Desert Companion - March 2015

the

Sports, LEISURE & Outdoors issue 03 March

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+ Palate play Bar food scores a gourmet goal at Sporting Life

Natural Highs ➤ Stone temple zealots

The sport and religion of rock climbing

➤ The nature next door

More great hikes in your own backyard ➤ Field trips

A photo essay on outdoor life in Las Vegas

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EDiTOR’S Note

Outside chance

N

ow is a great time to get outside — and not just because of the weather. In fact, if I were the type to indulge in grandiose, hyperventilating, all-caps overstatement, I’d say we got a full-on NATURAL WONDERS RENAISSANCE going on up in here. *Makes it rain with pine cones.* From Great Basin National Park to Sloan Canyon, there’s been a sanguine streak of victories and vindications lately affirming that — in contraindication to recent shady Congressional feints at, ugh, reanimating the corpse of a nuke waste dump at Yucca Mountain — the Silver State is not (to go earnestly bumper-sticker on you for a moment) a wasteland. Consider: After years of grassroots activism and populist realpolitiking, Protectors of Tule Springs finally saw preservationists’ dreams come true with the creation of the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. And after years of idling on standby thanks to a sour economy, Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area gets an ambitious improvement plan this month, promising amenities that will raise its profile to match that of Red Rock and Valley of Fire. Up north, academics, preservation activists and park officials have launched a campaign to make Great Basin National Park, home to some of the darkest night skies in the continental U.S., the site of a world-class astronomical observatory. Next door, meanwhile, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has introduced a bill that would protect millions of acres of desert just beyond our doorstep, expanding Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve. And the continued push for land preservation by Sen. Harry Reid’s office promises to protect even more of our most sensitive, valuable and beautiful desert. In each case, sure, this expands the playground of Nevada public lands — this means more hikes to complete, more summits Next to conquer, more gorgeous vistas to use MOnth as selfie backgrounds. And, of course, it Style is in fosters a more ennobled kind of tourism season with that doesn’t involve drinking daiquiri out our spring of a plastic Eiffel Tower without pants. fashion issue

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But besides that, I also like to think these happy developments have in them the power to nudge the world’s perception of our personality, so the word Nevada instinctively evokes more than desert wastelands or neon misadventure.

And yet words like nature and phrases like public lands always conjure a certain out-thereness that make of the natural landscape an other, severed from our everyday experience. Well, you don’t have to drive or walk far to see real Southern Nevada. On p. 38, we bring out another installment of our much-loved hikes in your own backyard — and that applies whether your backyard is Henderson or Centennial Hills. Another story in this issue will make you reconsider how you think of Southern Nevada’s backyard — that is, Red Rock National Conservation Area. Certainly, it’s both a gem of a hiking destination and beautiful backdrop to the clamor and gleam of Las Vegas. But after you read Heidi Kyser’s piece, “Stone Temple Zealots,” you might envision Red Rock as something closer to a holy site. Heidi’s deep dive into the world of rock climbers reveals a fascinating subculture of aficionados for whom the sport is much more than a sport. It’s also a philosophy, a religion, an obsession and a way of life. And Red Rock is their shrine, their ocean and, in some cases, their white whale.

But I’m flinging mere words to try to lasso a profound relationship that we flatlanders can only hope to understand.

Which, to get grandiose again, is the point of getting out in nature in the first place: To momentarily divest ourselves of the approximations of language and enter a world where words don’t have to suffice.

Andrew Kiraly editor

Follow Desert Companion www.facebook.com/DesertCompanion www.twitter.com/DesertCompanion

4 color process

® The will to do wonders®

® The will to do wonders®

WISHES W E LCO M E Caesars Foundation is proud to support Make-A-Wish Southern Nevada’s Walk for Wishes event for our third consecutive year, which helps further its mission of helping children with life-threatening medical conditions be enriched with hope, strength and joy.

Please join us on Saturday, March 21st.

For more information, visit www.snv.wish.org.

facebook.com/CaesarsFoundation

@CaesarsFdn

March 2015

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Reader Brent Parrish is leaving Las Vegas, and we’re sorry to see him go.

A magazine needs good readers every bit as much as it needs good writers, artists and editors, and Parrish certainly fit the bill, as his farewell letter makes clear. It’s also an excellent primer on how to settle in and come to love a place that isn’t always easy to love: I hated Las Vegas. It is full of concrete, strip malls and ubiquitous housing developments. Worst of all, there is not a single ounce of sweet gray fog. My union with Las Vegas was an arranged marriage, one that ripped me from the love of my youth and the only home I’ve ever known: Northern California. I left Napa feeling an acute emptiness over all the things I had left unexplored. To make my stay more excruciating, the promotion promised to my wife (also our largest motivation for moving) was being given to someone else. Smaller misfortunes followed, and the reality of my location seemed like pure lunacy. I couldn’t have chosen this!

Things didn’t change in one day but I know for sure it started with a trip Downtown to a place called EAT. I was so thrilled to see things on a menu that were grown on a farm in the same state that I was living in! And right across the street was some construction project being built with shipping containers! That’s the day I knew there was hope, maybe this arranged marriage to Ms. Vegas could be something, maybe there could be love. … I was also introduced to the best free magazine I will ever read: Desert Companion.

I read at least half of the November 2013 issue over one cappuccino that day. I was so engrossed that I nearly forgot how perturbed I was that it was November and it wasn’t cool enough to even wear

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HEALTH long sleeves.

Even though my real marriage was in a rapid decline, everything else was getting better.

I had some great new friends, and we started WAITING our own hiking club.

TO INHALE After exhausting trails at Red Rock we spent nearly every Tuesday last summer hiking at Mount Charleston, then descending to the west side of town to swim in the shade and push our culinary boundaries with nothing but a tabletop grill. ... Of course there were copious amounts of craft brew consumed, too!

I would be remiss not to recount a little sandwich shack in front of a dive bar on the most famous street in Las Vegas. I don’t know what I ate before the Goodwich. I love seeing those same owners buying fresh greens from the grocery store I work at. I get giddy as a kitten with yarn when I get to see local celebrities shop where I work, like a lovely and personable food events coordinator or a magazine editor who always says hello to me. And how great is a city where you can attain ramen at 2 a.m. and which has more genuinely great pizza places than an octopus has arms? That city is so great I might not ever want to leave it.

Sadly, as my marriage has ended so must my marriage to this city. I have to go back to start over. I never would have thought 16 months ago that leaving Las Vegas would break my heart, but it has already begun to.

There is plenty that needs to change about Las Vegas, but there is an overwhelming tide of people who really care. This can

feel like a stoic and unwelcoming place; Las Vegas isn’t a place where beauty has fully established itself, but it is better for that reason. There is so much to love but you have to find it, you have to make this city yours because it won’t do it for you.

Northern California may be my home, but Las Vegas will always be my city. Farewell.

Breathe uneasy: Researchers Rodney Metcalf, left, and Brenda Buck

After two UNLV researchers discovered asbestos in Southern Nevada soil, they wanted to study it further. Why did state health authorities stand in their way? B Y H E I D I K YS E R

S

itting in her small, cluttered office on the fourth floor of UNLV’s Science and Engineering Building, geology professor Brenda Buck pauses to ponder my question: Has her recent discovery of naturally occurring asbestos in the Boulder City area had any personal — emotional, maybe — impact on her? The sun shines through a north-facing window, lighting up her strawberry-blond hair and blue eyes.

“Yes,” she finally says. “I used to board

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my horse, Jimmy, at a stable in Boulder City. Sometimes, when my grandkids were little, I’d take them for rides out there. I can’t remember specifically where we’d go or whether it was windy, which would have increased their chance of exposure (to any asbestos in the air), but I do think about that now.”

A few weeks later, from his Carson City office at the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Ihsan Azzam says almost exactly the opposite, without the slightest

hesitation: “I would move to Boulder City in a heartbeat,” he says. “I would be happy to live there with my kids and grandkids. I would not be worried about the risk at all.”

As the state epidemiologist, Azzam says, it’s his responsibility to make sure Nevadans are safe. Sounding every bit as sincere over the phone as Buck appeared in person, he repeats several times that he is convinced her discovery is no cause for alarm, that the existence of asbestos in the environment alone does not equal an impending public health crisis.

How are we to know who’s right?

Buck has recently been on a public speaking tour of sorts, appearing in community forums and academic gatherings to present the findings she and fellow UNLV geology professor Rodney Metcalf have gleaned from nearly five years of collecting and testing soil samples in Southern Nevada — findings that were published in an academic paper in January. At

P H OTO G R A P H Y C H R I STO P H E R S M I T H & B R E N T H O L M E S

1/23/15 1:05 PM

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There was some Facebook response to Heidi Kyser’s February report “Waiting to Inhale,” about asbestos in the soil near Boulder City and the scientific/bureaucratic squabbles it prompted.

Bruce Reynolds wrote: “Interesting story, and perhaps the danger from the asbestos around Boulder City is minimal.

And perhaps not. But I’d like to know more about where the asbestos is, how much of it is there and what the health risks are. The State of Nevada and the EPA need to do a lot more studies!!”

Norman Umberger, on the other hand, didn’t seem worried at all. “If you know anything about asbestos, you know the danger is minimal to the public and zero from environmental.”

Jason Reek, identified on social media as a research assistant at UNLV’s Department of Geoscience, countered: “I don’t think it’s very accurate to say there is zero danger from asbestos occurring in the environment. It doesn’t matter what the source is, the moment of entry into the lungs it become a hazard.”

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This event is presented by Cirque du Soleil in partnership with the Springs Preserve. All proceeds support the Springs Preserve and Cirque du Soleil Foundations.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN AT WWW.ACTIVE.COM For more information visit www.cirquedusoleil.com/5KRun

March 2015

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Features 52 Stone temple zealots

They came, they climbed, they stayed — among the thousands of rock climbing tourists who flock to Southern Nevada is a hardy tribe of those who couldn’t leave the wonderful red stone behind. Inside Vegas’ climbing community. By Heidi Kyser

From paddling to parkour, football to fishing, stargazing to bird-watching — our photographers capture the panorama of outdoor fun in Southern Nevada.

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b i r dwat c h i n g p h ot o b y s h a n t i c o l a n g e lo - c u r r a n

62 out there

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

CONDUCTED BY MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS W I T H P I A N I S T Y U JA WA N G

MONDAY, MARCH 30 – 7:30pm PHOTO BY ART STREIBER

AN EVENING WITH

GARRISON KEILLOR THURSDAY, APRIL 16 – 7:30pm

In a solo performance, the acclaimed host of A Prairie Home Companion shares hilarious anecdotes about growing up in the American Midwest, the people of Lake Wobegon and “late-life fatherhood.”

© ROLEX FADIL BERISHA

AN EVENING WITH

March 12 – 6:00pm BRUCE HORNSBY

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APRIL 28 – MAY 3

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departments All Things

34 community

45 Dining

75 The Guide

19 biz20 Selling LV’s tap

Hitting the streets with homelessness activist Merideth Spriggs

By Matt Kelemen

46 The Dish Scoring

Grab your umbrella, it’s cultural monsoon season!

22 environment

What’s next for Sloan Canyon?

24 zeit bites

March in a flow chart 26 Profile A golf prodigy tees up her future 28 Style Model Dani

Reeves: selfie queen 30 Open topic

Can’t we keep up with Tulsa?

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38 outdoors Hiking in, practically, your own backyard

By Alan Gegax, Heidi Kyser and Brent Holmes

big at Sporting Life 48 Eat this now

There’s no Benny like an Arepas Benny 50 at first Bite

At Bardot Brasserie, you’ll always have Paris

80 End note Urban hiking sketchbook

By Scott Dickensheets

on the cover photography Alex Johnson

by Aaron Mayes

G u t t e r CREDIT L e f t

water for fun and profit

Stumped About Tree Care? Hire Us.

p u b l i s h e D B y n e va d a p u b l i c r a d i o

Mission Statement Desert Companion is the premier city magazine that celebrates the pursuits, passions and aspirations of Southern Nevadans. With awardwinning lifestyle journalism and design, Desert Companion does more than inform and entertain.

We spark dialogue, engage people and define the spirit of the Las Vegas Valley.

Publisher Melanie Cannon Associate Publisher Christine Kiely Editor Andrew Kiraly Art Director Christopher Smith deputy editor Scott Dickensheets staff writer Heidi Kyser Graphic Designer Brent Holmes

O

Account executives Sharon Clifton, Parker McCoy, Favian Perez, Leigh Stinger, Noelle Tokar, Markus Van’t Hul

ur tree professionals and certified arborists take great pride in thoughtfully and skillfully performing the highest quality tree care in Southern Nevada. We really know our trees; we want to know yours, too.

