The sandstone is still wet; apparently it SNOWED in the canyon yesterday, so we embark on our 15 minute drive to more limestone at Lake Mead Buttress.
We had slim information to go off of to find the start of a fun long (7 pitch) route called “West Side Story”, and the description didn’t mention the nearly 800ft elevation gain for the approach. That’s ok - we are strong and hearty so up we hiked. Eventually we found the route, and waited in line as it was an incredibly popular climb that shared a first pitch with another route. The man below is holding a beer because it is his birthday, and he accidentally set his pack down too hard on the ground, causing the beer to prematurely spring a leak. What was planned to be a summit beer suddenly transformed to a “drink me now!” kind of beer. I think most of it ended up on his gear, unfortunately. Happy birthday, Steve! I hope he had an awesome romp up the rock.
The rest of the photos are from the summit, rappel down, and hike off the route, in that order. I am completely enamored with the cacti and want to make some art depicting them to enshrine them permanently in my memory. Have you ever experienced that - the act of drawing/painting/sketching something etches it deeply into your brain? Also see the previous post on neuron plants, speaking of neurons. We have discovered a desert plant that looks just like a neuron.
The climb was fantastic - Jason was perserving his finger so I led most of the pitches. It felt strange in a good way to be the leader on this day’s route. Normally with Jason he is leading the way and I am following, but I got us to the route and up the rock which made me glow with accomplishment. Also, the feeling of topping out and seeing the other side of a mountain is a really grand experience. I might be addicted to it. We can’t wait for the sandstone to dry so we can get on the real meat of Red Rock canyon so to speak, but are incredibly thankful for the limestone options!
Summit of West Side Story, 7 pitch 5.10a sport on LIMESTONE while we wait for sandstone to dry.
Strange dinner of ramen, tuna, ½ box mac n cheese, onion, roasted bell pepper. Of course we used the flavor packets from ramen and mac n cheese!