Desert Escapades

Las Vegas glitz and glamour

Tucked in the southern corner of the great Nevada desert is Las Vegas, the city of sin.  Neon lights, free cocktails, glitzy glamour with the tantalizing promise of extra cash in the pocket.  But just half an hour from the infamous Strip, and only 10 minutes from the outskirts of the city, you're in the desert once more and gazing over at the Spring Mountain Range, home of Red Rocks and Mount Charleston climbing areas.

New York Hotel in Las Vegas

Our plan was simple: break up the climbing with a couple of city stints (… or break up the city chaos with some climbing peace, depending on how you look at it :). The hotels are so cheap in Las Vegas and the climbing so close that you could stay in the city and drive out to the climbing each day, but we preferred to get out into the wide open spaces with our campervan, and treat ourselves to hotel nights when in the city.

Bellagio water fountain show

We arrived in Vegas at dusk, just as all the lights were twinkling on.  The place made me feel like a hypocrite, I detest the obscene and crass use of our power resources, no doubt sucking some non-renewable energy source dry, and yet I couldn't help but oooh and aaah at the spectacular light displays. The vibe on the Strip is electric (excuse the pun :) and there is so many awesome things to see and do.  Many of the hotels have a theme of sorts, and have free shows each evening. The Treasure Island Hotel & Casino has a free show called Sirens of TI, complete with ships, temptresses, pirates, singing, dancing, and acrobatics into the water! But my favourite is the Bellagio Hotel's (a really swank posh hotel) water fountain show, which uses a dramatic combination of music, water and light to deliver a show that is breath-taking. And the best bit is that each time it's to a different piece of music so it's always changing.

Slots and cocktails

Once we had discovered our '8 cocktails for $6' trick the casinos didn't know what had hit them!  It boils down to 2 simple rules: 1) if you're gambling drinks are free, if you're not gambling you have to pay (and it's pricey too … $8 for a Gin & Tonic); 2) tip your waitress.   We would find the cheapest slot machine possible, which was sometimes a 1c per bet machine, or otherwise 5c per bet.  We'd put our $1 in and play it slowly.  That $1 would usually last for at least 45 minutes, and in that time we would get in 2 cocktail orders, tipping the waitress $1 each time.  So $3 bought us an hour of entertainment ($1 gamble) and 2 cocktails each ($2 in tips).  And so the night continued :)

After 2 nights of this we were more than ready to hit the wide open spaces and get in some cranking. Red Rocks was my destination of choice, the beautiful sandstone rock appealing to my style of climbing. But unfortunately the rock is very porous and requires a drying-out period following rainfall, and since it had been raining out in the mountains for over a week the locals said it was a no-go for the moment.  However the forecast showed the rain clearing up in a day or two, so we decided to go to Mount Charleston for a few days, then back into the city for a couple days, and then hit Red Rocks once it had time to dry out. 

Mount Charleston (photo grabbed from the internet)

Mount Charleston was an ok place, but I wouldn't rate it as one of my favourites. To be fair, I only climbed at a few of the crags, so perhaps it has more to offer than what I experienced.  It is 45 minute drive north-west of Las Vegas, and tucked up quite high in the Spring Mountains. The altitude change from Vegas is massive … from 2000ft up to 9000ft, which resulted in a big temperature drop which caught us off guard. We were so used to the overwhelming heat of the desert and Vegas that it was quite a shock to our systems to suddenly be donning down jackets and beanies.  The rock is limestone, and the style varies from crag to crag, but mostly I would say angled edges and laybacks.  The grading felt pretty much spot on actually, which was a nice change after battling up the routes at Rifle.

Robber's Roost crag

My favourite crag, and the one that I think is the most popular, is Robber's Roost.  It has some stunning long routes, the best being a 7b+ called Glory Daze, which has such a variety of moves and grips that you can't just be a one-ova-kind climber … power moves, slab moves, technical moves, pockets, slopers, crimpers, edges, flakes, nobbles, and everything in-between! It is a solid 40 meter climb too, so a wonderful test of endurance and stamina.

After 4 days in Mount Charleston we were fed up of the cold and keen to get back to the city where the heat envelopes you like a nice warm blanket (at least that's how it first feels after being chilly for 4 days, but after about 30 minutes that wears off and you're just damn hot).  

Our campervan being towed away

We had planned to spend only a couple nights in the city and then head out to Red Rocks, but unfortunately our little campervan broke down, so we ended up being stuck in the city for 4 nights in total, which was very frustrating as that meant less time in Red Rocks.

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada, USA

Glorious red rocks

But eventually we did get out there and it was incredible.  Face east and you see the massive spread of Las Vegas city, face west and you're graced with a stunning red and orange landscape of rock and mountains.  Red Rocks is in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, just 30 minute drive from the centre of Las Vegas.  It is sandstone rock and the dominant feature is thin flakes and small edges, which is why it is especially important to allow that drying-out period after rain, otherwise the rock is brittle and breaks, forever changing the route for the next person.  
Besides the flakes though, some of the routes have an amazing flow-like feature with rounded holes, almost as though it were carved out by water at some point (and quite possibly were).  Of course when I talk of the climbing here I'm referring to the sport climbing, but there is a whole ton of traditional climbing here too.