• Pruning & Trimming • Fertilization & Soil Management • Insect & Disease Management

Marketing manager Lisa Kelly Subscription manager Chris Bitonti

• Planting & Transplanting • Tree & Stump Removal • Young Tree Development

Web administrator Danielle Branton traffic coordinator Karen Wong ADVERTISING COPY EDITOR Carla J. Zvosec Contributing writers Cybele, Shanti Colangelo-Curran, Alan Gegax, Mélanie Hope, Hugh Jackson, Matt Kelemen, Debbie Lee, Sage Leehey, Aaron Mayes, Greg Blake Miller, Christie Moeller, Molly O'Donnell, Greg Thilmont, Mitchell Wilburn

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Editorial: Andrew Kiraly, (702) 259-7856; andrew@desertcompanion.com

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T H R U

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Design | Installation | Renovation | Consultation | Maintenance | Tree Care Hardscapes | Small Jobs | Irrigation | Lighting

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Fax: (702) 258-5646 Advertising: Christine Kiely, (702) 259-7813; christine@desertcompanion.com

license 0057280 Licensed, Bonded, & Insured

Call (702) 452-5272 to schedule a tree care visit

Contributing artists Shanti Colangelo-Curran, Aaron Mayes, Chris Morris, Sabin Orr, Checko Salgado/Focalchrome, Lucky Wenzel, Ched Whitney

Subscriptions: Chris Bitonti, (702) 259-7810; subscriptions@desertcompanion.com Website: www.desertcompanion.com Desert Companion is published 12 times a year by Nevada Public Radio, 1289 S. Torrey Pines Dr., Las Vegas, NV 89146. It is available by subscription at desertcompanion. com, or as part of Nevada Public Radio membership. It is also distributed free at select locations in the Las Vegas Valley. All photos, artwork and ad designs printed are the sole property of Desert Companion and may not be duplicated or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The views of Desert Companion contributing writers are not necessarily the views of Desert Companion or Nevada Public Radio. Contact Chris Bitonti for back issues, which are available for purchase for $7.95.

ISSN 2157-8389 (print) ISSN 2157-8397 (online)

Brunch chic.

Saturday and Sunday.

Aria.com

Board of Directors Officers cynthia alexander, ESQ. chair Snell & Wilmer Jerry Nadal vice chair Cirque du Soleil TIM WONG treasurer Arcata Associates Florence M.E. Rogers secretary Nevada Public Radio

Directors kevin m. buckley First Real Estate Companies Dave Cabral emeritus Business Finance Corp.

Louis Castle emeritus Patrick N. Chapin, Esq. emeritus Richard I. dreitzer, Esq. Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, LLP Elizabeth FRETWELL emeritus City of Las Vegas bOB GLASER BNY Mellon gavin isaacs Scientific Games Jan Jones Blackhurst Caesars Entertainment Corporation John R. Klai II Klai Juba Wald Architects Lamar Marchese president emeritus William mason Taylor International Corporation Chris Murray emeritus Avissa Corporation William J. “Bill” Noonan emeritus Boyd Gaming Corporation kathe nylen Anthony j. pearl, esq.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas MARK RICCiARDI, Esq. emeritus Fisher & Phillips, LLP Mickey Roemer emeritus Roemer Gaming

Follow Desert Companion www.facebook.com/DesertCompanion www.twitter.com/DesertCompanion

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Winter is over, and now is the time for adventure. Fly 20 feet in the air with your own jetpack, roar over dunes in an ATV, or speed around one of the biggest racetracks in the world, all in Pahrump.

Find your spring adventure at VISITPAHRUMP.COM

On February 5th, Nevada Public Radio invited its major donors, Board of Directors, Community Advisory Board, corporate supporters, and community dignitaries to our premiere annual event, Bids, Bites & Beverages.

In addition to enjoying signature beverages and gourmet bites, guests participated in both silent and live auctions. The event raised over $50,000 and we welcomed over 400 guests to the Donald W. Reynolds Broadcast Center. Check out more photos at facebook.com/desertcompanion.

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de signer Water, water, everywhere ...

A model’s tips on style — and selfies page 28

business

Real thirst With alkalized water brands tapping our precious local supply, has the bottled water business gone too far?

B y H e i d i K ys e r

A

few months ago in her Carson City home, Abby Johnson’s cleaning lady held up a bottle of Real Water and declared that the stuff had changed her life — she was sleeping better and feeling more energetic since she started drinking it, she said. “Let me see that,” Johnson replied, examining the bottle. Amid the fine print, she saw these words: “Source of water: Las Vegas Valley Water District.”

“This is not what it seems to be,” she told her cleaning lady, explaining that the product was treated tap water.

“Her eyes got really big,” Johnson says. “She was shocked.”

Here’s the irony: Johnson heads the Great Basin Water Network, whose raison d’etre is to kill the Southern Nevada Water Association’s plan to pump water from Eastern Nevada, where Johnson has a second home, and ship it to a certain increasingly thirsty — and dry — metropolitan center in the south.

“We’re focused on encouraging meaningful conservation in the Las Vegas Valley as an alternative to the groundwater pipeline project,” Johnson says. “It’s illogical to take water out of the (Colorado River) system and export it. We’re all for economic development, but

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ALL Things

business

Hear more if there was one thing Las Vegas should import instead of export, it would be bottled water.”

Brent Jones disagrees. The CEO of Affinity Lifestyles, Real Water’s parent, argues that his company is creating jobs — 40 to 60, he estimates — by providing a good product that consumers are clamoring for. He pays the standard commercial water rate, just like the casinos and hotels whose myriad customers run countless gallons down the drain each day. And, notes Jones, who’s also the state assemblyman for District 35 in Enterprise, he’s not doing anything illegal.

Still, some say there’s something unseemly about taking a resource from the public supply, repackaging it and selling it at a premium to outsiders. Has bottled water crossed the line between what should and shouldn’t be allowed? Or is it simply smart business that should be left alone to flourish?

Hot water Real Water is on fire. Jones won’t give out his closely held company’s revenue or profit numbers, but he says that the brand’s top customers are Sprouts and Whole Foods, and that market research firm SPINS ranks it No. 2 in the natural products category. He has facilities in San Diego and Tennessee, and plans to expand into Texas. And Real Water’s website includes a photo gallery of celebrities from Common to Courtney Cox flaunting the square bottle with the “RE2AL” logo.

That little “2” has a lot to do with the product’s popularity. It refers to E2 Technology, the company’s proprietary method for — to use its lingo — “infusing it with negative ions.” Asked to explain the process, Jones declined, saying only, “It’s alkalized, which a number of waters are becoming now. No one else has figured out how to permanently infuse the water with negative ions. People make it that way with machines, but you have to drink it right away. We’ve figured out how to make it shelf-stable.”

Indeed, Real Water isn’t the only local company jumping on the alkalization bandwagon. Alkame Water’s website also features a photo gallery of celebrities that drink its alkaline product, although

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What’s the

ers help to fund the infrastructure it focuses mainly on athletes and future of for treating and delivering this waclaims its water is also “oxygenatLake Mead? ter to their homes. Is it fair that they ed.” Red Rock Springs Water is one Hear a discussion foot part of the bill for Alkame and of several selling alkaline water in on “KNPR’s Real Water’s business? (Commerbulk — through large refillable jugs State of cial customers with a 1.5-inch pipe, — and offers a lengthy explanation Nevada” such as Real Water’s, pay the same of why it is healthier than other at desert companion. base rate as residential customers water. Jones is more circumspect. com/hear with a 5/8-inch pipe — $1.16-$4.58 Although he refers to Real Water more per 1,000 gallons — but commercial as a “healthy product,” he won’t customers have significantly higher elaborate, citing FDA regulations surcharges. A dozen 1-liter bottles of Real that prevent natural products from Water sell for $28 on its website.) making health claims.

SNWA is neutral on the issue. “You’re This convenient conundrum — being paying to make sure that the water coming able to claim your product is healthy while to your house is safe to drink,” spokesman being legally prevented from explaining Bronson Mack says. “These guys are paywhy — has produced some skeptics. “Yeah ing for the water going to their business.” … I’ve got nothing,” says UNLV ChemMack points out that it’s pretty hard istry Department Chair David Hatchett, to argue against a specific abuse of the searching the SciFinder online database public water system when anyone can for studies of alkaline water’s health take a jug to a park, fill it up at a fountain benefits. “I’m always of the opinion that, if and take it home. Or that residents you do the science, I’ll listen. The problem widely patronize bulk distributors is, there’s no data on this.” such as Sparkletts, which tap, treat and Besides, Hatchett says, there are two repackage municipal water. obvious problems with the whole alkaBut, he adds, “One element to think line/negative ion water business. First, about, from a larger, socially conscious alkaline-water makers tout its acid-balposition, is that it takes a lot of power to ancing properties, but, Hatchett says, “If treat and deliver our water. It takes a lot you drink something with high alkalinity, of power and fossil fuels to bottle water.” your body will continue to produce acid According to the Pacific Institute, prountil it’s neutralized.” ducing bottles for American consumpSecond, and most emphatically, he tion in 2006 required the equivalent of adds, “There’s no such thing as negative more than 17 million barrels of oil, not ion water. You have to make a positive ion including the energy for transportation. to have a negative ion. It’s basic physics: It also produced more than 2.5 million Charge neutrality must be maintained. If tons of carbon dioxide. it’s not, you couldn’t swim in the ocean, This, consumer watchdog agency because you’d get electrocuted.”

Food & Water Watch says, is especially That said, Hatchett thinks he may egregious for a product that is readily know why people such as Johnson’s available on tap in virtually every home cleaning lady feel better when they drink in the country. In a 2013 position paper Real Water: It tastes good, so they take titled “Take Back the Tap,” the orgain lots of it. And the better hydrated your nization writes, “Consumers should body is, the better it works. switch back from bottled to tap water All bottled up and reclaim the clean and affordable Healthy beverage fads come and go (reresource that flows from our faucets.” member when Gatorade was considered In other words, the power is in the good for you?). The enduring problem is purchaser’s hands: the environmental, bottled water in general. For one thing, the energy and financial costs of bottled U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act requires that water; or, your monthly water bill plus, municipal water companies like the Las if taste obliges, the price of a home Vegas Valley Water District provide the filter. Which one will you choose? public with a safe potable supply. Ratepay-

RT? E S E D E H T R I N G TO B R E T A W S W H AT D O E

A little water can bring life to the community. Which is why we’re working hard to make sure that Southern Nevada has a reliable water supply for families, neighborhoods and businesses. Over the years, the community has conserved billions of gallons of water and is still continuing to flourish, proving you don’t need a lot of water to grow a city. So let’s stay water smart, Southern Nevada. Learn more at snwa.com.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority is a not-for-profi t water utility.

ALL Things

outdoors

Rocky road: The BLM has big plans in store for Sloan Canyon.

conservation

Diamond in the desert Among natural areas, Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area has long seemed like a neglected stepchild. But that’s about to change B y S a g e L e e h e y

L

et’s play compare and contrast.

Red Rock and Sloan Canyon are both national conservation areas. They both feature breathtaking vistas, amazing petroglyphs, diverse wildlife and, of course, wonderful hiking opportunities.

But the similarities end there. Drive through Red Rock and you’ll see a well-appointed visitors center, clearly marked hiking trails, educational kiosks, plentiful parking. Drive through Sloan Canyon and, well, you’re in for a bumpy ride, figuratively and literally. The road to get to the 48,000-acre area is rough and rutted — four-wheel-drive is a must — oh, and good luck finding a restroom or interpretive signs, let alone a visitors center.

When you visit Sloan Canyon, you’re pretty much on your own. It’s often been a source of wonder to both visitors and

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activists: Why doesn’t Sloan Canyon seem to get any love?

It isn’t about love but, rather, money.

Bankrolled largely by interest from a $65 million federal land sale, Sloan Canyon doesn’t get annual federal funding, nor does it rake in the fat fees — think entrance fees, camping fees, special recreation fees — that Red Rock does. (To be fair, Sloan Canyon is about a quarter of the size of Red Rock, and receives about 78,000 visitors per year while Red Rock sees about 1.2 million.)

The result: the national conservation area christened in 2002 has remained something of a gem in the rough — despite longstanding plans to make the area more visitor-friendly. It’s been a source of anticipation — and some frustration — to outdoors enthusiasts and activists such as J.T. Reynolds, president of Friends

of Sloan Canyon. They feel like the BLM has been a little overcautious in spending only the interest from the land sale money for fear of depleting its bankroll.

“And that’s okay. That’s one option to consider, but you still need to put facilities out there and you still need to have personnel to manage those resources and to better protect them,” he says.

More than a decade later, Sloan Canyon is still rough around the edges. Blame the economy: In the boom years, a 2005 plan that envisioned a visitors center, a paved entrance road and trail improvements was put in deep hibernation when the economy crashed — right on Sloan Canyon’s doorstep. Planned community Inspirada, a major prospective source of Sloan Canyon’s visitors, faltered and went into bankruptcy. “It didn’t make sense to build a road that was going to require a third of the funding when there was suddenly going to be virtually no visitation,” says BLM spokesperson Kirsten Cannon.

“The fate of Sloan Canyon and the fate of Inspirada were intertwined.”

Now, with the economy (and Inspirada) revving again, the plan is back — tweaked and scaled down a bit, but definitely back. Set for release this month, the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area Implementation Plan will include a visitors center, information kiosks and professional staff — finally spending down the $65 million bankroll dedicated to the area. “People are eager to see something on the ground now that the economy is bouncing back,” says Cannon.

Friends of Sloan Canyon Vice President Terri Robertson is certainly eager. When she first learned of housing developments slated near Sloan Canyon, she had concerns about suburban encroachment. Now she sees the people moving in as potential allies in preserving this natural gem of Henderson.

