Red Rocks

Post wedding, with Nat still recovering (poolside with some form of cucumber Mojito in-hand) from her 'episode' a few days earlier there was time to go climbing with my Dad before he departed back to the UK. Now, before some of the more established readers jump to any conclusions, I am not a second generation climber. Dad took up climbing after getting sick of driving me around to meet up with various friends to go climbing and really just started truly getting into it as I left for University, finding a peer group of 'older' gentlemen who like to bimble on a regular basis. It's somehow strange that this didn't occur earlier, given he seemingly loved to walk myself and Mum around the lake district with the promise of the end being "just around the next corner". It never was.

Initially Dad had proposed 'Cat in the Hat', a fairly steady climb up 'Mescalito' in the park. I instantly pointed out that it'd be as dull as dishwater and we'd likely have punters abseiling on top of us / slowing us down / generally being annoying. The fate of the climb was cemented when the aspect was checked, South and hence sat basking in the desert sun all day long. Not a chance. The wisdom of UKBouldering.com which I (ab)use for crowd-sourcing useful information on all matters pointed me towards 'Chrimson Chrysalis' as a more 'worthwhile' alternative. However, this time the other side decided it may be a bit of an ask. Finally we did manage to agree on 'Dark Shadows', a shorter offering but with some technical interest and a good reputation (not to mention North facing and with a name that offered some hope of respite from the desert heat).

Now (actually first, sorry Dad but you will be picked on henceforth) my Dad and his peer group love Lakeland climbs, slabby things etc. where terms like 'exposure' are much abused. I got quite frustrated on a previous visit to North Wales for the 'Classic Rock' tick of 'Creagh Dhu Wall'. On reaching the top of the route I grinned as there was a large tree with rap anchors, avoiding the need to bushwack off the top. However, Dad stubbornly refused (role reversal no doubt) my offerings to teach him how to ab safely and bushwack we did. With all this in mind, I found it very amusing to find him grasping at the 6mm (Beal ultralight) Dyneema sling that was equalised for the belay of one of the upper pitches at a vaguely hanging stance. After a bit of sighing, he unwillingly weighted the belay and despite a few protests about the next pitches, we topped out in time to finally have that lesson in abseiling and we were soon back to the floor.

Over the next few days the families dispersed and we once again returned to van life accompanied by the still oppressive heat of the sun. Given just how hot it was, we were limited to 'Black Velvet Canyon' (during development this was referred to as 'Crud Gulch' to ensure nobody made the effort to visit, 'Black Velvet' being far too tempting); no bad thing given the number of classics in close proximity; 'Prince of Darkness', 'The Gobbler' (various variations upon 'Dream of Wild Turkeys'), 'Our Father', 'Triassic Sands' the list goes on and on.

Oddly the climbing didn't seem to captivate either of us wholly (apart from one or two stand-out pitches that were often out of character for the area), crimps, a lack of cracks and an abundance of needless bolts (often placed retrospectively by the first ascentionists to ensure their climbs became popular and remained accessible) just didn't seem to fit with our 'American Dream' despite it all feeling very comfortable.

Annoyingly the heat didn't subside long enough for us to venture onto the 50 favourite climbs tick of 'Levitation 29', the one route from Red Rocks which we were both really keen for. Fingers crossed we can get it on the back-pass.