A progression of multi-pitch climbing in Red Rocks NCA outside Las Vegas, Nevada this month. Powered by Randy’s Donuts.
I had the pleasure of teaching a return student in Red Rocks this month. She joined AAI (American Alpine Institute) for a week-long Women’s Alpinism 1 program in July. She reached out later this fall to set up some time together in Red Rocks. Her goals were to have fun climbing in a new place and to go home feeling ready to lead sport multi-pitches.
Additionally, my favorite donut place in Vegas is Randy’s Donuts. Donuts are more fun with friends, so I brought one to share each morning. We got to take some silly photos of donuts and reward ourselves with sweet treats.
Here’s a day-by-day recap of our sport multi-pitching progression:
day 1: wake-up wall
On day 1, we hiked up to Wake-Up Wall, from the 2nd pullout in the scenic loop. I like this wall for its choice of sun and shade and the practice anchors bolted close to the ground.
We did some top-roping and leading to warm up, then moved over to the practice anchors. We practiced belaying from above, then did mini-pitches on the ground.
Finally, we put her skills to the test by leading a real pitch and belaying me up to her. We did another mini-pitch higher and rappelled back to the ground.
day 2: the hamlet
For the second day, we started at the hamlet. Given it was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, it was appropriately hectic.
Fortunately, we could move to the far right side of the wall, and get on our first true multi-pitch, a 2-pitch 5.8 called Alas, Poor Yorick.
Since the goal was to gain experience with exposure and rope systems, we decided to do the route again for more practice with the exposure and setting up rappels. With gusts to 20 mph that afternoon, we had to carefully saddlebag and strategically pull the rope in between gusts of wind.
day 3: riding hood wall
The third day we went up Big Bad Wolf on Riding Hood Wall in the morning. At 8 am, there were parties on the wall, but there was no wait to get started. The climbing on this route is top-notch Vegas 5.9 climbing, and a great intro-multi pitch route.
In the afternoon, we drove over to Sandstone Quarry (3rd pullout). We scrambled down into the Man’s Best Friend area. Then, we swapped leads going up Kibbles and Bits, which parallels the original Man’s Best Friend route.
day 4: moderate mecca
On the last day we had intermittent drizzles in the Calico Basin area, so we hustled to set up one trad anchor up at Moderate Mecca before the rain.
The past three days gave my student great experience with following pitches. She also gained skills in setting up belays. However, we hadn’t gone over other scenarios that she might encounter in the wild: lowering, hauling, tying off the belay.
After she learned and practiced these skills we both felt she was ready to go out on similar length multi-pitches alone with friends!
I’m proud of putting together this program for learning sport multi-pitching, and am looking forward to my next work in Red Rocks.
Routes:
- Alas, Poor Yorick (5.8, 2 pitches)
- Big Bad Wolf (5.9, 3 pitches)
- Kibbles and Bits (5.8, 2 pitches)
Skills:
- Multi-pitch climbing flow and commands
- Clove and munter hitches
- Belaying from above with an ATC or Gri-Gri
- Anchors for multi-pitching
- Setting up multi-pitch rappels
- Lowers with an ATC or Gri-Gri
- Tying off a munter hitch with an MMO (munter-mule-overhand)
- Hauling with a 3:1
- Gear choices for multi-pitching (carabiners, backpacks, etc.)
Mia Climbs 
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