Red Rocks Spring 2008 (Hardwear Sessions)

By Jessa Goebel

Winters in Boone can be grim. Every year as soon as spring hits and the weather is warmer off the mountain it is time to make an exodus to the warmer sunnier Western US. The spring is usually means it is time to go out west and climb something 'big'. This year I was lucky enough to be able to go to Red Rocks outside Las Vegas, NV. For years I have had friends tell me how great the climbing in Red Rocks was, this year I would go see what it was about.

Soon after entering into Red Rocks, fellow Mountain Hardwear athlete Pat Goodman and I quickly came to realize what all the hype was about. We could not believe how much and how good the climbing really was. The sport climbing was all very easily accessible; the longer routes were very high quality and had perfect longer approaches into the backcountry. With only a limited time frame, naturally we only tried to get on the classic routes. Day one, we hit the gallery for a day of sport climbing to acclimate to the area. Day two, we decided to rack and sack up for Cloud Tower. This route was definitely the absolute best route I have ever been on, it really is a must do. Later in the trip we took a few days for some obscure adventure climbing in the Pine Creek Canyon of Red Rocks and also on Mount Wilson. To finish out the trip we made a visit to the Eagle Wall to get on the super classic Levitation 29.

Climbing in the desert by day and free drinks and nickel slots by night, for Pat and I it couldn't get any better. Although we may not have hit the big jackpot in the casinos, we definitely hit the jackpot with the classic climbing, blooming cactuses, and beautiful backcountry approaches.