“The more good people you get out here,” she says, “the better it gets.”

P h oto g r a p h y C h r i sto p h e r S m i t h

ALL Things

zeit bites

Song of the Shark

chart palpitations

What should I celebrate in March?

1. I’M ready to par-tay!

Beer?

In memory of Jerry Tarkanian

2. I’M geeky, yet also ready to engage in modest carousal!

Pi day march 14

YES

Do you understand why Pi Day would be March 14?

Do you totally trust your BFF Brutus?

NO

first day of spring!

MARCH 20

Save a Spider Day

Ides of March

Beer + yelling at TV screens?

march madness

Beer + unfortunate ethnic stereotyping?

st. patrick’s day

Have you been trying to devise a drinking game related to six-sided shapes?

Want to totally creep us out?

Hasn’t everyone?

Sun-Earth Day

NO

Hexagonal Awareness Month

MARCH 18

MARCH 17

Beer + seccessionist ardor + Rick Perry impressions + 10-gallon hats?

texas independence day

3. let’s get serious for a minute Is that actual pie in your pie hole?

Want to redress a bit of historical imbalance?

MARCH 2

Sure do!

NO NO

YES

(You might want to rethink that answer)

National Nutrition Month

To hell with all that.

Wine me up, Pierre!

international francophile month

NO

NO

Doesn’t everyone?

begins mARCH 17

YES

MARCH 15

MARCH 14

Women’s History Month Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

What are your favorite guts?

Colon!

Kidney!

World Kidney Day March 12

24

March 2015

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The Rebel enters the gym.

He enters the gym and takes his seat.

He enters the gym and takes his seat and watches as the spotlights swirl.

He watches the spotlights swirl as his students, tall fellows, greet each other in the glow.

The students, the tall fellows, listen as the Rebel’s name is proclaimed.

The Rebel’s name has not always been spoken in kind tones. The Rebel breaks rules, they say. Sometimes, they may even be right. The Rebel says everyone sometimes breaks rules.

The Rebel has chosen a city. Here his name is proclaimed. The people howl, they shout.

The madness beneath these lights is joyful. If it were a hateful joy, a joy that comes merely out of adulation, celebration, aggression, elevation of man to god, unwholesome integration of circus and church, it would be frightening.

But it is not a hateful joy. It is something more like love.

The Rebel knows how to laugh at himself.

He does not seek power. He seeks beauty.

The Rebel tells himself that the ends justify the means. Even his allies, from time to time, grow uncomfortable with the means, or the rumored means. Does the Rebel break rules?

Or are the rules themselves broken? Is it acceptable to break broken rules?

The beauty: The students play basketball. No one has ever played basketball like the Rebel’s students play basketball. A strange wind whips through the arena, lifts them, swirls them in celestial motion, sweeps them across the universe, toward the center, the knotted strings, the opening in the knotted strings. The ball falls through, again and again, a storm without end.

The motion of these young men, almost boys, creates gravity, and the gravity pulls upon the city, and the city finds a center and the center finds a soul, and the soul fills the boys and the city and the Rebel. None of us, not the citizens, not the boys, not the Rebel, expected to be here. This desert does not need us. But now we realize, all of us, that we need it. — Greg Blake Miller

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ALL Things

people

profile

Veronica Joels Junior golfer

C

oming from a 14-year-old, it’s kind of a shocking confession: “I’d rather be on the golf course than with my friends,” says rising golf star Veronica Joels, quickly adding, “I love my friends, obviously, but me and a golf ball on a course — I don’t have anything else going on.

It’s just nice and calm.” Ah, calm. The lives of teenagers are rarely calm to begin with, but calm is especially rare for Joels these days amid the growing buzz about her talent on the green. Joels is only a freshman at the Meadows School, but she’s already being courted by more than 25 Division One colleges because of her skills in golf. While most of her classmates probably haven’t even thought about their college plans yet, Joels is busy fielding letters from golf programs around the country. (Her current favorite is Stanford, but she said she hasn’t visited enough yet to choose — and she still has a few years to make that decision.)

But she’s not dawdling in the meantime. Joels is utterly committed to — you might even say obsessed with — golf. After school, she golfs at her home course at TPC Summerlin for about three hours until it’s dark — and then even longer on the weekends. She also teaches clinics for kids and for women on Saturdays. “It’s really fun for me, and it teaches me a lot. It takes me back to fundamentals, so it helps my swing a lot. And it helps me to focus on the basics again.” She learned those basics early. Joels began golfing at the age of 9 and, not long after, started competing in local tournaments. “And that’s when I realized that I could probably go somewhere with this,” Joels says.

By age 13, she won the U.S. Kids Teen

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March 2015

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World Championships in her division.

“And that’s when I realized I could probably take this all the way. I could get a scholarship for this.”

What accounts for Joels’ fast rise?

Passion? Practice? The strange magic of being a prodigy? To her, it comes down to having the heart for it. “It’s mostly about determination, how bad you want it. … If you want it bad enough, you’re going to try to get it as hard as you can.”

Joels certainly wants it. She has won 94 junior tournaments and is sponsored

by Titleist and FootJoy. She’s ranked 355 on the Junior Golf Scoreboard, 304 on the Polo Golf rankings and 254 on Golfweek rankings. In her graduating class of 2018, she’s ranked at about 30th

P h oto g r a p h y C h e c ko S a lg a d o / f OCALc HROME

in the world.

Her father, Doug, attributes much of her success to her perfect form, which came from being taught solid technique from the beginning. “She just has a really good mechanical swing, and she has outstanding technique. … She hits the ball very long, and being a long hitter is probably her biggest asset,” he says.

There is a downside to her passion.

Joels’ high standards for herself means losing is not part of any game plan. “I know I can beat everybody out on the course, but if I don’t play my best and if I don’t count on myself and I focus on the other people too much and I get beat because of that, I hate that. I hate that so much.” — Sage Leehey

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ALL Things

style

5 Things I can't live without trendsetter

Dani Reeves The fashion model on style, seasonal trends and great selfies

1

Bond No. 9 NYC Central Park West, perfume, $200-$295, Saks Fifth Avenue Fashion Show

By Christie Moeller

B

orn in Hamburg, Iowa, Dani Reeves kickstarted her modeling career after she won the 2007 Miss Iowa USA competition. Today she lives in Las Vegas, but her modeling gigs take her everywhere from L.A. to Milan.

2

Peter Thomas Roth FIRMx firming night moisturizer, $125, Sephora in the Forum Shops, Miracle Mile, Town Square and Downtown Summerlin

How would you describe your personal style? Incredibly eclectic and diverse while main-

taining a very glamorous element to each look.

What is your style motto? Tom Ford couldn’t

have said it better: “Dressing well is a form of good manners.”

3

Free People limited edition Gianna’s Valentine dress, $600, Free People Fashion Show and freepeople.com

Your best advice for tackling spring 2015’s trends? You must be able to relate to the trend in order to pull it off. If you’re not comfortable and do not feel 100 percent about yourself when you walk out of the door, it’s not for you. If you’re still looking to integrate that season’s trend into your own personal style, but don’t want to take on the pressure of buying something, try incorporating it through hair styles, scarves, jewelry and belts. Accessories are a girl’s best friend (besides diamonds, of course ... and shoes and makeup ... and well, anyways …) and can transform any outfit!

What spring trends are you looking forward to wearing? This season a lot of

designers traveled back in time to the late ’60s-early ’70s. This was one of my favorite periods when it comes to fashion inspirations. This spring, the designers did a great job bringing back exciting trends such as skinny scarves and A-line skirts. Of course, fringe was on every runway this season. There is something sexy and magical about the movement of fringe. I also really love the accessories I saw this season. My favorite was mismatching earrings. Whether in different colors or in lengths, the beauty is in the irregularity.

4

LANVIN pave crystal LOVE necklace, $1,345, Neiman Marcus in the Fashion Show Mall

If you could swap wardrobes with anyone, who would it be? I really

love the fashion consultant and editor-at-large for Vogue Japan, Anna Dello Russo’s closet.

Reportedly having more than 4,000 pairs of shoes, this woman is my hero! I mostly admire that she is not afraid of anything when it comes to style.

What are your tips for the perfect selfie? I laugh at the quotes that talk about

selfies. Like, “For every selfie, there are about 30 that didn’t make the cut.” Ha! So true! For the girl who has a flawless selfie on her first try, I either applaud you or think you’re some kind of alien. For the rest of us who sit in front of our phones snapping one horrible photo after another trying every angle, every pout and eye-squint, I totally can relate! The one thing I know to be true when taking any photo is lighting is paramount to a great photo!

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P h oto g r a p h y By lu c ky W e n z e l

5

Gucci Leila studded platform sandal, $696, Neiman Marcus Fashion Show

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ALL Things

style topic open

civic life growing number of cities and counties, local officials, having glanced at the policy wastelands of Washington, D.C., and most state capitals, are convinced that they must act, locally, to help assure higher wages, child care, housing, transportation, non-predatory banking or paid sick leave, and take other steps to tangibly and meaningfully improve the lives of their citizens. Cities and counties have discovered, or rediscovered, a willingness to tackle stubborn problems instead of, oh, waiting for Congress to do it.

So, naturally, the campaign for Las Vegas mayor is all about … a soccer stadium.

policy punch

SERIOUSLY, TULSA? Local governments across the U.S. are doing fresh, important things. Las Vegas is ... fighting over the meaning of an imaginary soccer stadium? B y H U G H J A C K S O N

S

eattle got most of the headlines. But last year, nine other cities and one county in the U.S. established higher minimum wages. Big cities were on the list — Chicago, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego — but several smaller California cities raised the wage, too, as did Las Cruces, N.M. This year, at least a half-dozen local governments are considering proposals to raise the minimum wage, most prominently in New York City and Los Angeles (both city and county), but also in Portland, Maine, and Louisville, Ky. In January, Tacoma, Wash., became the 16th U.S. city requiring employers to provide paid sick leave. A couple weeks ago, Philadelphia became the 17th.

From Hartford to San Jose, to Denver, San Antonio and Tulsa in between, several cities are establishing programs to provide universal or near-universal pre-kindergarten childcare.

Closer to home, Phoenix and Salt Lake City have moved aggressively on “Housing First” programs, which provide homeless veterans with housing without requiring them to pass a drug or sobriety test first. Both cities claim to have all but eliminated chronic veteran homelessness.

When low-income citizens don’t make economic progress, it’s not just bad for them.

It’s bad for businesses that depend on people having enough money to buy whatever businesses are selling. A “precariat” class mired in unstable, low-wage, low-quality jobs, precariously and persistently teetering on the edge of financial collapse (i.e., maybe a third of Southern Nevada’s workforce), weakens a community’s consumer core while raising the demand for and cost of public services. Customary economic “thought” among politicians — promote growth and wait for all that yummy prosperity to magically follow — has manifestly failed to deliver.

Instead, there is a turn to policies designed to help people directly — not just because it’s good for people who are struggling, but because it’s good for the economy. And in a

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Major League Soccer has passed on Las Vegas for an expansion team. But the race between Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Councilman Stavros Anthony will still be about Goodman’s effort to publicly subsidize a private sports franchise — inasmuch as the race will be about anything at all.

Look, this isn’t really about them. By ignoring the role of local government in economic policy that might actually pack a punch, Goodman and Anthony are hardly unique.

Take minimum wage as an example.

Organized labor has spearheaded the movement to raise the wage in Nevada.

That movement has targeted Congress, corporations, the state Legislature and has tried more generally to move the needle of public opinion. It hasn’t targeted city or county governments.

“I’m not sure we’ve done the work to move (city councilmembers or county commissioners) on those issues,” says Yvanna Cancella, the Culinary Union’s political director. Part of that may be the relative newness of local government action on wage regulation, sick pay and other issues. But Cancella says local governments in Nevada may not have the authority to act even if they wanted to.

Clark County Commission Chairman Steve Sisolak agrees. It’s a legal question that “has never been brought up,” but “I don’t think that we can have a separate minimum wage,” he says. Sisolak, echoing

i l lu st r at i o n b r e n t h o l m e s

perhaps every county commissioner and city councilman in the history of Nevada, says that local governments can do whatever the state allows them to do, and no more.

The city would appear to be in the same boat. There’s nothing in the City of Las Vegas Charter, sort of the city’s constitution, that authorizes wage regulation, says Val Steed, from the Las Vegas city attorney’s office.

Well, could the state Legislature pass a law authorizing local governments to, say, raise the minimum wage or require employers to provide paid sick days?

“I guess they could,” Sisolak says.

“Theoretically,” Steed says.

all the wage “I’d love to do it,” says state Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas.

Segerblom has proposed a state constitutional amendment to raise Nevada’s

statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour.

(There’s “not a chance in hell” it will pass the Legislature, Segerblom recently told the Sun.) Segerblom notes that the current wage ($8.25 an hour, $7.25 for employees offered a qualifying health care plan) is in the state constitution. So while he would like the state to authorize local governments to raise the minimum wage, he suspects that authority might be meaningless without the amendment. (The constitution says employers will pay a wage “not less than” the minimum. That reads like a constitutional floor, not a constitutional ceiling. But I’m not a lawyer.)

