Sources
Very special shout out to Miles Todzo and Devinne Cullinane who helped edit the episode transcript.
https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/uploads/Nevada-Red%20Rock%20Canyon-Geology.pdf - intro information
https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105731932/red-rocks - info on rock climbing
https://www.lvwash.org/about-the-wash/hydrology-geology-biology/index.html#:~:text=The%20entire%20hydrographic%20basin%20is,then%20flow%20into%20Lake%20Mead. - las vegas wash
https://www.nps.gov/articles/desertvarnish.htm - desert varnish
https://www.mountainproject.com/route/106056281/the-pearl - the pearl V5
https://www.mountainproject.com/route/113802237/the-wave - The wave V3
https://www.mountainproject.com/photo/106267165 - cannibal crag
https://smallpond.ca/jim/sand/overview/ - sand dune to sandstone formation animation (Definitely check this one out)
Referenced photos from the episode (and captions that give a little more context)
The cliffs of Red Rock Canyon seen from Las Vegas. The flat desert plain in the foreground is part of the Las Vegas Basin which was formed when red rock pulled apart from the Valley of Fire.
My brother and I climbing the Plumbers Crack Boulder. If you look close you can see linear bedding planes that are oriented in the same direction as the perfect split. Miraculously this boulder landed so that it could split down the middle. Also, the desert patina coats the outside of the boulder, which contributes to a much harder face climb.
The potato chips boulder (V2) which features an imperfect split along one of the bedding planes to create many little ridges and holds on the split face. The best holds for me were the ones coated in the desert patina. The photo features my brother utilizing some of the bedding planes to top it out.
The canibal crag sport climbing area: This is a perfect display of the various migrading sand dunes that hardened on top of one another. The big horizontal breaks in the rock are the separations between different subsequent sand dunes. THe smaller laminations are the cross beds that were deposited as the sand dune migrated. The more angled cross beds show a period with larger sand dunes. The chalked up route up the prow of the crag uses holds in the cross beds. See the source labeled “Sand dune to sandstone formation” for more information on this process.
Me climbing The Wave (V3). Other than featuring a giant cutout in the rock, this climb also features little iron nodules in the sandstone that proved to be nie little holds.
A close up display of the tightly banded vibrant display of color in the rock. The varying degrees of red and orange have to do with the iron minerals in that sand dune. Since it was raining on this particular day, we did not climb. My hand is just there for scale (and not reaching to grab a hold!!)
TRBTC: Red Rock Canyon - Transcript
This is the Rock Behind the Climb, the podcast about the geology of different rock climbing spots. I am your host Quinn “The Jazzhammer” Todzo, and this episode will make you see every single climb differently in Red Rock Canyon, so get ready to get friggen blitzed, geologically. For those who are new or haven’t heard this podcast in a while, my goal is to really connect the features in the rock that define the climbing in an area to the geologic processes that created them.
In this episode we are going to explore why exactly the redder the rock provides better holds. We’ll talk about how winds changing direction millions of years ago causes you to shift your weight halfway up a sport climb. Bouldering wise I’ll get into the main reason is that everyone from your V0 homies to your V10 crushers come back from red rock psyched out of their minds. And finally I’ll close with why the city of Las Vegas specifically ended up right next to this natural playground.
Red rock canyon in Las Vegas is hands down the best all around rock climbing spot in America. You’ve got long monstrous trad routes right next to amazing sport climbs and absolutely world class boulders. There are so many problems and routes of all types and difficulties right next to each other. And better yet, you are literally less than 30 minutes away from Las Vegas. You can literally send, rage, lose all your money, and crush again all in the same 24 hour period.
Coming in from Las Vegas, the approach into red rock is a spectacular change in environment. You go from this insanely artificial metropolitan area with strip malls and casinos to this giant red and white striped cliff that abruptly emerges from the flat desert plain, buttressing the western horizon. It’s crazy because the giant cliffs and deep canyons make it feel wild, remote, and adventurous even though a glance to the east reminds you that you are not too far from civilization (or maybe the fall of civilization in the case of some casinos).
So, let’s start off with the basics: what kind of rock are we climbing, and where did it come from?
The rock at red rock is Sandstone which means that it was formed from a bunch of sand grains clumping together over millions of years to eventually form the stone that we see today. In the case of red rock canyon, the sand was deposited by wind blowing the sand grains into giant sand dunes. Over time, these giant dunes got buried by more wind blown sand dunes to eventually get pressed into rock in a process called lithification.
When you climb the rock today, you can actually see evidence of the sand dunes by the way that the rock is cracked and striped. Often, you will be able to pick out large horizontal cracks in the rock. These are known as beds and they mark the separation between subsequent sand dunes. In between those beds are thinner sloped stripes of rock called cross-beds. These are deposits that mark the travel of a sand dune over time. Because yes, sand dunes move over time! To learn more about this, I have included a resource in the show notes that has cool animations that describe this process.
