December 18th, 2021
I woke up and Kyle was driving us into the Loop to the Second Pullout to start our project day. Once parked we had coffee, hot chocolate and a small breakfast while we waited for the sun to come up. Then we grabbed our gear and hiked out to the Sweet Pain wall to work on Kyle’s project, the wall’s namesake (Sweet Pain, 11d). First he warmed up on an easier climb and was feeling good. Then we waited while another climber worked on Sweet Pain. We chatted with the other climbers and enjoyed the sunshine.
Now, it was Kyle’s turn to give his project a first attempt of the day. He started off climbing extremely well and flowing through the crux sections. Before I knew it he was clipping the chains! Project completed, this was our second time out to Sweet Pain Wall and his 3rd overall effort on the climb. We were stunned and excited, what a way to start off our project day!
Up next we headed over to Stone Wall so I could work on my project, Haunted Hooks (10c). The first time we found this climb I worked at it three different times, dialing in the beta for the various cruxes.
Today, Kyle climbed and setup a toprope for me and on his way down brushed all the holds. I tied into the rope and started up, feeling anxious and excited. Then, I fell. Undeterred I worked this section until it felt easy and high percentage of success. After that was figured out I kept climbing, then fell again at the second crux. Once again I hung there and searched for intermediate holds and movement that worked for me. I committed my sequence to memory and lowered down. It is so hard to sit and let your body and mind rest while you have an objective looming behind you.
But, rest I did, had a snack, drank some water and chatted with Kyle to try and let myself recover. Finally I could wait no longer, I had to give my project another try. I tied back in and my feet left the ground. I just barely stuck the moves to the first crux section, fingertips just gripping the hold enough to stay on the climb. Second crux my feet were my savior, keeping me on the wall until I could get to the mega rest. At the rest I realized I was out of breath. Did I forget to breathe until now? I focused on catching my breath and trying to de-pump my forearms. I continued up the climb, it’s fairly steep and long and endurance is not something I excel in. I was getting more tired and my footwork was getting sloppy, therefore my hands and fingers overcompensated by over-gripping holds and exasperating the pump factor. Not even halfway up the climb I was exhausted….how could I continue?
Kyle shouted encouragement from his belay stance down below and it fueled my determination. I would not give up. Feet up, hands up, remember the movement, where is that great hold…right THERE! Phew. The anchors were finally in sight, a few more moves and BAM, project sent. I was in disbelief. WAAHOOO!!!
I lowered down to Kyle and surprised me with celebratory sending beers. We did it!!! After enjoying our successes, Kyle felt like climbing more. So we scrambled up the red rocks and found our way to the Strato something Wall. Here Kyle cleanly climbed the classic 5.11b Footloose and right after it he climbed the route next to it One-Eyed Jack. Jack proved to be powerful and overhanging and finally Kyle was worked from the day of climbing. We both had a great day sending hard climbs.
December 20, 2021
5:38 AM Kyle wakes me up. He packs our gear, we eat yogurt for breakfast and by 6:02 that morning we are in the Red Rocks Canyon Loop. We park at Pine Creek Canyon Trailhead grab our gear and hike out to the base of Birdland. by 7:20 am Kyle was leading up Pitch 1. We couldn’t believe it, we were the first group there on this beautiful morning. Pitch by pitch we climbed, taking our time and enjoying not having a group in front of us or pushing too close behind us for once! Neither of us fell for 600+ feet of climbing. The 3rd and 5th pitches were our favorites.
As we rappelled, we passed group after group making their way up the climb, it was PACKED. Back at the base there were 2 or 3 more groups waiting to leave the ground. Kyle and I made it down by 10am, what a wonderful morning!
As it was so early and such a nice day, we scrambled along the cliffs to a new (to us) area and Kyle lead up the classic Straight Shooter (5.9+?). We had heard about this climb for a while, lots of people recommending it but had never gone out to climb it before. Kyle climbed it no problem and left a toprope setup for me. I definitely struggled in a few different sections but eventually made my way to the top. We both thought it was a very fun climb! There was a slabby sport route next to straight shooter that Kyle was interested in so he climbed that one as well. This one looked out of my league so I called it a day with 7 pitches climbed. Kyle climbed 8 pitches and we had done all this before 1pm!
Back at Pine Creek parking lot Kyle and I ran into Andy who had just got back from Cat in the Hat with his climbing partner. We hung out for a while sharing stories from the day. Eventually Kyle and I had to leave because we had to make it to the post office in Blue Diamond before they closed. Beth had sent us Christmas cookies from MN, we were very thankful for the delicious treats (some didn’t leave the parking lot). We filled up our water and gas tanks in Blue Diamond as well before making our way into town. The Vikings were playing again and we were excited to see the football game.
For more photos of climbing in Red Rocks, check out our gallery: Red Rocks Climbing