Meantime, the prospects of a Nevada city or county pursuing initiatives that would cost public money — providing affordable child care or a Housing First plan for the homeless — are limited by state restrictions on local government’s

ability to tax and spend.

It’s not as if the state refuses to grant local governments any flexibility at all.

For instance, cities can subsidize wannabe soccer team owners.

We’ll be reminded of that over the next few weeks during the campaign for the April 7 mayoral primary (almost assuredly there won’t be a general election in June because one candidate will win the primary with more than 50 percent). But attack ads about a non-existent stadium erection should also remind us that local governments across the nation are taking direct actions — as opposed to faith in “pro-growth” policy — to improve their citizenry’s economic well-being, and local governments in Southern Nevada aren’t.

The conventional wisdom is “it can’t be done.”

But Las Cruces? Phoenix?

Seriously, Tulsa?

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community

A voice on the streets On the

Hat's on: As much as her ever-present beanie, homeless advocate Merideth Spriggs is known for her dedication and upbeat nature.

goal of a “functional zero” homeless populafront lines with homeless advocate Merideth Spriggs B y M at t K e l e m e n tion in Las Vegas. A veteran of San Diego’s war eading north on Las Vegas Boucars at places where indigents gather. We on homelessness, Spriggs brings a famillevard on her weekly outreach meet Alonzo, who says he’s 73 and came to iarity with new supertools and new federal hike, long black curls cascading Vegas from New York on a Greyhound bus. funding to her adopted hometown. She’s from beneath her trademark black He’s so disheveled that Spriggs doubts he’s able to build coalitions and move between beanie, homeless advocate Merbeen on a bus anytime recently. The tip of diverse groups, from nightlife executives ideth Spriggs leaves behind the Fremont his ring finger is gone and skin peels from and government officials to shelter workStreet Experience and Downtown Projthe sticky hand he holds out to shake (staph ers and unsheltered veterans. She spent ect’s urban-renewal zone. It’s the Tuesday infections are a risk in outreach work, so 2014 observing Las Vegas’ homeless situbetween Christmas and New Year’s Eve — Spriggs carries anti-bacterial lotion rathation while employed by the Downtown 363 days since she vowed to work toward er that avoiding contact). “A pair of socks Rangers, getting to know the players. She ending homelessness in Las Vegas — and would help me out,” he says. “I’ve been went to neighborhood meetings, arranged the temperature dropped below freezing wearing the same pair for five or six days.” for representatives of advocacy organizaovernight. Dressed for the cold, and diminA lot next to a mostly abandoned strip tions to meet and minimize the doubling utive compared to the mostly adult males mall looks like a refugee camp, dotted with of efforts, and managed to find permanent she encounters on her route, she has packtents both manufactured and makeshift, housing for 23 clients. She hopes to do more ages of socks, hygiene kits, bottled water plus sleeping bags and piles of blankets. with her own nonprofit, Caridad — Spanand emergency blankets tightly folded into Spriggs is talking about how she’ll input ish for charity — which she started in San pocket-sized plastic bags. Each has a stickdata from today’s outreach into a Google Diego but revived last year here. For a city er that reads “Warmest Wishes from City doc shared with city officials when we that recently lost one of its most passionate of Las Vegas Ward 3 Councilman Bob Cofcome across a Rorschach-like explosion of voices for the homeless, the late Linda Lefin — Keep Someone Warm This Winter.” brown on a wall. “That’s diarrhea from malt ra-Randle El, Spriggs couldn’t be surfacing Just before Bonanza Road, we pass a liquor,” she says. “They’re basically dehyat a better time. small pile of decaying matter that Spriggs drated so when they go, it, like, shoots out.”

Caridad’s approach includes providing identifies as discarded food donations. She’s Helping bridge the gritty realities of streamlined access to existing resources, seen fights break out after well-meaning street life with new outreach technology services and volunteer training “at the lowsouls drop off food from the safety of their is one way Spriggs is working toward the est possible cost to taxpayers," and working

H

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P h oto g r a p h y b r e n t h o l m e s

with the city to identify potential clients among the most frequent homeless users of the jail and hospital systems.

In the vacant lot, Spriggs approaches a tent warily, with a cheery, “Good morning!”

As a dog barks inside, a male voice accepts her offer of socks. She gets no answer from a nearby pile of assorted fabrics, but leaves one of Bob’s blankets in case there is a person underneath. A man in one cardboard box won’t turn to look as she offers help.

She’ll talk with more street people as we circle back toward Fremont Street and the Downtown Rangers’ Seventh Street headquarters, finding out if they’re veterans or need assistance obtaining identification and copies of birth certificates, before moving on to the next person who might need her help. Socks, for instance. Food is relatively easy to obtain, clean socks not so much.

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The Homeless Whisperer

T

wo weeks later, she’s at the Downtown Rangers’ office across from the El Cortez’s parking garage. Before the end of January, most of the Rangers will be laid off, as will Spriggs. She was brought on 11 months earlier to teach homelessness-sensitivity to Downtown Project’s “ambassadors of the downtown Las Vegas community” after meeting DTP prime mover Tony Hsieh on New Year’s Day 2014. It’s a meeting that came after a period of soul-searching for Spriggs, a former aspiring youth pastor who had worked as a homeless advocate in San Diego before moving to Vegas. She woke up that morning with a flash-of-lightning realization: She was ready to rejoin the fight against homelessness. Meeting Hsieh led to employment with the Rangers, and Spriggs began outreach activity in the Downtown Project’s llama-shaped land holdings.

The layoff means Spriggs can now focus full time on Caridad, which she says Downtown Project has offered to help fund with a donation (she estimates Caridad needs annual funding of $185,025, which she is still considerably short of ). On this pre-layoff morning, she’s wearing the same black beanie, which she first donned in California. “The clients in San Diego were always trying to pull it off me. They’re like, ‘What’s your hair look like without the beanie?’

I had one client who always teased me:

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35

community ‘You’re really bald under there, aren’t you?’ … I’m just too lazy to do my hair.”

Spriggs is effervescent as she relates her history, emphasizing her ups with exclamations (“Yay!”) and her downs with whispered hushes. The Illinois native first fought homelessness in Kansas City, where she attended Nazarene Theological Seminary and worked as an event planner in nightlife, which first brought her to Vegas. She moved to San Diego in 2006 and worked in administration at Point Loma Nazarene University, but lost her job in 2008 at the onset of the recession. Spriggs says she couch-surfed or lived out of her car while trying to hold down jobs in retail and at a coffeehouse. She began spending more time among San Diego’s street denizens and developed a keen empathy for people at society’s lowest rungs.

“When I was homeless, there’d be times when I’d be sitting out and we’d get five homeless groups, people just driving by their leftovers and everything,” she says, laughing as she recalls the advice she received from her street peers. “They’re like, ‘Just say, ‘God bless you.’ It makes them feel better. That’s why they’re doing it anyway.’”

She also found out what it was like to barely hold on to street stability, let alone a job at a coffeehouse. “I’d always get parking tickets because you can’t always run out and feed the meter, but I had finally gotten a spot in this garage,” she says. “I couldn’t afford (it with) the tips one day, and I actually had to panhandle to get my car out, and that was the most humiliating moment.”

Another time she returned to her car at 2 a.m. to find a police officer and a tow truck.

“I was like ‘Please don’t take my car. That’s like, my everything, you don’t understand.’

And he said, ‘You have unpaid traffic tickets.’ I said, ‘I can’t afford to pay them, please don’t take my car. I can’t afford to work.

You’re ruining my life if you take my car.’”

The car was towed, and Spriggs was left crying in the street with a dead cell phone.

After a year of being homeless, she was hired by the San Diego Rescue Mission, then worked for a nonprofit, PATH San Diego. Her husband, whom she had married in July 2011 and who refers to her as “the homeless whisperer,” helped her start Caridad. Her experience in event planning

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“Now, ain't nobody invited (Merideth) in. She's got something to talk about. She's made her own way. She's making her own noise.” led to some unorthodox coalition-building.

“Once I got going, it was the (nightlife) industry family that supported me,” she says. “What I discovered was that was an area not tapped into in terms of homeless services. They were good people, really generous spirits that were willing to give and willing to help.”

Spriggs says Caridad raised $5,800 in monetary donations and $50,372 worth of “in-kind donations” — clothing, socks, underwear — for partnering agencies from November 2011 to April 2013 (when she and her husband moved to Las Vegas). Caridad’s debut event took place in a nightclub, where church members mingled with agency workers. “I tried to get similar agencies together. ... So all the youth providers, I do an event for them, getting them all in the room and they’re talking, and I’m giving them money but also trying to facilitate community. I did a lot of education. All that is what I’m doing here, too, so I’m excited Downtown Project’s going to give me that platform, because they’re going to help me get it going here. … I don’t want to reinvent the wheel.

I don’t want to be a service-provider. I only want to do outreach and education.”

One of the first advocates she met with in Las Vegas was Jimmy Rolson, client operations director for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada. “I asked him a bunch of questions. He said I was asking questions that were so hard, and were so knowledgeable, that he thought I was a reporter at first,” she says. “‘He said, ‘Oh, you poor girl.

She doesn’t know anybody or anything in this town. She’s never gonna make it. She thinks she’s going to make a difference, but we’ll be lucky if we see any more of her.’”

“After I started asking her if she knew certain people in our community that deal with homeless services, she sought all of them out,” Rolson says. “These are not just service-providers but people that make things happen in the community. I started seeing her in meetings and other events and each time she had more and more to do with what is happening in our community and our clients’ lives. … She did not just

come in when there are a lot of tools to address the homeless population, but she is playing a big part of solving the homeless issues. She has become a voice that the entire community listens to.”

The Homeless Listener

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hat Spriggs doesn’t want is for her enthusiasm to be interpreted as a sign that she sees herself as self-appointed savior for the homeless.

She wants to help agencies work together.

“She’s bringing people to the table,” says Thomas “Chicago” Randle El of outreach organization Straight from the Streets.

“And see, the thing is, she knows that she’s got to come to the door, she’s got to kick the door in and have something to talk about. She’s got all that. She’s got something to talk about. Now, ain’t nobody invited her in. She’s made her own way. She’s making her own noise.”

Randle El met Spriggs after the death of his wife, Linda Lera-Randle El. The media-savvy homeless advocate died in October 2014 after a long illness, leaving a void that Spriggs is poised to help fill. Chicago Randle El says he allowed himself a day to mourn before he was back on the streets doing outreach. Spriggs accompanied him one night in December to look for a homeless woman in the area around Durango and Rampart, and he was impressed by her determination and street smarts.

“I can’t compare her to Linda because I don’t know her that well,” he says. “But from what I’ve seen in the last month, and what I’ve heard, it’s good things because I’ve seen she’s been shaking them up. (Laughs). She’s on the front lines like me. She’s out. She’s knowing people that I didn’t think she did know. She knows them. That means, to me, that she’s taking time out to listen to them.

She’s a listener, too. When you’re dealing with the homeless, you got to listen to their stories. That’s how you read people.”

“We have been working with Merideth and her organization, and we feel she is making a true impact in just a relatively short period of time,” says Stephen K. Harsin, director of the City of Las Vegas’

Office of Community Services. “Her work is greatly appreciated and invaluable to our efforts on ending homelessness. Merideth is one of many examples of how community partnerships can produce meaningful results.”

All the Right Moves

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he day after our meeting at the Rangers’ office, she co-leads a coordinated outreach meeting at the Clark County Social Services building. It’s the group's second meeting. Twenty-three people representing the breadth of regional outreach workers, healthcare givers and shelter providers responded to Spriggs’ invitation to discuss issues affecting their work. Getting everyone in one room is sign of progress.

“It takes the local governments, the nonprofit organizations and the private sector, including individuals, all working together,” Harsin says. “We are now seeing that level of collaboration.”

Again wearing her black beanie, Spriggs asks for success stories at the end of the meeting. Narratives are shared by representatives of organizations such as Catholic Charities, Help of Southern Nevada, Shade Tree, the Veteran’s Administration and WestCare Foundation. They talk of minor triumphs and near misses, of helping people get all-important identification papers and birth certificates, of providing transportation for veterans and helping people stranded in Vegas find their way back to family in other states. The 2014 South Nevada Homeless Census reported a “total point-in-time count” of 9,417, and an estimated 36,718 people who experienced homelessness during the year. The people gathered in the room are on the front lines of trying to reduce that number.

Spriggs encourages their efforts. “Humanizing the homeless” is the big picture for Spriggs, a long process that takes positivity and patience balanced with the ability, as Randle El says, to kick doors down.

“Merideth, to me, she’s bringing something new to the town,” says Randle El. “She’s making the right moves. I just hope other people want to work with her, because we’re two million strong. We can nip this homeless thing in the bud if everybody works together.”

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outdoors

Above:: View from Exploration Peak; below: Arden Peak

Nature right next door Find a walk to remember among these nine great hikes in your own backyard

Exploration Peak Mountain’s Edge

This urban trail has a little something for everyone This urban trail has everything: a park with an open, grassy field next to a hill of primitive rock and dirt. In between are restrooms, play areas, winding sidewalks and covered picnic tables. Although the hillside trail is less than half a mile long, it quickly ascends 600 feet, making it a heart-pounder. And because of the natural surface and loop that winds up to the peak and back down — and around and up again, for the hardier among us — it makes a great training circuit for trail-runners.

