It had been 5 years since my last trip to Red Rocks. I was itching to return. I'd been working hard all winter pulling 60-hour work weeks with my main job as a data analyst and tutoring in the evenings. A long weekend blitz trip to sunny Red Rocks seemed like a great way to reboot. I mentioned it in passing to Nate Beckwith, one of my climbing partners. He was interested as well. We chose a weekend, bought tickets, reserved a rental car, found a cheap airbnb, and the trip was on! We planned to do a four day trip, Thursdsay through Sunday.

On Thursday I left Estes Park at 2am to rendezvous with Nate in Boulder and catch a 6am flight out of Denver. We arrived in Vegas at 7:20am (we gained an hour due to time zone), picked up a rental car, and drove directly to Red Rocks, stopping briefly at a gas station to pick up some snacks. We were hiking out of the Pine Creek parking lot at 10 am toward our objective: Cloud Tower (5.12a, 7p). I had been eyeing this route for years, a Red Rocks classic featuring lots of crack climbing and a technical crux 5.12a pitch. This is a shady route and it was not a particularly warm day (mid-70's in Las Vegas, perhaps high of around 60°F Cloud Tower), but winds were forecasted to be gusts to 50mph from the southwest, making anything in the shelter of Rainbow Mountain an excellent choice (indeed, it was pretty calm our entire ascent). Nate led the entire route. There was a party ahead of us, allowing us a bit of time to work on the crux 5.12a pitch—Nate led it without any falls on his second attempt, an impressive lead (I had to pull on a couple of pieces of gear at the cruxiest sections). We reached the top of Cloud Tower 16.5 hours after I left my doorstep in Estes Park. A quick rappel and hike out and we were back to the Pine Creek parking lot without needing headlights. We drove to our airbnb, stopping at Albertsons on the way back to pick up dinner and groceries. I camped out for a couple of hours in the airbnb common room making an overlay and writing up the trip report for the day, and was in bed 22 hours after leaving Estes Park that morning. A wonderful full day!

On Friday the weather was chilly (high of around 35-40° in Red Rocks), windy (gusts to 60mph), and there were random rain/snow squalls. Although we wished for better weather, with our long and successful day the previous day and a good forecast for the next couple of days, we were less bothered by the forced rest day. We would just go big on Saturday. I took advantage of the forced rest day to visit the Uriostes, who I hadn't seen since my last visit to Red Rocks. It was so good to see them and it made the rest day even more welcomed.

On Saturday, the forecast was for sun and less windy, but cool (highs in mid-60's in Las Vegas, and a good 10-20° cooler in Red Rocks). The squalls of Friday had been quick and it had been quite windy, so we figured the rock had probably stayed dry enough to climb. We wanted to do a sunny, long route. Levitation 29 (5.11c, 9p) —perhaps THE Red Rocks classic route—seemed like a great choice. This route climbs a beautiful line up the impressive and steep south face of Eagle Wall. This route was put up by Jorge and Joanne Urioste, with the first ascent on April 5, 1981, Joanne's 29th birthday, almost exactly 43 years previous. Considering the number of protection bolts that had to be put up on lead, this was quite an impressive ascent. Nate led the entire route, crusing through all of the cruxes. Another great day in Red Rocks.

On Sunday the forecast was for partly sunny but still cool. We had a plane flight to catch that evening. Unimpeachable Groping (5.10b, 7p), a 7-pitch sustained 5.10 sport climb that had become quite popular since it was put up in 1999, seemed like a good choice. Indeed it was. With our early start inspired by our plane flight that evening, we were the first party tup the route. It was a fun route, and a good route to do after two harder routes.

This page gives a trip report for our 4-day blitz trip to Red Rocks. It was an awesome trip, with three classic routes, each quite different in character from the others. I cannot wait to come back.