On Las Vegas and Snowboarding

I feel that with the exception of the hardcore fans of Vegas, everyone else shares a love hate relationship with the city. In this small area of the world you can do just about anything. The hate comes from the cost of this convenience, both financial and facing the crowds. I feel that overall I like Vegas, despite my hate of crowds and the pain I feel in my wallet when its time to leave. Its good seem to outweigh the bad. Where else could you gorge yourself at a buffet, before skiing, rock climb on your way back to the city, where you enjoy dinner from a Michelin Star chef, shoot machine guns spanning the last 100 years and then watch the most talented fighters in the world beat each other for sport? Nowhere that I know of.

I'm sure there are very few people who consider Vegas to be a ski town, but less than an hour from downtown they have a small resort that is pretty decent. Situated above 8,500 feet on mount Charleston, it actually receives a fair amount of real snow. At the time I went on Christmas Eve it had received more snow than any of the Souther California or Arizona resorts that are within a weekends trip away from me.

As long as you avoided the bunny hill, there were no lift lines and nicely groomed slopes. The bunny hill was crowded, barely steep enough to slide on, and full of tourist form all over the world. They didn't have nearly as many terrain features as Big Bear had, but there were a few jumps and sliders scattered along one of the runs.

With a new GoPro arrangement and a little editing I put together the video below.

-James

Lele Kawa

Red Rock Rendezvous

This turned out to be one of the best experiences I've ever had. If you ever get the chance to go you should.

For just over $100.00 you get two nights of camping, 10 hours of open bar (pouring New Belgium beer and Cliff family wines), dinner, breakfast, classes from some of the worlds best climber, a great atmosphere and a bunch of free stuff from the different vendors.

We arrived Friday afternoon and after checking in set up our tents. Then it was down to the vendors and bar. Most of the vendors were having contest of one sort or another, with awesome prizes. Beer in hand, I headed over to the slack lines of the Yoga Slackers. Their set up was looser than I an used to, but I still managed to walk the line. As the night went on we played some giant Jenga at the New Belgium tent. I lost the second game due to some high winds, and was punished with a small spiderman costume and wig until the next game finished.

Saturday morning I was up at 6, as is my nature. I was able to grab some coffee before sitting to watch the sun come up over the hills. After that is was down to the slack lines again while I waited for my afternoon Self Rescues class. After some advice from one of the Yoga Slackers I was able to get the sitting to standing for the first time on the line.

I was slightly disappointed in my self rescue class. More than anything else it was a knot class. Since I am good with knots and many others are not, I did not get too much out of the class. Their were a handful of small bits that may some day prove useful.

By the time the class was over the bar was open again and dinner was being prepared. Spent some time talking with two local climbers over dinner, then it was time for the auction and the final contest. It was getting pretty cold and the wind was kicking up by this time. After all the contest were over there was a small dance party on stage.

The wind only continued to pick up until morning. There were gust of over 50mph. This did not go well for my ultralight backpacking tent, as some time around 2am one of the poles snapped. I was again up before sunrise, but less because I wanted to be this time. After a quick breakfast we packed the tents and gear up in the car before heading off to the days class.

Sunday's class was Intro to Traditional climbing with pro climber Rob Pizem. This class was a lot more useful. The main focus was placing protection and setting anchors for climbing. Rob held nothing back he fielded any question we sent his way. Also Rob's knowledge of gear was clearly evident, at a glance he knew exactly what piece would fit every crack. This is an ability I also want to gain some day, through experience.

Even saw some wild burros on the way back.

Such a fun weekend, other than my tent breaking, and not getting any climbing in between classes, I can't imagine things being any better. Next year I will take an extra day or two off work so I can put all the knowledge I get at the clinics into work.

-James

Lele Kawa

Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas, NV

While I was in Vegas, I made a trip out of the city to visit Red Rock canyon. It happened to be Veteran's Day weekend, which was one of the national parks free weekend, an added bonus.

I didn't have my climbing gear, so I couldn't take advantage of the climbing. But I did explore the red canyon a bit.

View from visitors center

The first stop we made was at Calico II

At the High Point Overlook of the drive, Las Vegas in the background

Also took a walk along Lost Creek trail to one of the waterfalls, but it was barely dripping. The hike details can be seen at the bottom of this post.

No falling water today