Those more into flat surfaces can hang out at the park, which has its own circular, paved walking path. The entire spot is very dog- and kid-friendly, too. (1.2 miles, 30 minutes)

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■ T reasure hunt

The top of Exploration Peak is a selfista’s dream, with 360-degree views of the Las Vegas Strip, Red Rock, Sloan Canyon and Lake Mead. A flat, circular structure ringed with a wide bench provides the perfect place to set up a tripod and strike a pose.

■ Getting there

9600 S. Buffalo Drive, at the entryway to Mountain’s Edge. Numerous bike and walking paths lead to the top. Heidi Kyser

Arden Peak

has a little brother next door who sold his soul to TV and radio: Arden Peak. Arden has nearly identical views of Las Vegas and Henderson, and gets only a fraction of the visitation, meaning trekkers can snatch some ever-fleeting solitude with their grandeur. And it’s a mile shorter to boot! Tip: Stay clear of the broadcast towers to avoid growing any extra limbs.

(5.5 miles, 3 hours) ■ T reasure hunt

Anthem

Tune in to broadcast views The views from atop Black Mountain are hard to beat, which is part of the reason the trail is so popular. But Black Mountain

Hike this trail in the early morning to spot coyotes returning from the hunt on nearby golf courses to their dens hidden in the desert.

P h oto g r a p h y b r e n t h o l m e s & C h r i sto p h e r S m i t h

Kinderschool, Elementary & Middle School

■ g etting there

Anthem East Trailhead, Shadow Canyon Drive near Lewiston Place.

Follow the main Anthem East Trail (well marked on Google Maps) and turn right onto the “Service Road” to Arden Peak. Alan Gegax

Lake Las Vegas Overlook Lake Las Vegas

Get some alone time (and taste the rainbow) Keep the views all to yourself along this beautifully built and almost completely unused trail that climbs to a pair of peaks between Lake Las Vegas and Henderson. The trail is well-defined but poorly marked, which is part of the reason it’s managed to stay something of a local’s secret. The peaks have great views of Las Vegas and Lake Mead, and to the north, the panorama opens up with a shocking palette of colors in the aptly named Rainbow Gardens. Bring a book, relax, and soak in the views. You won’t be interrupted. (4 miles, 2 hours)

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■ T reasure hunt

About halfway up the hillside, a trail drops to the right (north) and heads for a huge alcove created by an almost-always-dry waterfall. It makes an excellent detour, and leads to an alternate route back to the park.

■ g etting there

Take Lake Las Vegas Parkway to Terrazza Park. The trail starts west along Las Vegas Wash, crosses a bridge, then goes north into the hills. AG

Northeast Las Vegas

Put the “out” in your evening workout The perfect length for an after-work jaunt, with unobstructed views of the Vegas Valley, Lone Mountain is almost literally a backyard hike for residents of the northwest. The trail starts at Lone Mountain Park and meanders around

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outdoors the mountain to the west side. Then the trail gets steep. Really steep. In less than half a mile, hikers ascend 600 feet to the limestone peak with panoramic views of the Las Vegas Valley. Don’t worry, there is rest for the weary on Lone Mountain in the form of benches about halfway up. Sit for a spell before making the final push to the summit. (2 miles, 1.5 hours) ■ T reasure hunt

The limestone rocks that compose Lone Mountain are rich in fossils. Keep an eye out for fossilized corals, shells, and plants. As an added bonus, spotting a fossil is a great excuse to stop and catch your breath.

■ getting there

Lone Mountain Park, 9825 W. Lone Mountain Road, Las Vegas AG

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Calico Hills Trail

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area

Get up close and personal with our iconic landscape This is the prettiest place in Southern Nevada, if not on Earth — which, along with the abundance of scramble-friendly Aztec sandstone, makes it uber-popular, particularly among tourists and rock climbers. You may have to fight crowds along the most heavily trafficked sections of the trail, but the rest of the route makes it worth the wait. You can’t get any closer than this to the rare beauty of Nevada’s red-white-and-pink-striped landscape. Although this is a moderate, well-marked trail, it’s all-natural — no paving or grading here. So, make sure to take proper hiking shoes and plenty of

water, and be prepared to sit for a spell as you roll up and down the path along the base of the mountain. (2-6 miles, 30 minutes-3 hours) ■ T reasure hunt

If you’re there to give rock climbing, bouldering or scrambling a try, watch where you put your fingers and toes.

Scorpions, snakes and other beasties are known to slumber in the sandstone’s crevices. Also note that after a rain, climbing is prohibited until two days later, as moisture makes the rock breakable.

Clockwise from opposite page: Calico Hills, Seven Hills Trail, Lone Mountain, Stonehengerson, Lake Las Vegas Overlook

■ g etting there

Take Charleston Boulevard/State Route 159 west to Red Rock and turn right onto either Calico Basin Road or Scenic Loop Drive. The trail’s opposite ends, Calico Basin and Sandstone Quarry, are found respectively at the parking lot at the west end of Calico Basin Road and the second parking lot on the right side of Scenic Loop Drive. HK

Stonehengerson Henderson

Embrace the mystery with a hike back in TIME Time time time …

Hike back to the Neolithic within a stone’s throw of Henderson. In the unassuming foothills of the River Mountains can be found an ever-growing number of “henges” people have built along the canyon walls and ridgelines.

Lava rock monuments dot the hillsides, varying widely in size and intricacy.

Who really put up these henges? It’s a mystery that will be left to future archaeologists, who will undoubtedly ascribe profound meaning and celestial alignments to the handiwork of creative Hendersonians. (3 miles, 2 hours)

■ T reasure hunt

The whole hike is a treasure hunt, but as an added bonus, keep an eye out for the bighorn sheep that frequent this area and make their beds on the shaded hillsides.

■ g etting there

Parallel park on Foothills Drive near Stirrup Drive, take the trail due east across the River Mountain Trail, cross under the power line towers and head into the canyon. AG

Seven Hills Trail Anthem

A sneaker-friendly brisk walk — strollers and pooches welcome Like a chain connecting three stones on a necklace, the Seven Hills Trail links Allegro, Vivaldi and Sonata Parks into a gem of an outing. This urban path is

paved in concrete, so it’s not ideal for running, but its wide berth and smooth surface make it popular among casual bicyclists, dog-walkers and stroller-pushers. It winds between the west-most housing developments of Anthem and the adjacent undeveloped land around the executive airport, alternating urban and wild-ish views, green spaces and xeriscaping. Truly tailored to the city hiker, Seven Hills Trail includes parking lots, restrooms, covered picnic tables and abundant pet waste bag dispenser/ disposal stations. (3 miles, 1 hour) ■ T reasure hunt

Get a brisk start for the little dips and climbs between Allegro and Vivaldi, which, if taken at a decent clip, can really get the heart racing.

■ g etting there

Go south on Seven Hills Drive off St.

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outdoors Rose Parkway to Allegro Park, just south of Sunridge Heights Parkway, between Wolff Elementary School and Robert Realty (it’s a little hard to see the entrance from the street, but it’s there behind the office building).

The trail heads south from Allegro to Vivaldi and then Sonata Parks. HK

Sloan Radio Tower

the trail edges ever nearer the tracks, look for — and climb — the road that zigzags its way to the top of the mountain. (6 miles, 3 hours) ■ T reasure

Southern Highlands

hunt

A free 'room' with a priceless view Rooms at the M Resort with views of the city come at a hefty price. Look down on those suckers for the low, low price of FREE with a cross-country hike to Sloan Radio Tower. The hike mainly follows old service roads across the desert.

Hiking south, the Southern Highlands Golf Club will fade away to the left, while surprisingly active train tracks creep in on the right. The eponymous broadcast towers are visible throughout the hike. As

Above: Sloan Radio Tower trail; at right: Bluffs Trail

Trains! Occasional runs of lengthy freight trains provide a nice distraction during the hike, and make the hike really fun for kids who rarely see trains in action any more.

■ g etting there

Find a legal parking spot on Starr Hills Avenue near Dahlia Grove

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Street, then walk south on the dirt road, passing the detention basin, to get on the trail. AG

Bluffs Trail

Lake mead wash

A perfect vista over man-made wetlands. Rock on!

This narrow, well-marked path winds leisurely around the edge of the Las Vegas Wash inlet to Lake Mead. From the path beginning at the Lake Mead campground, the plants and animals of this popular birding spot are plenty, so bring those fancy binoculars. The faint roar of water from the valley below is so soothing you won’t even remember the $5 park access fee. (0.9 miles, 1 hour) ■ T reasure hunt

Rockhounds, rejoice. You’ll come across countless textbook geological formations and an amazing array of stones.

■ g etting there

Take Lake Mead Parkway to the national recreation area to campground site 724. Brent Holmes

Safe, not sorry.

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CAR POLE

Electricity is part of our daily lives, but it can be dangerous. Our folks are the experts. So, please keep off and don’t touch electrical equipment don’t climb power poles or substation fences or sit on transformers. The best way to stay safe is to stay away.

Some lines just aren’t worth crossing. If a power line falls across your vehicle, stay in the car and wait for emergency personnel. If you see a downed line, warn others and stay away. A downed line may still be energized.

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A shovel hitting an underground power line can be as dangerous as contacting an overhead line. Spring is coming, so when planting trees, digging holes for fence posts, installing underground sprinklers or other projects, please play it safe. Call Before You Dig to have utility lines marked at no cost to you.

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eat this now 49 at first bite 50

Our c i ty's be st sp ots to eat & drink

Glass it up: Inside Bardot Brasserie

P hoto g ra p h y Sabin Orr

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Dining out Game on: Sporting Life serves upscale bar food such as duck breast, pastry dough gnocchi and saffron mussels.

The dish

Out of left field If your idea of bar food is uninspired chicken wings and fries, The Sporting Life brings some friendly gourmet competition B y G r e g T h i l m o n t

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R

ounding a corner at Jones and Robindale, I spy Sporting Life Bar for the first time. With colorful signage incorporating a football, baseball, hockey puck, etc., it strikes me as, eh, semi-interesting looking. But, really, it could be any of a dozen other locals-oriented Las Vegas sports-themed watering holes at this point. Entering Sporting Life, however, I soon get the notion that this might be a step up in the world of sports bars. The bartops and tables boast abundant, rich wood tones. There’s a minimum of cheesy flashing beer logo lights.

The walls showcase classy vintage poster reproductions.

Then I order the most prosaic, stereotypical sports bar menu item in history: chicken wings. My plate arrives — complete with obligatory celery and carrot sticks — and I can tell these substantial wings did not plop out of some frozen bag willy-nilly into a deep fryer. They’re whole wings, not separated, and they’ve been cured with green salt (that is, salt mixed with fresh herbs), cooked confit-style to succulent tenderness and accompanied by a house-made Asian chili glaze. I bite in.

Goooaaal! My taste buds get sacked by a full-court press courtesy of Chef Daniel Dalton, the head coach behind Sporting Life’s impressive and adventurous culinary game plan. Mixed metaphors aside, Sporting Life’s menu is almost like a trick play.

It follows the basic playbook of your standard mid-level sports bar, but then comes out of left field with gourmet spins on standards from appetizers and sandwiches to flatbreads and entrées.

P h oto g r a p h y S a b i n o r r

You can thank Dalton’s culinary conditioning for that. A New Jersey boy whose parents owned a tavern, he went on to study at New York City’s French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center). Like a free agent, he ventured through fine dining kitchens from Manhattan to Jamaica to Aspen, Colorado, and Grand Teton National Park. A few years back, he landed here in Southern Nevada as a sous chef at Bouchon, where he was suffused in the Thomas Keller méthode. Now he’s transferred the intensity and passion of Bouchon to a more casual kitchen setting.

“I’m keeping that awesome standard,” Dalton says, using the example of an everyday kitchen staple to show the care he brings to the kitchen. “This isn’t just a head of lettuce, it’s a beautiful, living piece of lettuce that someone cared for. … Everything I’m doing is from scratch.

We’re doing the right thing at all times.”

Even the décor follows that principle: The large, U-shaped central bar is fashioned from recycled Honduran mahogany that once was the basketball court of the downtown Los Angeles YMCA. Various tables in the tavern are constructed of reclaimed lumber from sources including a century-old Pennsylvania barn and a Northern California water tower.

a mere dash or two of traditional paprika.

“I’m using fried capers for texture and seasoning,” Dalton says of the crispy, salty garnish that brings the snacks together.

The small plates menu starts with pork belly, as well it should. Dalton’s take on this midriff cut is a meaty, fatty baton of cider-bathed pig over creamy polenta.

Again, polenta … sports bar. This place stands out in the saloon league. Other choices include a big bowl of saffron-scented mussels, crab cakes with piquillo purée and mac ’n’ cheese with Tenaya Creek brown ale (a local brewery that Dalton features in numerous recipes).

Salads are in the sweet spot at Sporting Life. The house dressing is a piquant toasted cumin-sherry invention of Dalton’s, which lends a slight Spanish/ Mexican flavor to the vinaigrette. The kale salad is not hip, it’s just plain good.

