It's wet in Red Rock(s)

Jamie Collinswrote:

Has anyone hiked out to any of the sunnier crags today? Is anything good to go or are most things still wet?

I walked my dog in calico basin today. It’s still pretty wet out there but there were people climbing on every side, sunny or shady, of every visible crag and boulder.  
I did some quick math and calculated that the total number of fucks given about climbing on wet sandstone was zero. 

Jamie Collinswrote:

Has anyone hiked out to any of the sunnier crags today? Is anything good to go or are most things still wet?

Sunny and steep is just about good to go, was too nervous though as there was some wet dirt just bellow the surface in some spots, and a sizable puddle at the base from the recent rain. A good sign overall for red rocks though is that the lagoon on that slot canyon approach to sunny and steep is gone. Winter heat wall dirt is still soaked through and through.

Hiked up to Red Springs Rock to do some climbs there today.  The ground was still very wet there in most areas, so we headed out.  The base of Chin Diaper in particular was soaked and you could feel the humidity just standing under the climb.  That crag gets decent sun for about half the day so it definitely puts in perspective what areas without full sun are like right now.

Been in the loop all day today and there’s been significant rainfall for the past several hours and is still hammering sideways right now. Just updating here since the forecast looked much better than reality

Which direction sideways? Sounds like only half of the cliffs will be wet.

I appreciate the updates! We're planning a trip down from Canada in three weeks, so hopefully it turns around. What do you think are the chances of us having to pivot to somewhere else?

Dylan Gwrote:

I appreciate the updates! We're planning a trip down from Canada in three weeks, so hopefully it turns around. What do you think are the chances of us having to pivot to somewhere else?

Seems like its been raining heavily at least once every 10-15 days since December, as well as just being unusually cloudy and cold, and thus keeping everything unusually wet for a long time. Some people told me they thought it was over. And then today happened. Heavy rain and hail. Looks like its gonna rain again 5 days from now too.

Dylan you might get sidelined to limestone but it’s still better than being in Canada. Don't worry about it too much. Maybe you take the rental car and drive to JTree for a day.  

JTree is the backup plan for sure. We're driving down, so if it's still unclimbable in Red Rocks by then we might just head straight there. I'll be monitoring this thread, thanks all!

Any chance that some routes would be dry by tomorrow afternoon? Wetrockpolice reports .15 inches of rain at 2:30 today but not sure how accurate that is

Jeremy Cothran wrote:

Absolutely not, like not even close. Most likely with how much rain we got Tuesday and Wednesday would be the earliest with that being sun facing crags. Stuff in the shade will take longer. I work out in blue Diamond and we got hammered 

I wonder how much these winds help to dry. Id say within the hour after it rained, it was like a blowdryer, and the pavement was amazingly dry, broken up by puddles here and there.

Kathy Huangwrote:

Any chance that some routes would be dry by tomorrow afternoon? Wetrockpolice reports .15 inches of rain at 2:30 today but not sure how accurate that is

We consider that a lot of rain around here,

Best practices would be to definitely wait at least 48hrs after heavy rainfall.

Its gonna be more than that I feel. there are heavy clouds sitting on the canyons right now. I bet there’s some serious moisture and humidity in there that is not drying at all. Calico is also completely shaded by the clouds. Im gonna guess its more like 4 days for anything but south facing stuff to be ready.

Redacted Redactbergwrote:

Its gonna be more than that I feel. there are heavy clouds sitting on the canyons right now. I bet there’s some serious moisture and humidity in there that is not drying at all. Calico is also completely shaded by the clouds. Im gonna guess its more like 4 days for anything but south facing stuff to be ready.

Are you preaching about wet rock from a campsite at skid row? 

0.25" of rain is about 6% of our yearly rainfall.  That's not insignificant.

Here is a current comparison of both the current flood district rain gages and NWS rain gages.  I've highlighted popular spots in red.  You'll need to fill in the blanks:

Local factors such as orographic lift, wind transport, downsloping winds, and sun aspect will all create variables in precise values.  However, it's worth noting the large variation in rain despite close distances (i.e. the north side and south side of Blue Diamond).

At this point as a local curmudgeon, I'll simply say, just go get the limestone guidebook: https://www.mojavelimestone.com/

There area many limestone options.  If you ask me, the sandstone around here is choss anyway.  Some newer, accessible multipitch options have gone up too.  With a little research on Mountain Project, you'll be able to have a great Vegas trip without having to step into Red Rocks.

B Bwrote:

Are you preaching about wet rock from a campsite at skid row? 

Not preaching, giving an opiniom and sharing some beta. Let me help you out with the reading comprehension:

Bold means opinion language

Italics means objective observation of conditions

“Its gonna be more than that I feel. there are heavy clouds sitting on the canyons right now. I bet there’s some serious moisture and humidity in there that is not drying at all. Calico is also completely shaded by the clouds. Im gonna guess its more like 4 days for anything but south facing stuff to be ready.

2 guys projecting some routes on warm up boulder this morning, fortunately they were able to stay out of the standing water and mud by staying on their pads. We had an initially cordial conversation which quickly turned into them being very upset that I pointed out the obvious. I asked them both if they would be ok with a picture of them climbing being shared and they said “I don’t fucking care about any of that we live here and you don’t know wtf you’re talking about” and “the SNCC says rocks can dry fast so it’s fine”. Would be curious if they’d like to come here and explain their reasoning since they adamantly defended it in person. 

Tanner Jameswrote:

2 guys projecting some routes on warm up boulder this morning, fortunately they were able to stay out of the standing water and mud by staying on their pads. We had an initially cordial conversation which quickly turned into them being very upset that I pointed out the obvious. I asked them both if they would be ok with a picture of them climbing being shared and they said “I don’t fucking care about any of that we live here and you don’t know wtf you’re talking about” and “the SNCC says rocks can dry fast so it’s fine”. Would be curious if they’d like to come here and explain their reasoning since they adamantly defended it in person. 

Uh oh.  Just wait until Thomas from page 2 finds out about this authoritarian "wet weather snitching" going on.

Tanner Jameswrote:

I asked them both if they would be ok with a picture of them climbing being shared and they said “I don’t fucking care about any of that we live here and you don’t know wtf you’re talking about” 

Sounds like you have their permission. Post the pic.

Hson Pwrote:

Sounds like you have their permission. Post the pic.