Red Rock Canyon Campground

We camped at Red Rock Canyon Campground which is a beautiful spot not even 10 minute drive from the climbing.  It's perfectly equipped with picnic table & benches and a large roof shelter overhead, fire-pits with benches around, and large flat tent sites.  There are vault toilets (well kept) and running water, but no showers.  But it's so hot that we just hung up our camp shower and used that.   

Walking out from The Gallery crag

Unfortunately we weren't at Red Rocks at the prime climb time; in fact we were there at what is probably the very least climbing-conducive time - midsummer! Being from South Africa I'm used to climbing in the heat, my general philosophy being that I can just chase the shade.  Little did I know that there is no shade in Red Rocks :).  Well, that's not entirely true, the Black Corridor crag does offer shade, but the grades there only go up to 5.11s and all the crags I wanted to climb at were bang-on in the sun all day.  Come autumn though Red Rocks apparently gets very busy, because not only is it cooler but there is also less rain, so more climb time.

The Black Corridor crag, Red Rocks, Nevada, USA

Since we ended up having only 3 days climbing in Red Rocks I got to climb at 2 crags - The Gallery and The Black Corridor - and both were really awesome. And there is a whole heap more crags that I never got to see or sample, so loads more for me to go back and do.  The Gallery mainly holds appeal for the routes on the far right … longer steep gym-like routes with big moves between very small crimpers.  The rest of the routes are decent but a bit short for my liking (about 10 meters high).  

The Gallery (photo from internet), Red Rocks, Nevada, USA

Unfortunately this crag (and most others) is only in the shade until 10am, at which point the sun starts to hit the lower section and by 11am it is practically glowing in the direct sun rays. Being enthusiastic climbers we tried to get there early and get some shade time, but even with getting up at 6am and getting to the wall by 8am I was barely warmed up when the sun started shining on the routes, and would manage to get in maybe one redpoint attempt before it was in full, very hot, sunshine.

But heck, I can't exactly complain … we were on a 53 day campervan cruise in the USA and it was just so amazing to get to climb at these magical destinations.  The focus for me wasn't on ticking only hard routes, it was so much more about the experience and the places and the climbing.   Red Rocks was another place that simply spoke to my soul … the gorgeous rock, the stunning open landscapes, the warmth of the sun, the Milky Way stars and bright full moon, and big roaring camp fires.  I will most definitely be back one day, soon I hope!

Cowboy Up or go sit in the Truck

'Project Wall crag' at Rifle 

Rifle wasn't on our original American road trip plan, I actually hadn't even heard of it before.  But I had emailed some climbing buddies that I knew had done climbing trips to the US and Rifle was one of the spots recommended.  So of course I jumped on Google to check if it appealed to me, and to see if it would be feasible to include in our trip.

Rock and sunshine ... heaven ;)

Rifle is in Colorado, 200 miles directly east of Boulder.  The town is pretty small, but the climbing is big :) It's all situated in Rifle Mountain Park, roughly 12 miles out of Rifle town.  The park is basically a narrow gorge (varying from 50m to a maximum of 100m wide) with a single dirt road running all the way through.  Both sides of the gorge are lined with stunning limestone rock faces, with varying degrees of angle and difficulty and height.  A river runs down the gorge too, frequently meandering from one side to the other. The crags run on both sides of the gorge with so many routes to choose from, and so much potential for even more development.

Porta-potti luxuaries

The park is extremely well maintained, and offers rustic camping (no showers or water supply), picnic tables and chairs, and porta-pottie toilets at every parking pullout (of which there are many and close by to each other).  You do pay for these luxuaries though at a cost of $7 a day park fees.  However if you are staying for more than 4 days then get an annual pass which is only $30.

Belaying in style 1 meter from the road - Project Wall crag

Rifle has by far the shortest walk-ins I have ever experienced in my 14 years of climbing!! The longest walk-in that we had to endure was probably as much as 200 meters (all flat), and the shortest was 3 meters (there are actually signs at the crag saying you are not allowed to belay out of your car :).  The biggest novelty of all is walking just a few meters from the crag to a porta-pottie for a luxuary toilet experience! Never before have I sat on a proper toilet while at a climbing crag :) 

Rone Thompson on Irie Meditation (5.11d)

Now onto the juicy stuff ... the climbing! Rifle has an awesome selection of routes, lots and then lots more :)  Unfortunately, as is the nature of limestone, many of the routes were pretty polished, some of them to the point of being unpleasant and almost unclimbable (at least not without adding a couple grades to the original number). However that said, there were plenty of non-polished routes to do too, it was just a matter of looking in the right places, and avoiding some of the over-climbed classics.