Multi-hued flowering Brassica oleracea comes with poached egg and bacon lardons in a warm bacon vinaigrette. Curiously, this double-pig dish is not overly porky, with the lemony dressing and egg yolk toning down the meaty quotient.

The main event

T

he flatbread board, in keeping with the rest of the menu, ups ordinary tavern pizza’s game. Dalton’s grilled, crispy dough planks keep things in the Devilishly good Italian-American zone with a Marghern the appetizers department, Dalton deita (fresh mozzarella, basil, garlic confit, livers standards like nachos, but these roma tomatoes and marinara sauce). And hearty dippers are topped with proteins then there’s the duck confit flatbread such as beef asada or pork chile verde. (this place is confit crazy), which offers The tongue-in-cheek “Skins and Balls” sumptuous shredded meat with sweet are rich chicken croquettes riddled with Medjool dates, creamy but tart goat smoked gouda, bacon and green onion. cheese and mostarda, a savory dried fruit Other fried items include pork skins and condiment with origins in medieval Italy. pig ears with cayenne honey and pickle In the sandwich corner, a sure conchips with roasted red pepper sauce. And tender is the bistro steak sandwich. But even though deviled eggs might cynically this is no scraggly 19th-hole clubhouse be seen as the new truffle fries — a trendy version of beef on bread. Dalton’s take thing served way too many times too at involves sliced teres major, a tender secway too many places — Dalton’s version tion of the shoulder region, with tangy deserve all the raves they get. They come bearnaise-aioli, fragrant fresh arugula in the classic form of egg and crunchy fried shallots white cradles filled eleganton fresh ciabatta. A short Sp orting ly with celery and cornichrib Philly is stacked with Life Bar on-laced yolk farce. For a peppers and onion, and 7770 S. Jones Blvd. topping, Dalton goes beyond the Reuben’s pastrami is 702-331-4647

I

sportinglifebar.com Open 24 hours

Upcoming Events Desert Companion on Tour with Norm Schilling March 14 at 9:30am Star Nursery Open to the public

Nevada Public Radio Recycle Event April 25 at 8AM Nevada Public Radio Parking Lot Open to the public

Focus on Nevada Photo Showcase & Award Presentation May 28 at 6PM 5th Street School RSVP Required

More information at desertcompanion.com

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Viva La ‘Rita Margarita Promotion 2015

Medical & Dental Profiles August 2015: Health & Medicine Issue

Contact Christine Kiely for more information at 702.259.7813 March 2015

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Dining out corned and smoked in-house.

Main event entrées reintroduce Sporting Life’s all stars: beef bistro filet, beef short ribs and duck breast. Fresh off the bench are roasted Idaho trout and a welcome take on gnocchi. Instead of potato bombs, Dalton’s dumplings are pâte à choux morsels that are like resilient panbrowned soufflés. As far as daily specials,

Play ball: Sporting Life's "Skins and Balls" features stuffed chicken croquettes.

Dalton’s chalkboard can display zingers like Peking duck, roast lamb or head cheese. It’s unpredictable in the best sense.

The bar program is respectable, with nearly three dozen craft beers on tap, including Tenaya Creek, Henderson’s Joseph James, San Diego’s Green Flash and a number of European entries. Of note is

Czechvar, one of the ur-beers from the Czech Republic, which some call the “original Budweiser.” (And of course, there’s Bud Light.) This is a sports bar, after all.

And the $5 Dark & Stormy (Gosling’s dark rum and ginger beer) has got to be one of Vegas’ best non-happy hour deals.

As a slight caveat for walk-ins: Note that it is a bar, and this is Nevada. So it’s a 21-and-up establishment, with gaming and ashtrays. On the ashtray subject, though, the bar is outfitted with a robust ventilation system, and it’s not a smoky dive at all. And as a bonus, Sporting Life is an all-comers, all-sports, all-teams kind of place. It’s not dedicated to one city, as so many dicier, more insular sports bars can be. Game on, indeed.

May we Recommend ...

Deviled eggs Are you over deviled eggs yet? Oh no you’re not. The Sporting Life’s version are rich with a bonus kick, as the cornichon-rich yolk filling is spiked with a generous dose of paprika. Great as an appetizer, they also do double duty as a light lunch.

“Skins and balls” Limp mozzarella sticks may be a time-honored game-time finger food, but graduate to The Sporting Life’s “Skins and balls” and you won’t look back. These crispy, savory chicken croquettes stuffed with gouda, bacon and green onion present a new standard for bar food — like so many of the menu items at The Sporting Life. GT

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on the plate

Upcoming foodie events you don’t want to miss

HOT PLATE

Eat this now!

Arepa Benny

at Makers & Finders Coffee

1120 S. Main St. # 110, 702-586-8255, makersandfinderslv.com It’s difficult to improve on eggs Benedict with its seemingly perfect blend of salty, chewy, and tangy that always equals satisfied. Brunch novelties on the classic usually involve trying to elevate the palate of Benny lovers by substituting Canadian bacon with crab and asparagus and the like. While these cloth-napkin varieties are delicious in their own right, the heartiness of the original seems to linger longer in your stomach and in your memory. Finally, someone’s gone the right way, though: the way of filling Latin comfort food. Makers & Finders’ Arepa Benny uses the thick Venezuelan corn cake, the arepa, in place of the measly English muffin, and layers coffee-rubbed shredded beef, vine-ripened tomatoes and golden poached eggs, topping it all off with salsa verde hollandaise sauce, salt and pepper, and freshly chopped cilantro. This is how you do gluten-free, people. Molly O’Donnell

Duck confit cinnamon roll ag uac h i l e v e r d e : C h r i sto p h e r s m i t h

at Comme Ça

The Cosmopolitan, 702-698-7910, commecarestaurant.com/las-vegas Few dishes both stimulate the senses and satisfy cravings like those at Comme Ça. Case in point: the duck confit cinnamon roll. Flaky pastry twisted around cinnamon and rich, savory duck confit is just the launching point for this dish. In addition to the roll, you also have a duck fat, maple and smoked bacon frosting and huckleberry jam to smother it in. No wonder this beautiful but decadent dish is the star of an already legendary weekend brunch menu. Mitchell Wilburn

March Madness at Lagasse’s Stadium Through March Hungry for some basketball-season eats? In honor of March Madness, Lagasse’s Stadium will be serving a special menu through March. Menu items include a tomahawk bone-in 32-ounce ribeye served with mashed potatoes; a surf ’n’ turf plate with tomahawk bone-in 32-ounce ribeye with grilled shrimp with garlic herb butter and mashed potatoes; chilled Alaskan crab legs with clarified butter and Lagasse’s Kick Up cocktail sauce, and fresh shucked oysters.

In the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian. 702-607-2665, venetian.com Farm Table dinner at Honey Salt March 16 Celebrating friends, community and good food around a communal dining table, this month’s Farm Table dinner features an Irish theme in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Expect Irish classics given a popular twist, with such dishes as shaved corned beef and horseradish, beet salad, braised lamb shanks and oatmeal cream pudding. In addition, each Irish-inspired course is paired with a classic Irish beverage, including Jameson, Guinness and, of course, Baileys Irish Coffee. $45.

702-445-6100. honeysalt.com Vegas Uncork’d

by Bon Appétit April 23-26 Now in its ninth year, Vegas Uncork’d

by Bon Appétit, a celebration of wine and spirits, returns to ARIA, Bellagio, Caesars Palace and MGM Grand, featuring a roster of tastings, demonstrations and meetand-greets. A few of the headliners include chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Gordon Ramsay, Julian Serrano, François Payard, Masa Takayama, Michael Mina, and Guy Savoy. Highlight events include a Master Series brunch with Border Grill’s Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, a farm-to-table party at Sage, and, of course, the centerpiece, the Grand Tasting at Caesars Palace. Ticket prices TBA. vegasuncorkd.com

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Dining out at FIRST Bite

Feeding les masses Michael Mina goes mainstream at his new Parisian concept, Bardot Brasserie — but these dishes please without pandering B y d e bb i e l e e

W

e appear to be approaching a Goldilocks moment in our local dining scene. From the gold-leaf and truffle-topped porridge devoured during our city’s boom to the bacon-wrapped and deep-fried versions made popular during the bust, it’s been a while since anyone has paid any mind to the classics. syrup, Eric Bordelet sidre, baked apple Whatever happened to a solid meal, mi- bitters) and Charlemagne (Brenne single nus the pretense or gimmicks? malt whisky, Tempus Fugit kina, ChamThankfully, there are chefs moving bord, pineapple), cocktails are cerebral as toward a middle ground. Michael Mina well as seductive. However, my table optis the perfect example. In 2013, after ed for wines by the glass ($11-$32), which shuttering his acclaimed Nobhill Tavern, our server — a Frenchman named Thieras well as his more casual property Se- ry, bien sûr — competently presented and ablue, at MGM Grand, he unveiled Pub poured without a trace of snootiness.

1842 — a laid-back man cave of a restauMina was present on my visit, but rant where a peanut butter-and-bacon credit is ultimately due to Executive burger generated the most buzz. It’s a Chef Joshua Smith. It’s no surprise to fine plate of calories indeed, but hardly learn that he’s a veteran of Seablue and the best expression of Mina’s talents as a Estiatorio Milos after sampling his blue chef and restaurateur. crab crepe; it’s the best of the three Bardot Brasserie, now open inside Aria, starters we tried. A buckwheat envelope, is a step back in the right direction. For filled with generous amounts of crab $3 million in renovations, every trace of meat and wood ear mushrooms, is given its former incarnation (Mina’s Ameri- a tableside bath of buerre blanc before can Fish) was wiped clean. The new vibe the diner is instructed to dive-bomb her is decidedly Parisian. Glossy, dark lac- fork into a raw egg yolk in the center. quered walls, marble accents, and dim This being a French experience, the lighting oozes sex appeal, and yolks just keep on coming.

Bardot a bustling bar — which glows A well-seasoned prime Brasserie softly from very de rigueur steak tartare arrives with Aria hotel-casino polished brass fixtures — is a its own wobbling sphere of 702-590-8638, dream first-date destination. organic orange cholesterol, michaelmina.net With names like the Voland wood-grilled “duck a taire (vodka, housemade ginger l’orange” — Bardot’s verHOURS

French twists: Left, Bardot's prime steak tartare; below, crab crepe with wood ear mushrooms; opposite, Parisian gnocchi

sion of Buffalo wings — is served with an ethereal sauce Maltaise, or orange-infused Hollandaise. Both are good but not particularly memorable. Perhaps I just had egg fatigue. For something more approachable, there is always the French onion soup, but that comes with a gently poached egg, too.

I found respite in my entrée. Parisian gnocchi, made with semolina instead of potatoes, is a visual stunner: the dumplings, seared on the surface and bearing

Daily 5-10:30p

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P h oto g r a p h y S ABIN O RR

SIX INSPIRING RESTAURANTS. ONE EXCEPTIONAL INGREDIENT. a faint resemblance to bay scallops, are carefully arranged with hand-trimmed celery, earthy wild mushrooms, and fresh goat cheese. Again, a server naps your plate with sauce — this time made with roasted garlic and cream. It’s like a walk in the woods on your plate.

An order of sautéed skate wing stood in sharp contrast. Did it come from the same kitchen? Served on a puddle of cauliflower puree with a few shards of kale on the side, it was uninspired.

There were also bones still in the flesh.

Whales, ballers and hardcore Francophiles can splurge on traditional côte de bœuf or lobster Thermidor for two; for those who are satisfied with simpler pleasures, there is “Le Steakburger.” Ain’t no Skippy on this patty: Comté cheese, garlic aioli and Bordelaise onions give it a French slant. Supplement the hand-cut fries with a separate order of chickpea frites, or panisse, to take it over the top. Smoky eggplant dip, sweet pickled peppers and bright pistou make a great improvised substitute for the usual burger condiments.

Desserts are an unfussy finish to the meal. Of the five French classics on offer, we enjoyed a caramelized tarte tatin, deeply flavorful and large enough for two. But a starkly presented mille feuille, constructed only of puff pastry wafers and crème patissiere, is a must-experience exercise in minimalism. The delicate flavor of rum, paired with the contrast of crunchy and creamy textures, was a memorable finish —neither highfalutin nor lowbrow, but just right.

SPAGO american | the forum shops CUT steak | the palazzo POSTRIO american | the venetian LUPO italian | mandalay bay WOLFGANG PUCK BAR & GRILL american | mgm grand WOLFGANG PUCK PIZZERIA & CUCINA italian | the shops at crystals WOLFGANGPUCK.COM

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Rock climbers around the world flock to Southern Nevada for its legendary climbing. many settle here to pursue a life among the rocks — a life of hunger, danger and ecstasy

stor y by

Heidi K yser

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p hoto grap hy by

A ARON MAYES

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Think back to the first time you went all the way west of town, to where Charleston Boulevard disappears into State Route 159, city giving way to wilderness, and you saw the rusty cliffs of Red Rock rising 3,000 feet over the vast expanse of beige scrub. To you, to me, to most of us, the curiosity about striped hills was probably satisfied motoring nearby, or maybe strolling casually into, the canyons; mostly, we take in the splendor at camera’s-length. From time to time, we may put a hand on a wall to sample its texture or secure our footing as we ascend a slot, mindful of the teetering stones under our feet. Eventually, though, we take the geology for granted.

