I meant to say that Sunday was the day we saw your Subaru.
That's a really beautiful wall up there. I have contemplated doing Rainbow Buttress. I suppose a good option for the descent would be to rap Leavitation if you can find the anchors, but I hear that is challenging. That trudge out of Oak Creek from the very top is not so pleasant. Yet that trudging is the trademark of those canyon routes that top out.
It took us three hours to descend from Mt Wilson down Oak Creek and we were really psyched to get the mysterious and technical part out of the way before it got dark. The guide doesn't say anything about this descent so Dave resorted to a number of longtime locals for beta, which was pretty key to getting down. There were a number of gullies that cliff out which we were advised to avoid. I guess a lot of people descend south into First Creek but I've heard the boulder hopping is ridiculous in that canyon. Luckily my knees were partially saved for the future by Dave, who insisted on carrying the rack and rope on the descent. Something about training to keep up with Alex... That made it a lot easier for sure. It's nice to climb with a certified badass who needs to train.
As for Resolution Arete. I think it is absolutely a 3 star adventure route. An amazing location, varied climbing, intriguing line, fairly small rack required (I don't recommend skipping the #4cam like we did), a Stellar summit which is the highest in Red Rocks, no chance of crowds, and just an all around good day of fun. The crux 5.11 roof felt hard and bouldery, but is easily aided on a couple solid cams. The 5.10+ pitch just after was very challenging for me. Dave led and linked those pitches and as a result they probably felt harder than if I was leading. The route gets a bad rap for rock quality and quality of climbing plus the long descent, I would put that aside and do it. It was refreshing to climb a RR route what didn't have any bolts. Lady Wilson's Cleavage looks cool too but to me Resolution is THE line on Wilson. That said if I didn't have a solid partner who would simul behind me up into the 5.10 range my opinion might be different. Pitching it all out would be pretty time consuming eventhough a lot of the belays would be terrain or tree belays.
