Red Rocks Trip Report
Frank Stock
weekend outing
Saturday - Get up a 4:00am and haul ass up to Nightcrawler. Keith whips on
pitch 4, blowing a small cam and twisting his ankle. Finish the route,
return to the ground and head over to climb Black Dagger since we are way
the hell up Juniper anyway. Notice that there appears to be a whole lot of
pollen in the air. Realize as the pollen thickens that it is actually snow.
Retreat from Juniper Canyon in the midst of a blizzard. Eat 10.95 all you
gorge crab legs and prime rib for two hours and head back to camp.
Sunday - Given Keith's newly unaligned ankle, we bypass our Eagle Dance
planned approach and hobble into Pine Creek for one pitch gear routes that
might possibly get some sun after sleeping until 7:00. After minor
unplanned helmet combustion (see previous post) the weather turns a bit
challenging. Retreat from Pine Creek Canyon in the midst of a hail storm.
Gorge on all you can eat once again and catch a local forecast promising
clear skies and mid 60's.
Monday - against all better judgement trust the weather forecast of a sunny
day and plan to get up at 4:00 and hike to Eagle Dance. At 4:00 am there is
not a cloud in the sky - this is probably due to the 60 mph winds blowing
the cloud cover to somewhere over the mid Atlantic. Return to sleep. Awake
at 6:00 to 70 mph winds as the back of the pickup is rocking in the wind,
and notice several tents in the campground have been reduced to ground
cloth's. Take early leave and head to St. George where a perfectly
marvelous day is of light breeze and sun is wasted sport climbing until
tendons detach from elbows. Return home.
Would have thought it was Thanksgiving the way the weather sucked.
Cheers,
Frank