Calico Spring

We woke up early at our free campsite outside Virgin on our way from Zion National Park to Red Rocks. After a quick coffee on the hill overlooking Kolob Terrace, we started our relatively short drive to Las Vegas and beyond.

We had visited the area two years ago and knew where to go to minimize the time wasted looking for blocks: Kraft Mountain. The area in the Calico Basin is certainly the most famous bouldering spot in Red Rocks and gets a lot of traffic, not only from boulderers but also from hikers, runners, sport climbers and highliners. We spent the first day climbing mainly around "The Pearl", a famous V5 that was thoroughly projected by Birte and Lisa. On the way back we tried the infamous "Fear Of A Black Hat", V9, but it was getting way too dark to try a highball with a rough landing and we postponed it to one of the next days. Fast forward: we never found the time to go back :-(

A 30 minute drive brought us to a free campsite at Lovell Canyon. We had somehow underestimated the distance and were all really hungry when we arrived. It was cold up there and we had a quick dinner and a beer in the van while the coyotes howled at the moon all around us.

On the second day, we wanted to explore an area we hadn't been to before: Black Velvet Canyon. The area is best known for "Return Of The Sleepwalker", V16, a super hard line that has been featured in several bouldering clips. To get there we had to take the bumpiest road ever. Even though it was only 2.5 miles long, it took us almost half an hour. We really hoped the cars wouldn't break down as our roadside assistance didn't cover unpaved roads, which was kind of funny as in the west of the USA unpaved roads seemed to make up more than half of what we drove on. We arrived safely and the canyon was spectacular. As time was short we only visited "The Sleepwalker" and then went straight to Manu's and my project for the day: "The Fountainhead, V9. Cool temperatures and a light breeze gave us great conditions, but made it difficult to warm up for the big compression moves. Nevertheless, we both climbed it in an hour and were super happy. We headed back to the first block of the area, where Lisa and Birte gave "Freedom Fighter", V5, some burns, but struggled on the last move before the rescue jugs at the top. We found out later that we just had a bad beta for that part and the girls could probably have done it with a different hold than Manu and I did.

The third day we went back to Calico Basin, but this time we walked all the way back to Gateway Canyon. Again the scenery was amazing! Beautiful colours, patterns on the rocks, cacti and phenomenal climbs make this canyon a real gem. Very deep in the canyon is the legendary "Meadowlark Lemon", V13/14, a line I have been dreaming about for a long time. I wanted to see it two years ago, but back then Birte had sprained her ankle and we couldn't walk that far. I knew I wouldn't be able to climb it in one day, but I had to give it a few tries. It worked surprisingly well! After 30 minutes I found a beta that suited me better than what I had seen other people do, and I was able to link the first few moves from a standing start (see video). It remains a project though. Maybe...maybe I'll come back at some point in the future. Who knows.

After Meadowlark Lemon we climbed a nice V5 next to the trail and had a look at The Abstraction, V8, but abandoned it due to a bad landing and lack of proper footholds. As soon as we left the shelter of the canyon we realised that the gusty wind from the morning had developed into a serious desert storm. We stopped again at "The Pearl" and Birte made an impressive sandstorm ascent while tumbleweed flew all over us and we had to stand on the pads to keep them from flying away!

After three days of climbing, we were ready for a rest day and headed to Las Vegas, where Birte had some "desert bits" removed from her eyelids that she had collected during the sandstorm. More about Las Vegas will follow in a separate blog post.

We had another day and a half of climbing at Red Rocks. We spent half the day on a fairly new boulder that Manu had found on Instagram called "Stasis", V11, a short and perfectly cut arete on rusty red rock. Manu worked out all the moves, but would have needed more time to finish the whole climb.

On the last climbing day we went to the Red Springs area, which is also in the Calico Basin but on the opposite ridge. We all had a really good day of climbing. The girls got to do a one-day-ascent of "Equinox", V6, a crunchy and powerful climb (see Birte's video). Manu and I worked on "The Red Wave", which is pretty much a one-move V10. It starts with two high and steep crimps, from which you have to jump up, hit a small three finger slot and hold the swing. We finished the day with a hike up to the craziest coloured rock we have ever climbed. There were a couple of boulders, but we only had time for one: "Cirque Du Soleil", V3. The short boulder requires a mantle into a perfectly shaped wave. You have to surf the wave and turn around without slipping. It requires a lot of movement, tension, precise body positioning and faith that you have grabbed the right part of the top above your head to turn around and mantle to victory. Great fun!

Climbing in Red Rocks was over after Red Springs, but before leaving we got up early on our last day and drove to Red Rock Canyon State Park, where a scenic drive follows the different coloured rocks around a desert plain. The visitor centre has a really good outdoor exhibit where we learned a lot about the geology, flora and fauna of the area. There are many bouldering areas in the state park, but our time was up and we only stopped a couple of times along the scenic road to look at some petroglyphs and take a few more pictures of rocks...not that we needed any more of those...Read more