The Fox, Risk Brothers, and the Mystery OW

Andy Reger gets gear on The Fox 5.10d

The crew and I are back to the same ol' shenanigans in Red Rock again and I've been feeling productive climbing these last few days.  We've been dodging the heat and searching for shade like a bunch of fast moving slugs not wanting to dry up in the sun.  Luckily for us there are many excellent crack climbs in the area that get shade.  Two climbs that are too fun to pass by are The Fox and Risk Brother's Roof in Calico Basin.  Despite the fact that there are "no splitters in Red Rock" these two climbs are great clean-cut cracks that demand true crack technique to complete.  The Fox is one of the most popular crack climbs in the area and I've heard countless people try to compare other routes to it... but luckily it is unique in its difficulties and nothing else is quite like it here.  This time around I was able to shoot photos of the aesthetic line, which is something that has been on my list for a while. So sweet!

Andy further up on The Fox.

The Masai's performing great on Risk Brothers Roof 5.11-
Photo: Andy Reger

Afterwards we hiked over to another great crack climb "Risk Brothers Roof".  This thing is short and stout like George from Seinfeld and occasionally as fumbly if you mess it up.   I've found that this route is pretty much a roof crack boulder problem with a short crux with some potential for thrashing in between.  Too many falls working this thing and your rope WILL get core shot... too few and you're destine to make the same mistakes.  This fun little diddy also has a great chillin' ledge beneath and gives you a great few of Calico Basin and Las Vegas.  I haven't been on this route since last year around this time but I felt pretty good on it.  One of the biggest difficulties I expeireced this time was negotiating around the #3 cam that I placed exactly where I wanted my hand to be... rookie mistake!  Luckily my footwork felt solid and the new shoes from Teneya really worked well on this.

Rounding the roof bulge...
Photo: Andy Reger

Jason on the Nameless OW. 5.10+

The next day we went to an excellent mystery line that we had scoped a few times before.  The route looked like a great #5 size offwidth splitter in a small corner on good stone.  We couldn't find any information on the climb, but we knew it had been climbed because there were two old protection bolts next to the crack.  The odd part was there was no bolted anchor or any other descent method, so we brought enough of a rack to complete this thing clean in it's entirety. This included cleaning all the gear by down climbing at the end of the day.  It was all worth it and what we found was awesome offwidth climbing at a consistent size with adventurous moves and just enough burliness.  We were pretty psyched about this and I knew we would have to find out some more information on it soon.

Mind blown! Jason Molina in an offwidth trance.

Stacking my way through the crux.  

I was lucky enough to climb this route twice, three times if you include down climbing it. On my first attempt I brought a lot of gear and had no idea what the really expect.  I found myself relying on knee jams a little too much in the crux and eventually getting my knee stuck.  I'm kinda getting used to that though.  What I've discovered is that it's best not to get bomber knees unless you want to rest.  Otherwise climb using calf-locks or high heel toes which are easier to progress and remove. Little tricks like this are why I love trying these routes.  If you're doing this right it should feel pretty relaxed, although you'll still be sweating at the end.  Yesterday I asked the Urioste's about this line because they have established a lot of other nearby climbs.  What I found out was a pretty entertaining story and a conclusion that they climbed this back in the day.   When they climbed it they were disappointed in didn't continue further and because of this didn't deem in worthy of a name.  Jorge and Joanne weren't interested in single pitch climbs at the time and were more interested in the alpinist style of first ascents.  The bolts were also not placed during this time, and they appeared sometime later in the routes history by who knows? We didn't clip 'em.  This is a great line that I'm excited to know a lot more about now.  And if you're into this sort of thing you might like the slightly more known Weenie Juice 5.10a in Icebox Canyon.  Check it out!

Weenie Juice 5.10a.