The Black Orpheus

Austin and I capped off our 2 week stay in Red Rocks with a route that I have been wanting to climb for a long time now. It is called the Black Orpheus. The route is a solid 5.10a, which is harder than anything that I have lead before. It is over 1300 feet long so needless to say, it was a major undertaking. I was a little worried about time because it is a really long approach hike, and an even longer walk off, so I made Austin get up early so we could get a head start on the day. I do not think he was excited to wake up at 5:45, but I thought it was a good idea since neither of us have ever climbed something that hard and long. But the day went off without a hitch. We sent the entire route and made it back to the car in 10.5 hours which is really fast! The climbing was unbelievable, definitely a great way to end our Red Rocks stay. I also had the luck of leading the 5.10a pitch, and I really enjoyed it. When we got to the top both of us were excited, but we both knew that we need to keep on upping the ante.

Now, we are showered up and ready to head for Joshua Tree. I am sad to be leaving Red Rocks, but also really excited to head to a new place. Joshua Tree has such a rich climbing history, and many world class climbers call it their home. I also hear the climbing there is steep and hard, so it should be a good place to grind my teeth on some harder routes.

I am still working on publishing all my pictures from the trip so they can be viewed as a slideshow, so keep on looking for those in the near future.