Miniature climbing epic

So I went off yesterday to climb Dark Shadows with my friend, Erik. And it was a great climb, too! The last time I climed it was about 12 years ago with my Mom! And we only did the first 3 pitches.

Well Erik and I go all the way up to the summit of Mescalito via Dark Shadows: a 13 pitch 5.8 traditionally protected route with several bolted belays. It was GREAT climbing! D.S. is one of the best cracks you can climb out at Red Rocks. It's got a 5 star rating and is well worth every one.

This trip with Erik was the first time I was going out the roof at the top of the 4th pitch to do all the other pitches. For the most part it was pretty easy and straightforward climbing. But then we had a jam. Erik took the lead on pitch 7 and we got lost. Blame it on poor eyesight, bad beta or even fatigue, but we missed a critical bolt that led up through the rest of the route. We spent a little over two hours searching for that bolt. When we found it we were, obviously, behind schedule.

We got to the top just after dusk and started hustling down towards the south fork of Pine Creek Canyon. We reached the first big rappel at almost dark. We finished last rappel near the canyon floor about 10:30. And we were late. I was worried that Jana would be worried. I was trying to vibe her not to worry, that we were okay and just late. Dehydrated, miserable, fatigued near exhaustion but finally on the ground.

We hiked around the buttress back to north fork Pine Canyon to search for our bags. After about an hour of hiking, a half hour of searching for our bags, unsuccessfully, and finally passed out due to exhaustion. 15 minutes later we struggled awake and kept searching for our bags.

FINALLY we made it out to the car about 1 o'clock. And, to my big chagrin, there was no spare water in the car. And I've done this MULTIPLE times! I've had water in the car but because we just got back from a weekend trip we emptied the entire car to clean it out (still needs to be CLEANED) so we didn't have the spare water I usually keep in it.

Long story short: we got dehydrated, scratched up and exhausted... but the climb was WORTH IT! Great climbing, a very put together partner and beautiful scenery. Next time I'm pre-hydrating better and taking more water. Then it won't matter if we're 4.5 hours late!