A good example of what this looks like is at the Cannibal Crag. Climbs on this rock feature holds on the cross beds and spots to rest in between beds. What’s cool is that you can see how the environment changed over time as you climb up the rock. For instance, you could be climbing up a section of rock where all the cross beds are sloping down from left to right, and then abruptly the beds will shift to sloping from right to left. This is because the wind would have changed direction with the next sand dune! After years of generally blowing from left to right, something drastic about the land changed to alter the wild patterns. All of this to make you have to shift your weight to account for the cross beds sloping now right to left.
The thickness and steepness of the bedding planes is controlled by the relative wind speed at the time that the sand dune was formed. Thicker sections with more steeply slanted cross beds show a period with larger sand dunes and therefore stronger wind speeds. Flatter holds are of times when the wind wasn’t blowing as strongly. So if you are climbing along on steeply inclined cross beds without a rest in sight, you can blame the high winds at that time for making such a massive sand dune!
If you have never been to Red Rock, I have put a photo of what these beds look like in the show notes. You know that Dr. Seuss book Oh the Places You’ll go where the little dude walks through a world that has a bunch of multicolored striped hills. It kind of looks like that, but just varying degrees of red, orange, and white. I dunna know. Either way it’s vibrant as heck.
The red and orange colors come from the iron minerals that are mixed in with the sand grains that rusted over time.
The iron in the rock actually does more for it than just provide cool colors. The sandstone layers with the iron minerals actually give the rock layer a lower permeability. This means that less water can get in between the grains and cause it to deteriorate. This is why the redder the rock, the more weather resistant it is, and therefore better holds.
On a lot of climbs, the best holds are the ones that are darker colors, because they have resisted weathering better than the less metallic rock layers. This allows the redder sections to develop into larger jugs and deeper crimps than the lighter colored holds which are typically slopier and smaller.
Also, just as an FYI, the rock as a whole is porous, meaning that even though it looks strong and compact, water can actually percolate through it. When water is trapped in the rock, it makes the rock weak and easily breakable. So definitely don’t climb on it for a few days after it rains, because you would be likely to break a hold.
OK so to recap this section I thought I would share a few slightly altered song lyrics from a modern poet of our time by the name of Taylor Swift that I think captures the essence of the sandstone at red rock. Ok here goes
I am a sand dune, it's a typical epoch night
I'm carrying the kind of minerals she doesn't like
She'll never know your climbing style like I do
But she wears calcite
I am oxidized
She's light colored, and I'm a little rusty
Dreaming about the day when you wake up and find
The hold you're looking for has been red the whole time
Not sure if that made sense, but alas: we’re moving on
If you are impatient like me, rather than dive straight into the cliffs and crags that scrape the western skyline when you drive up from Vegas, you’ll actually take an abrupt right turn to go hit up the Kraft Boulders which you can access before actually entering the national conservation area.
The bouldering here is truly la creme de la creme. It’s incredible. Basically every boulder I’ve tried in the Kraft area felt like a gym problem. So many boulders have amazing holds, mostly decent landings, and offer a wide assortment of problem types from crimpy slabs to muscully overhangs. What makes this spot truly remarkable to me is that you have hundreds of problems in such a dense area that completely vary in difficulty. This is really cool because no matter who you are or where you are in your bouldering journey, you can find a ton of really fun problems in the Kraft mountain area.
When you get to the Kraft bouldering area it can feel like a maze just looking around for the exact problem I wanted to try. But if you happen to look up just past the endless field of boulders, you’ll notice Kraft Mountain, which is where the boulders actually originated.
Basically, the giant field of boulders is a result of giant blocks of rock tumbling down the mountain from this one lens of intact sandstone due to erosion. Over time, as water and ice entered the cracks and joints within the sandstone unit, the blocks fell and tumbled down the mountain. This is known as a talus field, which are geological features found in a lot of mountainous areas where rockfall is common.
Some of the most well known and popular bouldering areas in America were formed in a similar fashion. Places like Joes Valley in Utah, Icicle Creek in Washington, and even Yosemite Valley are places with bouldering formed from talus field.
In talus fields, I would argue that the factor that influences the climbing the most is the orientation of each boulder after coming to rest, which is dictated by rockfall. Rockfall in Kraft mountain has occurred after years of water freezing and thawing in the cracks of Kraft Mountain. However, at different times and under varying circumstances each boulder detached from the cliff, rolled for a bit, and found its resting place.
The orientation of the boulder as well as its size, are both dictated by the rock fall. This can mean the difference between whether you have a low angle slab climb or an overhanging test piece. There are boulders with huge airy top outs like after a bunch of crimpy moves like The Pearl V5. And then, there are 5 foot boulders, featuring 7 moves to get out of a mini cave and over the lip to the top out like The Wave V3. And the crazy part is that these two completely different problems with different styles are right next to each other.
A prime example of an iconic red rock boulder is one known as the cube. The boulder is this massive, nearly perfect rectangular block of sandstone that somehow landed perfectly on its side after tumbling down the mountain. The fact that the block a) stayed intact during the rockfall event, and b) landed on its side allows for some sick high ball faces and striking arete problems. The actual rock climbing holds probably have more to do with erosional processes after the cube had fallen into place, but the essence of the climbing style is because of the rock fall.
