For the past few days on my holiday break, I went and did some climbing at Red Rocks, Nevada with a few friends (Jason, Sara, and Ellie). It was a blast! I really love rock climbing, and being out in nature was great. I took a bunch of pictures.

I learned a TON of new stuff on the trip. First of all, I had never really known how to properly setup a rappel after a climb, but after a great lesson from jason and repeating it a bunch of times, I finally got the hang of it. In addition to that, I learned how to do some traditional climbing! (Also called “trad climbing”, which is when you use “natural protection” instead of bolts. This usually consists of camming devices, and various pieces of metal, called nuts, to stick in cracks and stuff).

The first day, we started off easy, doing some 5.8 warm ups followed by some easy 10’s. Then, we moved onto another area where we met this guy Gary, a long time Red Rocks climber from Vegas. He was self belaying a 5.12a (or was it a b?); well, technically, he had his little dog, Toby, there to help in case of an emergency, but other than that he was doing some solo climbing. We exchanged a few belays, and he gave me some great beta that allowed me to onsight a 5.11b (my first 5.11 outdoor lead). After that, I gave his 5.12 a try on top rope, and fell on the crux, but otherwise made it up! Then, I led a 5.11c; that thing was HARD! I was taxed at the cruz, and barley made the clip before falling. It was a risky clip; I was high cliping and there was a lot of rope out. It was scary for a moment. After I hung on the clip for a while, I finished it off with no problem.

The next day, we warmed up on some 10’s. Jason taught me some trad climbing techniques, and let me use his gear to climb my first trad climb (a 5.10-, which felt like a 5.9, and apparently another book has it listed as a 5.9+). It was a TON of fun placing gear, and I’m going to really get into it next year. After that, we headed to this really crowded area, where I attempted to lead a 5.11b. I fell twice, hard, on the second clip, and twisted my ankle a bit when I slammed against the wall. I finally made clip three after the third try, and finished it off. I then led a 5.11a, hanging on one clip for some rest; I was hoping for an onsight, but I was a little tired after my first attempts on the 11b. Then, I top roped an 11c a few times (falling on a few of the hard sections — i never did get it clean!), a GREAT 10d and then led a long 5.9 before we ended the day. A TON of fun climbing, and I’m really only telling my tale; everyone else had a great time and did a ton of great climbs.

The next day, man, my left foot was really sore from my hard falls! Oh well..c’est la vie.

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