Waterboys

What an epic and awesome introduction to Red Rock for Emma. We’d originally planned an early start Saturday for heading into Icebox Canyon, and a long and leisurely approach and chill session all day in the canyon with hammocks and snacks and cold drinks. But the impending rain forced our hand. Instead of a casual travel day on Friday, we instead hurried to Vegas, dropped a few things in the campsite, and then charged into the canyon around 2:30 PM, well aware that we were pushing it a bit for daylight.

Emma was appropriately beside herself. The monument really is more spectacular than photos can convey. We took a blissful meander up the trail, ogling the views, the flowers, cactus, a lizard, and the dramatic clouds. We knew we’d pay for it later, but we just couldn’t hurry, we had to enjoy every little detail of the hike.

We eventually came opposite the Necromancer wall and began to look for our cutoff. I have an ambivalent relationship with GPS. Sometimes I get lost using my impressionistic and intuitive navigation (Rewritten, The other one?), which leaves me feeling humbled and deciding that GPS is the way to go. This time I followed the GPS track exactly, which took us down a sketchy wash into the creek at the wrong spot. Now that we had lost the trail, I just took us up a gentle contour to the wall. Not terrible, but totally wrong. Whether the recording was off, or my phone was incorrectly tracked, I don’t know. I just know GPS doesn’t seem to deliver better results than ‘vibing’ my way there.

From Necromancer the cutty climbers trail to Cauldron wall seemed to go on forever, with boulder moves, tree tunnels, and steep high-stepping. It took us quite some time to finally arrive at the base of the climb. It wasn’t getting dark or anything, but the deeply shaded canyon reminded us that darkness was coming. But we weren’t going to back off. We’d come all this way, and we both really wanted to get this climb. We racked up quickly and I set off on the first pitch just as some noisy canyoneers descended the waterfall to our right.

The first section was lush and overgrown, and was reminiscent of a redwood forest with all the moss and shrubs and leaves. Things got clean pretty quickly though, and the first thin slippery crux was upon me quickly. There was good gear a bit below me, but a fall would be inopportune. I placed an ok-ish purple C3 and committed. Easier climbing through flowering trees led to the first anchor. Our plan was to link 1 and 2 so I carried on. The second crux was also delicate and slippery. Twin corners that were polished and smooth made for really interesting climbing. Again the purple C3 was the best choice, but I regretted leaving my small wires in the pack. But once through the climbing eased, and soon I was just below the bolts. That was the end of the rope, so we simul-climbed the remaining eight feet to the anchor.

Once on belay proper, Emma positively sailed the pitches. We were both tired from the week we had leading up to the trip, but it was worth it to push on for this adventure. Once at the belay she downplayed the cruxes and extolled the pitch. It was cleaner than expected, but still had a some woodsy charm. We stashed the backpack at the anchor and I set off on the money pitch.

Getting off the belay ledge was definitely challenging. The corner crack was offwidth, and it receded backwards below chest level, making feet almost impossible. Contorted weirdness got me through, but I had to absolutely tighten up. It’s just such bad form to fall onto your belayer so I had to climb my best.

Hands and wide sections took me up the undulating corner to the obvious bush, which wasn’t difficult to pass. And then it was ahead of me: 30 feet or so of polished, steep, perfect fingers. This part of the climb completely delivered. Full value. An incredible section that required precision and technique, but rewards you with good locks, and occasional dishes on the wall for feet. Just when I started to feel fatigued, a final steep section gave way to a notch for hands and then feet. I took the stance, reveled, and rested.

The rest of the pitch was easier but no gimme. A wide section off the rest leads to more fingers, then tricky hands to the final ledge. All in all, an incredibly good pitch of climbing. A quick anchor and then Emma was on her way. At the end of the fingers business right when it steepened she started to barn door off… and saved it by liebacking the rest of the way to the notch. After a rest she made her way up the tricky finish.

We briefly celebrated our clean ascent, and then got down to the exciting bit: testing out the Escaper. It was our first time using it, but after watching the hitch solidly grasp the rope while Emma rappelled, I set off without hesitation. Once I arrived at the next anchor, nine solid pulls sent the rope cascading down the wall. Much less than most of the demos I saw. Of course it got stuck in the crack, and so I set off to free the stuck end. A combination of aid, free, and rope climbing got me there in no time. Funnily enough, it wasn’t the Escaper or the connecting knot that had jammed, but rather the rope itself wound up and cammed onto itself in a 0.5 slot. The knot and escaper were piled up loosely atop the constriction. I freed the rope, down climbed and cleaned my way back, and we were off for two more 100′ rappels.

The final rappel left us with a bit of down climbing. Only about ten feet of 5-easy, but it felt like a lot at this point in the day. It was probably about sunset, and we still had a very scrambley trail to get down. Luckily the daylight held until we got back to the Necromancer wall, and from there it was easy to find the proper path down to the main trail. Much easier than the way up. We wandered back down to the car blissfully exhausted in the darkness. Happy to be down, happy to be almost done, and eagerly anticipated dinner and bed. What an epic and awesome introduction to Red Rock for Emma.

Waterboys

5.10a/b – 360′ – Three pitches
with Emma
linked P1 & P2 (10′ simul climbing)
Three rappels with 60m: 160′ with Escaper, 100′, 110′ (some down climbing).
Adventurous first pitches, wanted small wires, sounds like Ball Nuts are perfect.
Third pitch is so bomb.
Took doubles 0.3 – 2, singles 3-5, C3s.
Not sure the #5 was warranted? But helped a lot aiding to stuck rope.
Killer route!