Another boulder that had an interesting rock fall is the one known as the Plummers crack. THis is a freaking beast. It’s one of those problems where the photos really don’t do it justice. Basically it’s a 30 foot rock that is split in half down the middle, creating a chimney style crack that gets wider as you get higher up. It’s not technically that hard, but its one of those things that is incredibly scary but also so cool and rewarding when you top it out.
Anyway, the instance of this boulder in the context of rockfall is quite cool because the boulder literally split in half. What must have happened is that when the plumbers crack boulder came tumbling down, it landed with so much force that it literally split down the middle. That doesn’t explain the whole deal though, because how could you possibly get a crack so perfectly sliced where each face inside the chimney is nearly smooth. Most likely there was already a planar joint in the rock formed during it’s original deposition. That means that the rock had to have this coincidence of landing in such a way that the natural joint plane was perpendicular to the ground, with enough force to split the entire thing!
Next time you are out at red rocks or any boulder field, I encourage you to look at the boulder’s with the question of how did the boulders end up there, and then look around at the environment and see if you can find any clues from the surrounding area or adjacent rocks to piece together what might have happened.
Then, when you make your grand discovery and inevitably annoy the crap out of your friends by talking their ear off while they are just trying to send their project, you should reach out to me. I would love to hear about your mind-blowing geologic discovery while out climbing! My contact info is in the show notes
Aside from the orientation of the boulders, I should also mention the main reason the boulders have so many holds. It has to do with this stuff called desert patina. It’s these dark patches of metallic minerals that coat the outside of the rock. The patina, just like the redder sand dune layers, protects the rock and makes it a lot less prone to erosion. In many cases the rock erodes around the patina, which makes for good cracks and edges to pull on . I saw a ton of cool climbs where you have to suffer through a number of tiny little crimps before lunging for a giant patina jug. The patina was especially helpful for me on the climb known as Potato Chips V2, which is an overhanging climb where you are relying on small holds that you can’t really evaluate by just looking at it. My strategy of going for the patina holds proved successful because they had a little more to grab onto than the non patina crimps.
The patina is featured prominently throughout the park. For example, basically the entire black velvet wall is just the sandstone coated in the patina. In many cases, the patina functions in conjunction with the sand dune beds and other water features to create crazy holds and climbs.
OK ok ok, so we have this cool striped rock made from sand dunes, and bouldering that is absolutely world class, but there is one very important aspect about red rock that elevates it to one of the best crags in America.
It’s that if you are out having an adventure up in the canyon and get caught in an insane hail storm, you aren’t likely 8 hours away from the car and have to have a cold and wet trudge back to the car before you have to drive another hour plus just to get a hot meal.
No, Red Rock Canyon is this amazingly wild feeling location that is just a stones throw from Las Vegas. Like I said in the intro, you can literally wake up after a crazy night out in Vegas and within 20/30 minutes be fighting off that hangover with a 13 pitch trad adventure.
I think you are pretty hard pressed to find many other situations like this where there is a major metropolitan area so close to this quality of a climbing crag. But, Las Vegas is an interesting situation. The city is located on a completely flat desert plain that is nestled between mountain ranges.
The geologic term for this is a basin and range topography, which is to say it is a part of alternating sets of mountains and flat lands due to the earth’s crust extending. Over the course of hundreds of millions of years, the North American plate got compressed which gave rise to a bunch of mountains. And then, kind of like when you release a slinky, North America extended back outward. Essentially, the mountain ranges around Las Vegas were all clumped together, but then the Earth’s crust extended, thus separating the mountain ranges. This created huge valleys that got filled in with sediment over time like present day Las Vegas.
If you ever take a day off of climbing and visit the valley of fire state park which is just east of Las Vegas, you’ll find sandstone that very closely resembles red rock canyon. This is because the two parks literally split off from one another leaving Las Vegas in the middle.
A key feature of the Basin and Range topography is that it makes the mountain ranges quite steep and shear, leaving you with a very flat basin right next to incredibly steep cliffs. This makes for the unique situation of red rock canyon and Las Vegas because the flat basin is perfect for building a city upon, and the steep shear rock makes the rock climbing possible.
Well, that’s about all that I have for you. I think there’s a lot more I could talk about with Red Rock canyon and the rock around Las Vegas, but I will cut myself off there for now. If there is anything I want you to take away from this episode though, it’s that all the rocks in Red Rock Canyon have a unique story of how they got there. Whether its massive ancient sand dunes that gave way to the crazy striations in the rock, or the boulders that all fell out of Kraft Mountain and landed in precarious positions to allow for so many different boulder styles, or just taking a step back and looking at the Red Rock as one half of this mountain range that ripped apart leaving fabulous las vegas in the middle. In the words of T Swift: What you’re looking for has been in here the whole time!
Thank you so much for listening. If you have any further questions, have an idea for a place I should visit, or just want to connect with me, shoot me an email. All my info is in the notes. I have also included a link to my blog which includes photos and a transcript of the episode. All right, catch ya on the next one! Jazzhammer Out!