It becomes scenery for a tourist trip around the loop, backdrop to a musical at Spring Mountain Ranch.

But we’re not rock climbers.

To these tribal adventurers, the Aztec sandstone of Red Rock is rare magic. Its densely compressed flanks are mounds of sediment heaved up from the primordial sea, sculpted by shifting winds and cemented over hundreds of millions of years. Red Rock’s many faces are distinguished by features climbers crave: gritty bumps and knobs good for hanging or tiptoeing onto; jutting overhangs called “roofs” that offer an inverted, gymnastic

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challenge; infinite vertical cracks of varying widths, from narrow enough for cramming, twisting and locking fingers into, to wide enough for shimmying up like a chimney sweep. Even better, over time, the whipping rain and snow lightly shellacked the tall, north-facing crags, turning them into dark, softly dimpled hands that reach down from the heavens, an open invitation skyward to anyone who can bushwhack his way through the sand and mesquite and find the seams between fingers, where the journey begins.

We laypeople barely scratch the surface of Red Rock. Its 10 west-east canyons hold a wonderland of formations to ascend. More than a thousand rockclimbing routes have been logged there over the last four decades, and a thousand more probably remain to be discovered.

Generations of colorful pioneers have documented their first ascents, attracting ever-bigger waves of climbers to scour the sandstone in search of a virgin wall.

You may have seen these cliff-clinging acrobats while wandering the Calico hills. They sprawl on the escarpment, gecko-like, or hold the lifesaving rope below, craning their necks and shouting skyward in a dialect all their own. “On belay!” “Nice dyno!” We paint them with simplistic labels — hippie, rebel, adrenaline junkie — and stick to our path, passing them by like a pack of coyotes, a little too wild to be trusted.

Rock climbers are, indeed, a breed apart. And within their ranks are sects and subspecies distinguished by convictions and techniques that have as much to tell us about humans’ relationship with nature as any philosophy book.

Nothing could be more different from your average couch potato than a rock climber; yet, enter their world, and you find nothing could be more different from the monastic trad climber, who patiently wedges protective gear into and out of cracks, than the shirtless, technoblaring sport climber, who works out in a gym to train for a route, or the fun-loving boulderer, who ditches gear altogether to grapple with the rocks bare-handed. And between these personalities are endless variations that, nevertheless, have one thing in common: a climber is never as alive as he is on the rocks, and that life is one of danger, hunger and ecstasy.

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Euphoria I was on Mt. Wilson, the highest in Red Rock, climbing a route called Gwondonnaland Boogie. That’s a really long route — I want to say 25 pitches (vertical sections a rope’s length in distance). I was leading the top pitch. We’d done a lot of climbing under a lot of pressure, going very fast, pushing ourselves to do it in one day. I was taking the last pitch, because it was my turn to lead. I looked up and saw a corner, and it appeared to get steep and blank out. It looked ominous and menacing, but I went up anyway. I went up to the corner, and where it started to peter out, the whole thing became rotten. And a person-sized piece of rotten rock started to tip off the corner. It might have only moved a millimeter, and when I touched it, it stabilized, but I knew it was just beginning to teeter, and that it would drop down and chop my rope and kill my belayer (climbing partner who controls the rope while another climbs). Then, all of a sudden the climbing became 5.10 — tiny little hand-holds. So, I was facing a death fall. On rotten rock.

And I just went, “Pop!” into an altered state. It was as if I was being guided by someone who was not me. I just floated across the rock, and then I got onto easier ground, established a belay at a tree and went into the most amazing euphoria of my life. (laughs) No, I can’t say, “my life,” because there have been other moments — like childbirth — but this was amazing.

It seemed I wasn’t me anymore. It was as if something else was guiding my body, because it wasn’t shaking. I wasn’t afraid.

– Joanne Urioste, grand dame of Red Rock

Circle of friends Vegas wasn’t Joanne Urioste’s idea. In 1974, having just finished her bachelor’s degree in life science at Cornell, she married her rock-climbing mentor, Jorge Urioste, a Bolivian Jesuit linguist 15 years her senior, and followed him to a job offer he’d gotten at UNLV. Joanne’s one condition for the move: They had to go someplace with hills.

She smiles remembering the first time she and Jorge drove out to Red Rock.

“We expected it to be much smaller than it really is. We thought it was just a pile of rubble. As we saw the profile of Rainbow Mountain — the solar slab, from base to top is more than 1,500 feet of rock, and

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then it breaks up a little bit and goes to the summit — we were amazed. It looked like a slab you could run up.”

In their enthusiasm, the pair broke out across a field and into a gully of scrub oak under the midday June sun. At the base of the formidable wall, drenched in sweat, legs covered in bloody scratches, the pale, soft-skinned 22-year-old realized how unprepared she was for the desert. Like many transplants from moister climates, Joanne Urioste initially disliked the parched, prickly Mojave landscape. But the sandstone eventually won her over. In her seminal story about Red Rock climbing for a 2009 edition of Alpinist magazine, she reflected on the gradual process of getting hooked on the “flying buttresses” of this “vertical wilderness”: “Shady walls gave us refuge from the summer heat. The

sun warmed frozen fingers in wintertime. Quite simple, once you got the hang of it. Complex approaches, route finding and descents felt almost alpine at times. And the climbing here was just so good: sustained and airy, requiring problemsolving at every move and every moment.”

When the she arrived, the rock climbing scene was still in its infancy. Passersthrough stumbled on it almost by accident, and resident climbers such as Joe Herbst and John Williamson were few and far between. The Uriostes, curious intellectuals who loved to entertain, embraced route development as a way to make their home city more inviting to other like-minded folks. When a climber charts a vertical path and makes the first ascent, he gets naming rights; optionally, he may place permanent anchors for protective gear along the way to make the route accessible to future climbers (a practice that’s been the source of disagreement throughout rock climbing’s history). Joanne Urioste remembers little frogs croaking at the bottom of Black Velvet Canyon where she dubbed the 770-foot climb Frogland

in 1978. Six years later — and four months pregnant — she made the first ascent of Prince of Darkness, so named not only for its flat, black surface, but also because it was the site of conflict, right next to Rock Warrior, a climb developed by rivals who believed that installing too much protection opened up their hills to debutantes.

Philosophical disagreements notwithstanding, the work of prolific routesetters — from the Uriostes in the ’70s and ’80s to Tom Moulin, Chad Umbel and Ben Williams in the 2000s — has made Las Vegas what it is: the top — some say only — U.S. metropolitan area with highquality rock-climbing a half-hour’s drive from Downtown. Everyone interviewed for this story except the natives moved

here because of the proximity of Red Rock, as well as Mount Charleston, Mount Potosi and the crags of Northern Arizona and Southern Utah.

“The first time I came to Las Vegas, it was for a winter sports show. I stayed on the Strip, and I wasn’t impressed,” says Stephanie Forte, a PR and marketing executive who has lived here since 1998. “Then, I came to Vegas for a (Grateful) Dead concert, and during that trip, I saw Red Rock for the first time. Everything changed. … Still, every time I drive out there, I feel that connection, that energy in the canyons.”

Rock climbers’ compulsion to be near crags, in part, gave rise to “dirtbag” culture, describing the nomads who dwell in campgrounds or vehicles they can park near routes, and who spend all their time either climbing or preparing for their next climb. Plenty of locals have had their dirtbag days, but, by and large, Las Vegas is different from other climbing destinations in this regard: You can climb all day or all weekend, and still be home in time to sleep in your own bed and make it to work in the morning. It’s allowed some climbers to get jobs in fields such as

Since the ‘70s, Joanne and Jorge Urioste have been among Southern Nevada’s most prolific route developers.

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Paul Van Betten (pictured in both shots) and his fellow Adventure Punks established hundreds of routes in Red Rock during the ‘80s.

theatrical rigging and search and rescue, making money off their alpinist skills.

Others are weekend warriors, earning their living as blackjack dealers, engineers and real estate agents, and spending every spare moment in the mountains. These locals play host to a constant stream of climbers parading through Las Vegas for a week or a winter, when it’s too cold or too wet to climb in other places.

World-class climber Jonathan Siegrist recently wrote on his blog, “Five years ago, when I first checked out Las Vegas, I was astonished by how relatively quiet the scene was here. There was clearly a solid, motivated crew of locals, and even more clearly there was a wealth of incredible sport and traditional climbing nearby and a rapidly emerging bouldering contingent. … That year, I intended to stay in Las Vegas for two weeks, but ended up here for nearly three months.

I’ve been back every winter since.”

Climbers can be an insular bunch, dating, marrying and even procreating within the pack. Because it demands both mental acuity and physical prowess, the sport attracts smart, healthy people who share a common love of adventure and the outdoors. And, it’s the epitome of teamwork: High above the ground, relying on each other in moments of fatigue, frustration and peril, they forge strong bonds. Not only are they friends for life, but they also may have a hard time relating to people who haven’t had this experience.

“Jorge and I have an unbelievable social life,” Joanne Urioste says. “Our house is known as the bunk house, where we have this ongoing party, but it’s not the climbing dirt-baggers that just overwhelm us, because we put limits on it. Usually we have small groups of

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climbers, so we have a lot of connection — never more than six or eight people at our dinner table at once.”

Unlike the infamous dirt-baggers of Camp 4 at Yosemite National Park in California, Urioste says, those in her circle have led rich, diverse lives.

They’ve held jobs, raised children and enjoyed endless evenings of good food, wine and conversation with others who love climbing as much as they do. “So, in a sense,” she adds, “we could never really compete with the cutting-edge climbers in Yosemite and Joshua Tree, the Stone Masters. They always looked down on us, because we weren’t as bold or as good, but we were weekend climbers, mostly, and we really, really enjoy life.”

Love and war In 1971, Royal Robbins struck out for Early Morning Light at Yosemite's famous El Capitan rock with the intention of cutting all the bolts his archrival Warren Harding had left there the previous year. Philosophical enemies since the 1960s, the soft-spoken, clean-climbing Robbins and whiskeyswilling, bolt-happy Harding set the tone for generations of rock climbing spats to come. Tellingly, Robbins would eventually abandon his mission, admitting that the climb was harder than he thought and that Harding deserved credit for completing it.

Gear, along with codes of conduct governing its use, has been a driving factor in rock climbing’s evolution. It falls into a few main categories: things to put in the rock, such as bolts and pitons (metal spikes hammered into seams and

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cracks); things to put on the climber, such as harnesses and ropes; and things to link the climber to the rock, such as carabiners. The 1970s and ’80s saw technological advances in the first category, called “protection” or “pro,” producing passive gear like spring-locking cams that could be wedged into cracks as needed and then removed. More invasive are bolts, circular protuberances screwed directly into the rock. The advent of the cordless rotary hammer in the mid-’80s made bolt placement much quicker and safer, but it’s easy to see how it displeased purists in the Robbins tradition.

Local legend Joe Herbst was such a climber. In her Alpinist story, Joanne Urioste writes, “The convergence between the hammerless ethics of the time (the 1970s) and the artistry of Joe’s climbing gave a unique form to Red Rock’s history. In many other areas, early pioneers tried to bag summits by the easier routes or by any means possible.

Joe went directly for both the hardest,

1990

May 1 9 8 1 Ma r c h 1 975 Joe Herbst and Larry Hamilton make the first ascent of the 1,800-foot Aeolian Wall on Mt. Wilson.

Hamilton’s article on the climb in Ascent magazine raises Red Rock’s national profile.

Joanne Urioste conquers Levitation 29 with Stone Masters Lynn Hill and John Long, while Jorge Urioste photographs. It epitomizes the new style of fun, well-protected route.

April 1991 December 1990

1984 First publication of Joanne Urioste’s The Red Rocks of Southern Nevada, the area’s original climbing guide.

Mike and Tim Ward open Desert Rock Sports.

Richard Harrison, Sal Mamusia and Paul Van Betten, aka Adventure Punks, bag Buffalo Wall using minimal gear.

Sources: MountainProject.com; “Red Rock: Voices in the Desert,” by Joanne Urioste (Alpinist, Vol. 28); Red Rocks: A Climber’s Guide, by Jerry Handren.

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Lifeline Wendell Broussard saved my life when I was 19 years old. We were climbing on Mt. Wilson back in ’82, and we were doing two days. There was a crew of five: Richard Harrison, Nick Nordblom, Wendell, a climbing ranger and me. The morning of the second day, it was super socked in with clouds and drizzling rain, and I didn’t have any rain gear. I had a couple long-sleeve flannel shirts and knew nothing — I was a brand-new rock climber, basically. So, I’m thinking, “OK, we’re going to start bailing out of here,” but Richard takes off and starts leading this climb — you know, like, “The clouds are gonna break.” We got dumped on all day. At the end of that day, it was just clouds up against the mountain, pure white, soaked, hypothermia, uncontrollable shaking. When we got close to the top, it broke up a little, so we coiled up the ropes, and the five of us were kind of scrambling up over the top. Richard and Wendell and the ranger had gone ahead, and I was moving across this rock with my pack and a wet rope coiled up over my shoulder. There was a bush with about a 60-pound flat block on a ledge in front of it, and I grabbed the block and it just slid off and landed on my chest. So, I was cantilevered, holding onto the bush, with this rock leaning on my chest, and it’s pushing me off. There was nowhere I could put my feet, nothing I could do. So, Nick yells up, “Wendell!

