It's wet in Red Rock(s)

Kevin Kandambywrote:

What do folks think about climbing climbing during Thanksgiving weekend? Don’t want to cause any damage to the rock, but I’m not too familiar with the  specifics around climbing post rain, and always want to err on the side of caution. Thank you!

I like to gently remind people that the more tragic consequence is not damage to the rock but damage to the climber if a hold breaks unexpectedly.  I've read many of the published accident reports and shared anecdotes about accidents in Red Rock. Off the top of my head, the ones that come to mind that may have been rock breakage related include a long ago fatality on Solar Slab, a pulled anchor that resulted in a fatality a few years ago in Calico Basin, a serious accident on Purblind Pillar relatively soon after some rains, a long fall in BVC (can't remember the route). There are ways to assess the conditions that you should know and practice if you want to climb safely in Red Rock.

Climbed wet rock then called for rescue because they didn’t want to get wet ffs

Adam Wwrote:

Climbed wet rock then called for rescue because they didn’t want to get wet ffs

Maybe they didn't want to die from hypothermia?

Marc801 Cwrote:

Maybe they didn't want to die from hypothermia?

They ignored the weather happening the whole week.

They ignored the weather forecast for the day.

They paid no attention to discussions everywhere for years about not climbing red rock sandstone when wet.

They ignore the signs in the parking lots saying not to climb when wet.

If they finished at 9pm they started the climb too late, had too large of a group, or were climbing something too difficult for them.  

They didn’t even bother to pack rain clothing in the single week long rain event that’s happened in 2025.  F*ck them

D Youngwrote:

Today is extremely wet/raining. There is no rain in the 10-day forecast until Sun, Nov 30. But that could change. In times of low temps and high humidity, drying takes substantially longer than  high temps/low humidity (duh). So wet winter days are the slow drying times. If the sun is out all week, and the winds help, then some south facing areas sb okay by Thanksgiving. Best to look for 1-2 in. dry dirt in the vicinity of your climb to know for sure. If you don't have sufficient dry dirt in the area, then the rock has not dried below the surface enough yet. Go to page 1 of this topic and read my complete discussion on wet rock. 

Thank you so much!

Rained out there today. FYI. PM yesterday and AM today.

There’s a bit of snow, too, in the higher elevations. Definitely the wettest it’s been here for a while. People around town keep mentioning enjoying the “Seattle weather.”

Definitely still a limestone weekend and next few days.

 As a reminder to everyone, rainbow canyon and keyhole canyon are both within 2 hours. Go try something different and keep the sandstone and yourselves safe. 

A few images. One is the rainfall for the whole past week via NWS. The other is the past 5 days from the Las Vegas storm gages. It’s a lot of rain!

I'll throw in a recommendation for The Moon (AKA Knob Hill). Quartz monzonite (like JTree) just about an hour away, accessible without 4WD, and you'll likely have it to yourself. Enough climbing there for a day or two — mostly single pitch trad with a sometimes adventurous feel. There's the potential to develop hundreds of new boulder problems there as well.

I bet that much rain would take up to a week to fully dry out. I was just in New Mexico and the sand was still wet days after the last rain

How hard is the rain today over RR?

Josh Rappoportwrote:

How hard is the rain today over RR?

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=36.1356&lon=-115.4268#.WLzcJJArLrc
https://www.weather.gov/wrh/timeseries?site=RRKN2
Looks like .42" rain in last 24 hours as of 8:34 AM local time. (at visitor center - most canyons will get much more)
Lots of rain and clouds forecast. Not likely to dry out for a while. 

FYI it rained and snowed last night in the canyons

Kraft trails visibly wet 12/28 @ 7am. Wet sand all around the Monkey Bar boulder. I’m a little surprised, 12/27 pm was surface level dry in exposed areas. Did it rain overnight?

Matt Wilberwrote:

Kraft trails visibly wet 12/28 @ 7am. Wet sand all around the Monkey Bar boulder. I’m a little surprised, 12/27 pm was surface level dry in exposed areas. Did it rain overnight?

I've heard multiple people who live on that side of town say it snowed/rained into the morning of 12/28. I'm actually surprised it wasn't still going at 7 am but maybe it was deeper into the canyon

Does anyone have any information about whether it’s safe/responsible to climb tomorrow (12/30)?

It's raining all across town right now, can't even see red rock with the clouds. Probably a good weekend to find something besides sandstone to climb.

Hey brotha, I’m in the canyon right now and it’s not and hasn’t rain at all. Will update if that changes but looks quite sunny in an hour onwards as well 

eta I will post some pics when the clouds clear in a bit and confirm or deny rain