanging cliffs off the red are not immune to condensation, seepage, and runoff. However, even in the downpours of recent weeks I've had friends be able to find dry rock on every day they wanted. The ability to do this varies depending on what grade your able to climb. Kudos to you for reaching out and trying to respect local ethics. Hope you find some dry rock and have a great time!
Well it is currently snow/hail/rain mix looking out the window... no ethic exist against climbing on wet rock here, though it is generally rather unpleasant, typically one can find dry rock under overhangs during or after a rain, even with runoff and seeping. Condensation is the exception, but not super common.
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