We make it to Red Rocks around 9 am, pay five bucks to get in (the first BLM fee I’ve paid), and start around the loop. We stop at all the turnouts and what routes are nearby in the guidebook. At the Sandstone Quarry there is a nice shady 5.9 route right in front Sicktion.…

Matt and Sophie Heason, the couple from the UK we met in Joshua Tree three weeks ago, drop by our house on their way to LAX and the end of their tour. Since we saw them they have been to the Grand Canyon, Zion, Valley of Fire, Death Valley, Bishop, and the Needles. We take…

Walter is in the front area when I arrive, staring sadly at one of our favorite boulders. Someone has made a super-hot fire at the base of it, and the rock has crumbled away. The thin foothold that starts the best problem there is gone, and the face is black with soot. Inside the rock…

Ted and I head out to hang Brownie on another hard route. The slick-walled dihedral just looks impossible from the bottom. Once I’m on it though, I seem to enter another realm of possibilites, and it feels good to squeeze the last drops of strength from my body. To my surprise I make it most…

A bunch of us are hanging out in camp having some lunch, discussing what to do next. Ted recounts his battle on The Flake ( 5.8 ), and Jeff suggests we move the party to Ball Bearings (10a) in the Real Hidden Valley. He leads it on Brownie so the rest of us can TR…

Ann and I have a domestic conflict this morning. I’m antsy to get going to Echo Rock to climb Stichter Quits (5.7+), and she is into her cup of tea and crossword puzzle. I’m worried about limited shade, and she would be too except I didn’t mention it before, it’s morning, and what’s the point?…

Once again, Ted goes up The Flue to hang a TR on the unknown 11b. Once again a crowd gathers. Strangely, he isn’t able to do it again. Jeff, after an extra-fancy start, gets the blank face after a few tries. I go up as it’s getting dark, and I can’t do it again either.…

Watching Jeff and Karen climb Boussonier (5.7), just to the left of Papa Woolsey, I am intrigued and decide to lead it. It starts in kind of a box, with only thin features on the faces. Then the crack starts behind a prominent flake such that you get into it facing left, always feeling about…

I make a beer run during the heat of the day, then find Ann and Ted in Echo Cove. Ted has a toprope up on Big Moe (11b?) and is ecstatic about making it up. It has this hole with a slopey hold at the bottom and a rounded lip at the top, then maybe…

I keep thinking of this climb I want to do called Cast Up a Highway that is shady in the morning, but I’m feeling a little slow on the draw from the beer consumption last night. Ann is waiting for our email friend Karen to show up, and Ted wants to climb, so I suggest…