Mount Potosi is one of the major limestone sport climbing hubs in the Las Vegas area. This area is relatively secluded and not very populated. The limestone ranges in quality, but most of the established climbing is on good rock. There are hundreds of routes of nearly every grade, including some of the harder climbs in the country. The mountain offers nearly year-round climbing.

One of the popular climbing areas is Clear Light Cave. The main cave has the most concentrated collection of hard routes in the country. There are a number of routes in the 5.11-5.14 range and even a 5.15a. The cave routes are mostly steep, long, and gymnastic, with the overall character being power endurance. Most of the routes have some amount of manufacturing. The cave has both sunny and shady walls. The deepest part of the cave almost never gets sun. The left wall gets morning shade. The cave gets morning sun. The right wall gets sun from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. The cave is a beautifully majestic place to hang out and climb.

The first time I climbed at Mt. Potosi was in April 2025, at Clear Light Cave area. This was a sport-climbing building-strength stretch of days on a trip that also involved climbing bigger hard routes at Red Rocks like the Original Route (Rainbow Wall), Resolution Arete (Mt. Wilson), and Texas Hold'Em (Black Velvet Wall).

Photos

SOME RANDOM PHOTOS FROM CRAGGING AT MT. POTOSI (ClEAR LIGHT CAVE AREA)

More climbing fun!

Date: April 7, 2025 (Mon)

Partner: Nate Beckwith

Climbed at: Buena Vista (near Clear Light Cave)

Routes:
• Los Altos 5.12b, 40', sport, redpoint on 3rd go
• A Man in a Boat 5.12b, 60', sport

Our intention had been to climb at Clear Light Cave, but we misidentified the cliff and ended up at the base of Buena Vista wall. We contemplated hiking back down the hill we had ascended and then up to Clear Light, but in the interest of climbing we decided to stay. There were a couple of 12b's that looked good. I was still reticent because I figured 12b was out of my reach, but Nate encouraged that we stay. We started on A Man in a Boat, which had a desperate 5.12b move between two juggy 5.10/11-ish sections. We worked the 12b move awhile but never got it so, humbled, we moved over to the other 12b on the wall, Los Altos. This had a boulder 12b start followed by some juggy 5.10 climbing and finishing with a 5.11ish bouldery move over a roof. This was a fun route. Nate red pointed it after working the crux. And then I red pointed it as well. It was my first ever 5.12b red point! Thanks Nate for not allowing me to take before the final 5.11 finish. It was a good day of strength-building bouldery climbing. We will be back in a few days, to check out Clear Light Cave.

More climbing fun!

Date: April 11, 2025 (Fri)

Partner: Nate Beckwith

Climbed at: Clear Light Cave, Porcelain Wall

Routes (ordered by grade):
• Mr. B's Wild Ride 5.10b, 140', sport
• Whamo 5.11b, 40', sport
• PMS 5.11b, 60', sport

This time, we found Clear Light Cave. This was the warmest day of our trip -- 96 degrees in Vegas -- so the approach was a bit hot, but a nice breeze kept it from being too oppressive, and the climbing up at the cave was in the shade and very pleasant. We climbed three routes each, lapping some of them (I think I climbed 7 pitches total, Nate 5 pitches, many of them overhanging). The overhanging nature of the climbing is unfamiliar to me, and even the 5.11's (the easiest routes there) seemed hard. But with a few more days perhaps the 5.12's (for me) and 5.13a (for Nate) will be in reach. It was a great strength-building day.

More climbing fun!

Date: April 13, 2025 (Sun)

Partner: Nate Beckwith

Climbed at: Clear Light Cave

Routes (ordered by grade):
• Unknown left of Whamo ~5.11a, 40', sport
• Whamo 5.11b, 40', sport
• PMS 5.11b, 60', sport
• Mijou 5.12a, 40', sport
• Moment of Clarity 5.12a, 40', sport

Second day up at Clear Light Cave. Despite it being a weekend, we again had the place to ourselves and shamelessly played around on the easiest routes on the wall. It was a good power bouldering on rope day, with a significant amount of hanging on until failure. But I admit I was a bit frustrated that there were only a couple of routes up here I could even touch without having to pull on draws through the hardest moves.

Previous and Next Adventures

April 2025

Willow Springs cragging, Red Rocks, NV

Mt. Wilson (Resolutiojn Arete), Red Rocks, NV

The La Madre area refers to the limestone cliffs immediately west of town. Centered around La Madre Mountain—one of the major limestone peaks along the Keystone Thrust—it includes the surrounding limestone peaks and foothills. These cliffs sit close to town and at a lower elevation than Mount Charleston, making them a popular choice in cooler months, especially when Red Rocks is wet.

