Jan 27, 2019 — I started up the wrong ridge (a small butte just east of Razorback Ridge) and had to traverse over to Razorback Ridge, but no matter! More scrambling is (usually) always a good time. Once on the ridge, there are a few short Class 3 moves but otherwise it's just boulder hopping that mellows out into a slope. Initially, I thought I'd just jump on over to Pinto Ridge, but I saw bright red stuff to the southwest and decided to explore a bit. These redlands (that's what I'm calling them, sue me) have a series of gullies and interesting rock bands and sheer rotten red dirt all over and I'm glad I came this way. I realized I was wandering pretty far into the redlands after a while whne the red gave way to yellow and eventually back to limestone. Rather than go back, I saw a gully on my topo that reached north and seemed to get back into the valley between Razorback Ridge and Pinto Ridge. I took this route out of the redlands, which included a few dryfalls on slick limestone, and only had a couple of short and easy Class 3 moves to gain the higher ground. I wanted to then get up onto Pinto Ridge, but the cliff band was a bit too freesoloey-looking for my taste, so I kept walking until a steep Class 2 slope reached up to Pinto Ridge, where I was immediately greeted by really fantastic views south toward Lake Mead and the colorfull hills surrounding it, as well as back into the redlands I came from.
Pinto Ridge is easy going the whole way, with one steep Class 2 slope, followed by a Class 3 move. About seven bighorned sheep watched my slip up the slope from above. I saw this section earlier while on Razorback Ridge and it looked way scarier from there. Coming up this way was a gamble, but it paid off and I got to the high point of Pinto Ridge. A canyon to the north of the high point seemed like a fun option to descend back to my car, and it was! There were some small sections of narrows along the way down.
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