Cat In the Hat

Cat in the Hat was our first climb in Red Rock, together. Obviously Tony had been doing lots of things before I arrived. It has 6 pitches, rated 5.5 and 5.6. The most important thing about this route is that it was my first multi pitch climb... The second most important thing was that it was my first touch of sand stone. I found that I liked it. The holds were plenty and huge. All belays were on ledges (which Tony is telling me is not quite usual) with space to dance. The fourth pitch felt a bit shaky, not because of the holds, but because of the rounded face, opening to the abyss below me. I was quite relieved to reach the fourth anchor, I have to confess.

We didn't finish it, quite, we turned back after the fourth pitch. We did not have the earliest start in the morning, and we thought it might get too hot to climb, if we leave it late. Our camping site neighbour persuaded us to give it a go. And it was not too hot, after all. I was actually wearing my fleece hiking in. So we missed the pitches 5 and 6; a short traverse, and a face climb on black rock. We were not the swiftest pair on the route, people were coming and going past us. Also, we had a pair of brand new ropes, and you wouldn't believe the twists and kinks they had, despite being continuously recoiled. On top of this, the park gates close at 7pm, so we really needed to be back at the car quite early. Excuses, yes, I know. I felt quite beaten after it. Four pitches as a warm up is quite hard for me. I'm still walking, though.