Rock quality ranges from chossy to solid and often leans toward the sharper side, though not always. On the east end of the La Madre Mountains, Lake Mead Buttress forms the last major cliff—an 800-foot dark-gray limestone wall that looms above the west end of Lake Mead Blvd, hence the name. The buttress hosts several multipitch sport routes developed in 2020 and later (the route names hint the era of development). It’s a great option for an adventurous day out (and even a summit) while waiting for the sandstone to dry.

Route Overlays for Contagion (5.10a/b, 6p), Patient Zero (5.10a, 7p), & Killer Nano Robot Infection (5.12a, 4p)

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Photos

SOME RANDOM PHOTOS FROM CRAGGING AT LA MADRE AREA

More climbing fun!

Date: November 19, 2025 (Wed)

Partner: Marina Novikova, Kylo (woof)

Climbed at: Lake Mead Buttress

Route:
• Patient Zero 5.10a, 7p, sport

It had been a wet week in Vegas (I think it set some daily rainfall records), which meant the sandstone at Red Rocks was off-limits. I decided to stick it out and wait for better weather the following week, spending the week working in various state-of-the-art Vegas libraries and even picking up a one-week membership at 24 Hour Fitness. Marina—whom I’d met the previous week in Yosemite—was in town and invited me to join her and her friends Naomi and Brent for some local limestone. The La Madre area looked promising.

Lake Mead Buttress has a couple of fun-looking multipitch sport routes, so we set our sights on either Contagion (5.10a/b, 6p or Patient Zero (5.10a, 7p). We hiked up into the fog, but the rain never came. There were already two parties queued up for Contagion and one already started up Patient Zero, so both of our teams decided to go for Patient Zero. A party was already on the route, so after a short wait Brent and Naomi started up, with Marina and me following. Kylo—Marina’s Siberian husky—kept guard over our packs at the base. It was a blast!

Pitch-by-Pitch Photos for Patient Zero (5.10a, 7p)

Approach

2nd

Park on Kettle Ridge Drive. Pick up the Cleod 9 Mountain Bike Trail. Follow this to the junction with the Secret Menu Trail. Turn right on Secret Menu Trail, follow this trail until you reach a faint cairned climbers path bellow the buttress. Contagion is to the left, Patient Zero to the right.

Pitch 1

5.8

Pitch 2

5.9

Pitch 3

5.10-

Pitch 4

5.8

Pitch 5

5.9

Pitch 6a

5.5

Pitch 6b

3rd

Pitch 7

5.9

Top

Descent

2nd + 1 rappel

The best descent is to walk down the ridge to the right and then zag back into a gully feature. There is a single rappel (might be a fixed rope), which deposits you on the bench about 500 right of the base of the route. Hike easily back to the base of the rotue.

More climbing fun!

Date: November 20, 2025 (Thu)

Partner: Kyle Knight

Climbed at: Lake Mead Buttress

Route:
• Contagion 5.10a/b, 6p, sport
• Killer Nano Robot Infection 5.12a, 4p, sport

Kyle Knight had replied to a Mountain Project partner post I’d put up earlier in the week, looking for dry rock once the rain cleared. I’d climbed Patient Zero (5.10a, 7p) on Lake Mead Buttress the day before and had an absolute blast—and the rock was actually dry, which still wasn’t guaranteed on the sandstone. So Kyle and I headed back to Lake Mead Buttress to try Contagion (5.10a/b, 6p), the slightly harder sister route to Patient Zero. When we arrived there was a full conga line of about six parties, but we strategically passed the first two at ledges and then cruised to the top. The entire route took just 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Still before noon, we figured we might as well jump on something harder. A quick scan of Mountain Project pointed us to Killer Nano Robot Infection (5.12a, 4 pitches), developed in 2024 and already touted as one of the best lines on the wall. Only the first pitch goes at 12a; the rest clock in at 10+/11a/11b—perfect. We hangdogged a bit on Pitch 1 but sent the upper pitches. And the climb really was stellar, easily the best of the three routes I’ve done there. Hard to believe it sat unclimbed until 2024. Limestone sport climbing really does get better as it gets harder.

Huge thanks to Kyle for a super fun day of multipitch sport climbing! Hopefully we can link up for a Red Rocks climb while we’re both still here.

Below are some pitch-by-pitch photos from the two routes.