Armatron — Juniper Canyon — Mountain Crag in Calico Basin
Juniper Canyon is a hidden gem in the Red Rocks area. Armatron provided a perfect introduction to longer trad climbing — six pitches mixing crack and face movement on solid sandstone. The views from the top were absolutely worth the effort. We sadly didn't have our amazing photographers with us on this trip, but the climbing and the setting made it a memorable experience regardless.
Videos
Approach
The approach to Juniper Canyon is an adventure in itself; a 2.6-mile hike that includes some scrambling and route-finding. Not the most straightforward approach, but it adds to the sense of getting away from it all. It was actually a lot of fun to jump from rock to rock, navigate through the canyon, and finally arrive at the base of Armatron.
Routes
Armatron (5.9-) is a classic route in the canyon, offering a variety of climbing styles that keep you engaged throughout the ascent. Everybody says pitch three is the 'money pitch' and it was definitely enjoyable. But we truly loved putting pitch 4 and 5 into one long run, and it ended up being the highlight of the route for us. The climbing was sustained, with a mix of crack and face moves that kept us on our toes. The protection was solid, and the rock quality was very good, making for a fun and memorable climb.
Protection & Gear
Bring a rack more oriented to micro placements, and plenty of nuts. The varnish sections accept offsets readily, and tri-cams were a nice addition for being able to pull out one piece and fiddle until we found something solid. We also found that some of the cracks were a bit shallow, so having tricams (not usually mentioned in the Vegas climbing beta) was a nice addition for those tricky placements.
Conditions
Late March — ideal spring weather with warm days and cool nights. We intentionally picked an overcast day and made an early start to avoid direct sun on the black desert varnished sections. We were there with over 70 mph gusts when we were at the top, which made the descent a little more exciting than we expected, but it was still manageable and added to the sense of adventure.