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| Chasing Shadows |
Birdland 5.7
Black Orpheus 5.9+
Purblind Pillar 5.8
Having had our warm up on the Three Penguins in Utah, Laura and I were looking forward to being back in Red Rocks for some longer climbs. It is convenient staying with her sister who lives just 20 minutes away from the national recreation area. We decided that we would climb every other day and enjoy family and Thanksgiving on the other days.
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| Dark Shadows Pitch 4 |
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| Birdland |
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| Black Orpheus Pitch 5 |
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| Black Orpheus Pitch 7 |
Wednesday we headed back and hiked into Oak Creek Canyon and to the base of Black Orpheus, a 1,700 foot route that climbs in 8 pitches. We started climbing around 7am. The bottom four and top four pitches are separated by a 500 foot section of 5.2 climbing that most simuclimb. As I lead off on the first pitch, the climbing was immediately enjoyable. I made quick time to the first belay. Laura followed and we were shortly at the second belay when another party showed up to the base. They were concerned about us being in front of them but insisted that they would just pass us since they were such superior climbers and didn’t want to be stuck behind anyone. I climbed the next two pitches in one and then when Laura got to the 5.2 section, she grabbed the gear and took off on lead on the entire 500 foot section asking why people below needed to be jerks when they have no idea who is in front of them. As Laura began climbing the long, easier section of rock, I coiled about 2/3 of the rope and when it pulled tight, I began simuclimbing. Turns out we were the faster group today and that the trash talkers were very slow. They were still on the first pitch as I lead off on pitch 5. The upper section of the climb was awesome with one long 5.9 pitch followed by a tricky 5.9+ section and then onto a long 5.7 layback for almost an entire 70 meter rope length. Laura lead the upper slab section as we topped out around 11am. We goofed off and took pictures before making the long and slightly complex hike out and were back to the Jeep by 3pm.
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| Summit of Black Orpheus |
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| Purblind |
The last day we decided to climb in an area of the park we had not climbed in before. Purblind Pillar is in White Rock Spring and is a very different, soft and crumbly sandstone, unlike most other areas of Red Rock. We climbed the 5 pitch route in the cold wind and were happy to make belays in the sun when possible. The first pitch is a long and excellent crack that then moves left and under a small roof. You then cross some 5.8 slab with a single bolt and then onto the better (in my opinion) upper pitches of the climb. The third pitch passes two bolts in interesting areas, in fact I only clipped one of them not understanding why the other was there at all. Pitch 4 was my favorite and is a 200 foot hand crack and chimney without a lot of protection. Laura lead the last 100 feet to the summit!
Overall we had an excellent time in Red Rock as we always do and we left having added several excellent climbs to our list. There are many more and we will undoubtedly be back soon!
All climbs can be done with my standard red rock rack. Cams.1-.4, doubles of .5-3 and a #4
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