The Cat in the Hat - Climbing at Red Rocks

And once again, this climbing lifestyle takes us to some of the most amazing places... Today we climbed on the South East ridge of the Mescalito. (The left hand side of the middle peak in the photo below).

We were up before the sun today; out of the tent and straight into the car. The reason for this was twofold. Firstly, we wanted to do a big climb (and get off again) before the sun got too hot and secondly, we wanted to do a popular classic route, so wanted to try and beat the crowds. By 6am we were at the park gates as they opened. 

The walk in to Pine Creek Canyon was just beautiful. The morning air was cool and the sun began to rise as we walked, turning the east facing cliffs in front of us bright red and then orange as it did so.

The route we climbed is called 'The Cat in the Hat' (5.6) and is one of the classic routes of the canyon. In many ways, we were very lucky as the route wasn't too busy today. However, after the forty minute walk, we found two other climbers getting ready to climb. 

Good etiquette dictates that although they looked like they were going to be slow, they had still got there first, so we would have to wait. Despite assuring us that they were going to be going up pretty fast, you could just tell that our definition of 'fast' was going to be different to theirs. Fifteen minutes later, they finally stopped faffing and left the ground - we were left to either find another route or take a break and let them get ahead. We chose to have some breakfast and then once they were up the first pitch, we followed.

The climbing was great, with perfect hand holds the whole way up and some lovely long pitches. Ordinarily we would have flown up the route. For us, when climbing a multi-pitch climb, part of the buzz is the speed and ease of movement; the belay changeovers; sorting the ropes; keeping momentum. Unfortunatley, our usual flow was stunted, as we soon caught the others up, and from then on had to have an enforced picnic break on each of the belays while we waited for them to complete the next pitch.

Still, the views of the gorge were good and at the top of the third pitch, the panorama had opened up and we could see the skyscrapers of Las Vegas in the distance.

The final few pitches gave some great climbing, with the top crack pitch being the best.

Then (somewhat later than anticipated), we arrived at the top belay. To gain the summit of the peak involves more scrambling, but it's not recommend as the rock is loose. From the high point, we had to abseil down to the base.

On the way down we were reminded why we like moving light, fast and on our own! Half way down, we found the team ahead of us had started using one of the abseil anchors to try and climb back up the route and retrieve some gear. (Meaning the descent route was now blocked and we would had to wait again). After that hold up, some other teams were starting up and we came across another climber who had just climbed the first pitch. He was weighed down with equipment and as he stood, sort of belaying (all wrong), I suggested he might like to make himself safe and clip himself to an anchor, but he seemed to think that it wouldn't be necessary!? At that point we got down and out as fast as we could before we witnessed an accident!

Back at the van, we found a picnic spot and hungrily wolfed down a huge lunch. It had been a long day! After a look around the visitors centre on the way out of the park, we finished the day with a quick trip to the Desert Salon Hairdresser Co.