It's wet in Red Rock(s)

To be completely honest I haven’t really cared about red rock rain threads on here because I’m not here when it rains and thought many of the claims on here were exaggerated. I stayed in the loop till it closed yesterday just working from the van and it literally rained sideways until 4-5pm. In the short hour hike we just did around Kraft we saw 3 parties of climbers standing in mud climbing like any other day. I spoke with each party in what i think is a very soft way asking if they think it’s a good idea to be climbing since it rained all day and there is no one else out here climbing for that reason. Each interaction almost instantly became overly hostile and aggressively defensive. Genuinely surprised and disappointing seeing it in person today. I’m generally on the far end of “more access less rock police and gatekeeping” but this is one of the very few things that is objectively wrong harmful  

Ground at the base of the boulder that “is dry so it’s fine” 

Tanner Jameswrote:

To be completely honest I haven’t really cared about red rock rain threads on here because I’m not here when it rains and thought many of the claims on here were exaggerated. I stayed in the loop till it closed yesterday just working from the van and it literally rained sideways until 4-5pm. In the short hour hike we just did around Kraft we saw 3 parties of climbers standing in mud climbing like any other day. I spoke with each party in what i think is a very soft way asking if they think it’s a good idea to be climbing since it rained all day and there is no one else out here climbing for that reason. Each interaction almost instantly became overly hostile and aggressively defensive. Genuinely surprised and disappointing seeing it in person today. I’m generally on the far end of “more access less rock police and gatekeeping” but this is one of the very few things that is objectively wrong harmful  

Ground at the base of the boulder that “is dry so it’s fine” 

Dont be so polite next time. 

Jeremy Cothran wrote:

 I guarantee your project will still be here if you wait a few days.

It sounds like there are plenty of folks out there trying to prove you wrong by breaking holds.  Maybe homie's project will be permanently altered and he needs to get after it before then? ;)

Charlie Swrote: With a little research on Mountain Project, you'll be able to have a great Vegas trip without having to step into Red Rocks.

Ironically each party climbing today that I spoke to said they lived here and specifically cited that as their justification for why they’re right and I’m wrong for asking. I boulder exactly zero times a year and don’t particularly care about it, I just think it says much more about character than anything to walk past 6 signs saying “don’t climb after rain” and throw your pad in mud thinking you’re more important than the community. Just a bummer

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. 

Don't waste your time shaming people. You could exhaust all efforts and post about wet rock on every platform and we would still come across people climbing and bouldering on wet rock. They know!!

Thanks for the info to those who replied! Had a great time at lake mead buttress!

Just got absolutely obliterated in the canyons, the range just got a whole day of rain in about an hour. Heard Kraft area also is getting hit hard right now as well. 

Weteockpolice didnt register it, but there was a shower last night that had an accumulation of maybe .01 inches, if I had to guess.

It rained hard in the canyons…. Right after the hail.

Soaked yesterday in Summerlin. Go for limestone. 

Redacted Redactbergwrote:

Weteockpolice didnt register it, but there was a shower last night that had an accumulation of maybe .01 inches, if I had to guess.

We sat under a roof in a legit monsoon for almost an hour in icebox canyon yesterday. Hailed and poured sideways nonstop

Aaaaannnnddddd……. mother nature is mad again. What will appease the gods? Has it not been enough rain in this lawn grass covered desert? Maybe like Agamemnon in the Trojan War, we must sacrifice a child. Which classic red rocks climb would you sacrafice to the gods to make the rains stop for the rest of the season so that the earnest projecting and sending can commence? I’ll offer up big bad wolf. If there’s a dude rapping down and chopping bolts after each rain to keep it around, maybe that climb isn’t meant to be.

Redacted Redactbergwrote:

I’ll offer up big bad wolf. If there’s a dude rapping down and chopping bolts after each rain to keep it around, maybe that climb isn’t meant to be.

What?

Update on conditions for anyone else hoping to climb sandstone. Wish I had checked this thread before trying to go climbing today. Turned around to go to a limestone crag after seeing all the wet ground. Some patches of soaking mud on approach. Saw one party finishing the first pitch of Big Bad Wolf and another party leaving Red Spring parking.  

William Kwrote:

Update on conditions for anyone else hoping to climb sandstone. Wish I had checked this thread before trying to go climbing today. Turned around to go to a limestone crag after seeing all the wet ground. Some patches of soaking mud on approach. Saw one party finishing the first pitch of Big Bad Wolf and another party leaving Red Spring parking.  

Still eh? Wild... Seems like it's taking longer than usual to dry out then? Humidity seems high (maybe? I don't what it's usually at), but it looks like it hasn't rained since the 7th. I've been checking in on the weather station data hoping things turn around before my trip down there.

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/timeseries?site=RRKN2&hours=400&units=metric&chart=on&headers=on&obs=tabular&hourly=false&pview=full

Dylan Gwrote:

Still eh? Wild... Seems like it's taking longer than usual to dry out then? Humidity seems high (maybe? I don't what it's usually at), but it looks like it hasn't rained since the 7th. I've been checking in on the weather station data hoping things turn around before my trip down there.

https://www.weather.gov/wrh/timeseries?site=RRKN2&hours=400&units=metric&chart=on&headers=on&obs=tabular&hourly=false&pview=full

Yes, still. In most of the area the moisture started about an inch down in the soil. Some isolated pockets of deeper dry sand. Plenty of wetter areas with frank mud and saturated soil/sand

Thanks for the up to date info, I really appreciate it! Boots on the ground data is super helpful.

Drainages are wet, eg the drainage in red springs below physical graffiti, but it’s been windy and warm for days. Walls busy since at least saturday. Precip on forecast peaking Friday. 

William Kwrote:

Update on conditions for anyone else hoping to climb sandstone. Wish I had checked this thread before trying to go climbing today. Turned around to go to a limestone crag after seeing all the wet ground. Some patches of soaking mud on approach. Saw one party finishing the first pitch of Big Bad Wolf and another party leaving Red Spring parking.  

What in the hell are you talking about? What in this thread indicated its not ok to climb yesterday (3/13/24)? Seemed fine to me? Where is the wet ground? Where is the mud? It’s been 6 days since a moderate .1 inches of rain, with a week or more since the previous harder rain, with many sunny days and high winds? From everything I know, red springs and big bad wolf are fine and the dirt was dry deep enough. I really don’t know what you’re on about. Probably winter heat wall, as an example, never gets sun, and could still probably be a no go. But Red Springs and Big Bad Wolf are totally fine…..

Redacted Redactbergwrote:

What in the hell are you talking about? What in this thread indicated its not ok to climb yesterday (3/13/24)? Seemed fine to me? Where is the wet ground? Where is the mud? It’s been 6 days since a moderate .1 inches of rain, with a week or more since the previous harder rain, with many sunny days and high winds? From everything I know, red springs and big bad wolf are fine and the dirt was dry deep enough. I really don’t know what you’re on about. Probably winter heat wall, as an example, never gets sun, and could still probably be a no go. But Red Springs and Big Bad Wolf are totally fine…..

I agree that most sandstone was fine to climb yesterday, but there’s no need to attack someone for trying to be cautious and responsible.

I believe that runoff from snow melt this time of year can cause excess moisture in the ground, which does not necessarily correlate with wet rock.

It’s complicated to determine whether our sandstone is dry enough to climb responsibly, and I appreciate folks who err on the side of caution.