The style of the climbing varies from crag to crag, but predominantly you looking at an obscene use of kneebars on the steeply overhung routes (bring your kneepad!), with large moves between flat or sloping laybacks. On the vert or off-vert the crimpers start to kick in, but it's still a lot about them laybacks. There are no tufa features on this limestone, and not many pockets either.  For me I definitely needed a bit of time to build up some crimper strength, and to get used to the layback-dominant style of climbing, which often means tricky footwork and off-balance slapping between grips.  It was super fun though, and the routes were all well bolted.

The Royal Seat at Anti-Phill Wall crag

Rifle has a mind-boggling number of 5.13 and 5.14 routes, compared with many other climbing destinations, so if you're cranking those sort of grades you'll be kept well entertained.  But the dominant grade range is 5.12s, with decent selection of 5.11s.  There are limited 5.10s and not much below that, but if you are climbing those grades then there are still sufficient routes for at least a few weeks worth of climbing.

Our campervan which we hired in Los Angeles

I found the grading to be quite solid and you really had to work for a tick.  As I got more familiar with the rock and the style of climbing this did ease up a bit, but the grades still felt pretty hard.  I chatted with a number of other first-time-Rifle'ers from all over the world and it seems to be consensus that Rifle's grading is quite staunch.

However it's not all about the grade, at least not for me, and Rifle offered some really stunning routes with great climbing, so it was just good times!


HOW TO GET THERE
For travel in the US I would definitely recommend a car.  Well, to be honest that's all we used so I couldn't really comment on feasibility of getting around using train and bus.  If you don't have a car, but can manage to get to Rifle town, then it would be possible to hitch out to the park and camp there. There was always climbers around, even mid-week, so you might even manage to hitch a ride into town and back to get supplies.

Feeling da rock in Yosemite National Park

Denver and Salt Lake City are your closest big airports, but there are plenty other options like Las Vegas (we drove there after our climbing in Rifle) and Albuquerque.  You can even fly in to Los Angeles or San Francisco and drive out from there.  We drove out from San Francisco, stopping along the way at Yosemite National Park and Bryce Canyon, both breathtaking spots that I highly recommend seeing!

Our camp at Rifle Gap State Park

WHERE TO STAY
As mentioned above, Rifle Mountain Park offers rustic campsites from which you can walk to the crags.  I think they are only first-come-first-serve, so you cannot pre-book.  Alternatively there are 2 campgrounds to choose from outside of the park: Rifle Gap State Park and Rifle Falls State Park.  

We stayed at Rifle Gap and it was perfect.  Price was $16 for a primitive site, which means no electric or water hookup.  Each site had a picnic table with roof shelter overhead (more for the sun than rain!) and a fire pit. There was running water and treated drinking water, and the showers cost $1 for 4 minutes.

Bryce Canyon National Park - absolutely breath-taking

From what I read on the internet, Rifle Falls State Park is the more popular one for climbers.  However that was fully booked up so we stayed at Rifle Gap instead, so I can't really comment on Rifle Falls except that I'm sure it will be of similar quality to Rifle Gap.  Rifle Falls is about 4 miles from the climbing, and Rifle Gap about 6 miles. The one thing to warn you about is that you have to pay a daily fee for all State Parks in the US.  For Rifle this is $7.  So remember to bear that in mind and add that to your daily camp expense.  However, if you are there for a decent length of time then it's better to get an annual pass which was $60.  

If you have the dosh then there are a number of motels in Rifle, prices ranging from $64 to $99+ a night.  

CLIMBING INFO
The Rifle Mountain Park guidebook by Dave Pegg seems to be the best one out there.  If you're only there for a short time, or if you're traveling like we were and couldn't afford to add another book to an already overweight backpack, then you can get the guidebook on your mobile phone through the Rakkup app.  It's a lot cheaper, especially if you go for the 2-month subscription book at only $9.99. This is what we used and the app was great, with good pictures and descriptions for finding the routes, and good beta on the routes (length, bolts, stars, general features etc). 

Yosemite National Park - To infinity and beyond!

FOOD
There is a large City Market supermarket in Rifle town which has everything you need at good prices, plus a bakery which produces some very tantalizing goodies which maybe you don't need but will definitely want :) The town also has a few liquor stores, laundry, post office, and other bits of bobs.  It's also got a movie theatre and various take-away joints.  

The one thing to note is that you cannot buy any climbing chalk in Rifle. The closest outdoor shop that we found that sold it was in Glenwood Springs, about 30 minutes from Rifle (Summit Canyon Mountaineering).

WHEN TO GO
From what I've heard, Rifle is a popular summer destination crag.  This is because you are guaranteed to be able to find shade no matter what time of the day it is ... with one side of the gorge having shade in the morning and then it moving over to the other side of the gorge for the afternoon.  It's also at a slight elevation so the temperatures are slightly cooler. I'm not actually sure about what conditions are like for the rest of the year, since we were going in summer I just researched that. You'll have to do your own bit of Googling to find out.