Wendell!” and Wendell comes back, 30 feet above me on this ledge, and he looks down and sees me, this 19-year-old kid — and he’s got kids my age — and he’s like, “Hold on, buddy.” He uncoils this rope and drops it down, and it’s flipping around in front of me, and I can’t let go to grab it with my hand, so the only thing I can do is, I catch it in my teeth. And then I was like, “Whap!” I grabbed the rope with one hand, and then the other hand and did a little heel hook and let that giant block fall down between my legs. And Wendell pulled me up onto the ledge holding onto the rope. – Paul Van Betten

biggest lines and the purest, simplest methods he could envision.”

Following in Herbst’s path was Richard Harrison, a handsome, charismatic Stone Master from Southern California. Arriving in Las Vegas in 1981, Harrison quickly attracted a group of ambitious local climbers who would come to be known as the Adventure Punks. Among them was Paul Van Betten, a blond, green-eyed native who’d been inducted into the world of climbing while skipping school to horse around with friends at Red Rock. The Adventure Punks liked their music loud and their climbing hard. They adhered to a strict set of rules, such as no “hangdogging,” or resting with one’s weight on a rope. (Translation: If you fell, you started over.) Above all, they believed routes should be established from the ground up.

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2005 2 0 01

The BLM begins enforcing its 2-yearold ban on bolting in Red Rock, threatening Mark Limage and others with prosecution.

2000

Jared McMillen puts Calico Basin bouldering on the map with routes such as Fear of a Black Hat.

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2015

May 2 0 07 Wellknown climbing guide Randall Grandstaff falls to his death at the Great Red Book, a route he’d done many times.

Tom Moulin is the first to free climb the Great Red Roof, a local brass ring.

Local rock climbers mourn the deaths of three pioneers, Richard Harrison, Brian McCray and Tim Ward, in the same year.

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Clockwise from upper left: Marketing and PR executive Stephanie Forte and UNLV Philosophy Professor Bill Ramsey were among the transplants of the ‘90s and 2000s who came for the climbing. Las Vegas Climbing Council President, Xavier Wasiak (pictured with family and friends) fosters the community.

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“We didn’t even wear harnesses,” Van Betten says, “we wore swami belts — webbing tied around your waist — because it’s super-lightweight and didn’t promote hanging on the rope. It made us better climbers.”

The Adventure Punks’ hard-core approach occasionally pitted them against other climbers. Route developers like the Uriostes — ever the good hosts — saw no harm in bolting crackless sections of otherwise continuous lines if it made routes more accessible to more people. And those turned on by the sheer athleticism of the sport figured out that resting on ropes and gear after falling off a face would allow them to repeat difficult moves over and over. From this practice, sport climbing evolved. Unlike the traditional (or “trad”) climbing style of Royal Robbins, sport climbing tolerated more active reliance on equipment. With the green light to place bolts, developers began establishing routes on formations such as overhangs that would otherwise have been inaccessible to all but an elite few. It allowed sport climbers to focus more on technique than on equipment management.

But what really outraged the Adventure Punks was the practice of rappel bolting.

“There was an influx of people — usually from out of town — who would start at the top and rappel down, leaving bolts

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for sport routes as they went,” Van Betten recalls. “We were doing it from the ground up and it would take two or three of us all day to finish a 1-pitch route.

We’d come back the next day and there’d be bolts everywhere, from the top to the bottom of a route right next to the one we’d been working on. It was like the surfers back in the day who said, ‘Hey! This is our beach.’ This was our rock, there’s a finite amount of it, and we were trying to develop it our way.”

Territorial bandits would cut the offending usurpers’ bolts. Arguments

broke out in the canyons. Van Betten says he barely avoided fistfights on a couple occasions. Some in the rock-climbing world branded Las Vegas as an unfriendly place to climb.

Eventually, Van Betten concedes with a sigh, he and his compatriots lost the battle. As the ’90s rolled around, sport climbing exploded, and rock alteration moved from mainstream to extreme.

Particularly at Mount Charleston and Mount Potosi, whose jagged limestone is more challenging to climb than sandstone, route developers began chiseling holds,

ESCAPE Early on in my climbing, I’d met up with a guy named Mike Harris who had been a climber for a long time, and we went to do the Moon Goddess Arete in the Sierra Nevada. It was very beautiful backcountry, so we had to hike into a camp, get up the next day and hike across an ice field to get to the toe of this Arete. About halfway up the route, a storm came over the top of the mountains, and it started raining really heavily. After a while, we could see the storm wasn’t going to get better, and there was a lot of lightning — we had to escape. So, we moved into a gully to the right of the route and started to rappel down. The gully, as it rained, became a stream. We were putting gear in wet cracks, sometimes underneath the water, leaving all kinds of gear to make sure we could come down OK. That morning, we had started around 4 a.m., and when we started retreating, it was early afternoon. By the time we got back to our camp, it was about midnight. So, we’d been up 20 hours, in the dark, cold, wet, and we were so exhausted and dehydrated that we hardly said a word to each other. I remember, I just kind of motioned for him to lie down, and I went and got water to make soup. But it was a great feeling to share with someone else: We were fine. The next day, we would hike out and go home. I’ve always felt just as grateful for my failures as I have for my successes. – Xavier Wasiak, president of the Las Vegas Climbers Liaison Council

drilling finger pockets — creating gymlike routes in nature. Las Vegas had never been considered particularly ecoconscious by outsiders to begin with, notes Jackson Hole Mountain Guides’ Las Vegas Director Mark Limage. Now, some climbing magazine writers openly mocked the area as the epicenter of route manufacturing, coining the term “Mount Chiselton.”

“It actually got to be an art work,” Limage says. “They’d use epoxy and spray paint and you couldn’t tell it wasn’t natural rock. But it doesn’t matter, because traditionalists are still going to feel like you’re altering the rock to dumb it down to your level. For them, it’s a blatant aberration.”

In the January 2011 issue of Rock and Ice magazine, Bill Ramsey — a philosophy professor who left a position at Notre Dame for one at UNLV and the abundant nearby rock climbing — penned a controversial article calling attention to the hypocrisy inherent in criticism of route manufacturing. “Consider this:” he wrote, “If you are a serious climber who climbs relatively hard sport routes, there is a good chance that you have done a route with at least a few manufactured holds.

Moreover, there is also a good chance that, despite the manufacturing, climbing the route was gratifying and rewarding.

Now what should the appropriate attitude be toward the route preparer who spent time, money and energy so you could have

that experience?”

Over time, Stephanie Forte says, manufacturers backed off their extreme practices and the community found balance on the issue. “In the ’90s, things got out of hand,” she says. “But I think that every climber would agree that you’d always rather be climbing a natural route.

It’s more beautiful, more pure.”

Making a plan Traditional climbers aren’t the only ones who frown on route manufacturing; so does the Bureau of Land Management, which is responsible for Red Rock.

“Both drilling holds (aka chipping) and drilling holes for anchors is prohibited in the 2005 Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area Resource Management Plan,” BLM spokeswoman Kirsten Cannon says. She adds that the bureau is in the process of amending the plan to address permanent fixed anchors in Red Rock’s congressionally designated wilderness areas, Rainbow Mountain and La Madre Mountain. The plan is expected to undergo public review this spring and summer and be finalized in 2016. Then, the BLM will create a timeline for implementing a climbing management plan.

Local climbing veterans are skeptical this will happen as outlined. They say they agreed to the moratorium on bolt drilling a decade ago with the expectation that a climbing management plan would be done soon after. When one failed to materialize, route developers began drilling anew — on the down-low.

Behind the bureaucratic waiting game is a more widespread conflict between climbers, who view bolts as critical to their wilderness experience, and wilderness advocacy groups, which define fixed anchors as prohibited “installations.”

Each side points to the 1964 Wilderness Act as support for its stance. And then there are those who consider themselves both climbers and conservationists; they simply wish the BLM would do more to discourage civilization’s encroachment on Red Rock.

But Xavier Wasiak isn’t letting politics hold him back. As current president of the Las Vegas Climbers Liaison Council,

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World-class professional climbers like Alex Johnson, who moved here in 2014, show increased interest in Vegas.

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an affiliate of the national climbing nonprofit Access Fund, one of his responsibilities is to inform the BLM, National Park Service and other public agencies how the climbing community benefits the economy and what tools it needs to make the activity safe and enjoyable for the public. Wasiak says he has a great working relationship with the BLM, and he’s hopeful the management plan will get done.

A more urgent task for the climbers council, he says, is educating climbers and the public on responsible stewardship of natural resources. Popularity of outdoor activities is a double-edged sword for recreational groups: They want people to get out and enjoy nature. But the more people there are on a rock, the greater its chances of getting damaged.

And rock climbing’s popularity is exploding. The BLM gives five fulltime special recreation permits for commercial guided rock-climbing tour operators (Limage’s Jackson Hole Mountain Guides is one example).

Cannon says these five average a total of 5,000 user days per year for climbing today, compared with 3,500 in 2010. And this represents a fraction of all climbers, since most will go out on their own, not in organized excursions. That’s a lot of hands and feet on the red rock walls.

“I can stand outside and see the big picture,” Wasiak says. “When people walk past a cliff and see chalk on it, they might think it’s not very pretty. We have to talk to people and let them know what our culture is about. Education, signage around sensitive areas — those are going to be good issues for us to work on for the next five to 10 years. And, of course, waste disposal is never going to go away.”

“Waste disposal” is a polite euphemism for an unpleasant reality. About five years ago, Climbers Liaison Council members began to notice a sewage-like smell around areas where popular climbs start.

Since climbers may spend many hours on the same remote route, they are unlikely to hike back to trailhead restrooms every time they need to relieve themselves.

Etiquette dictates that they take compact shovels to dig holes and bury their excrement, but Wasiak acknowledges that many people simply won’t do that.

So, the council came up with “potty bags.” Volunteers built six large brown

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boxes mounted on poles, labeled with instructions and filled with bags for human waste disposal, and then placed them in popular areas for rock climbing.

The biodegradable bags are to be brought back to dispenser stations and left in the trash. The council maintains the stations, restocking bags and emptying trash.

The council’s dedication to this task reflects its devotion to the Leave No Trace ethic. But fortunately for volunteers, the council’s not all dirty work and no play. The Access Fund sponsors the Red Rock Rendezvous, billed by organizers as “the country’s largest outdoor climbing festival,” and council members will be there March 27-29 teaching attendees not only how to climb, but also how to watch where they climb and pick up after themselves when they’re done.

The way up When Alex Johnson was a tiny, blond thing in Hudson, Wisconsin, the managers of her daycare center would occasionally call Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and threaten to ban their daughter. It seems she wouldn’t stop climbing on top of the swing set and scaring the bejeezus out of staff.

“I was kind of a terror,” the 25-yearold Johnson says today. “I’d climb anything — trees, ladders, buildings …”

She can laugh now. Sponsored by North Face, she’s one of the country’s top three female climbers.

Since moving here a year ago, Johnson has had the occasional shock of witnessing environmental degradation firsthand. In the last few years, more professional boulderers have been doing first ascents at Red Rock, inspiring outsiders to come and experience those routes for themselves. Many of them don’t know the rock, which is fragile, especially 2-3 days after a rain.

“We’ve had people break off holds on a couple classic climbs,” Johnson says, frowning. “The Kraft Boulders (at Calico Basin) have taken a huge beating. People who climb during the week at the gym go out there to climb on the weekend and just throw their gear everywhere and step on the plants. They treat it like a gym. The Access Fund is working to educate people, and I hope it helps. It’s

W

not your bedroom!”

Bouldering has had a lot to do with rock climbing’s recent spike in popularity.

Requiring only a chalk bag and crash pad, it has a lower barrier of entry than the gearheavy trad and sport climbing. Also, it’s fun — acrobatic, fast-paced and often quite social.

Gyms have also played a role in the rock-climbing boom. Last October, Jeff and Beth Clapp opened a boulderingonly gym, Refuge Climbing & Fitness, where Johnson works out during the week. Andy Raether, a rising star in rock climbing, plans to open another, Origin Climbing and Fitness, in Henderson this spring. It will be two-and-a-half times larger than Refuge, the valley’s largest existing facility, and offer the full gamut of styles — bouldering, sport, trad — as well as weights and fitness equipment.

The community has also developed an insatiable appetite for social media, especially videos and alerts about daring ascents. Potential sponsors see a gold mine in the hours climbers spend on YouTube, Twitter and online forums. Clothing and gear manufacturers plaster their young, attractive spokes-climbers in branded gear and fly them off to exotic destinations to shoot slick movies that, some say, are little more than commercials.

The pressure to perform has its

Challenge

downside. World-class climbers push the envelope, taking risks that may look brasher to the uninitiated than they actually are, such as Alex Honnold’s ascent of huge walls free-solo style — that is, with no safety gear at all. (Insiders say Honnold practices his climbs extensively with protection before free-soloing them.)

And the lighter a climber's body, the better he climbs, which has led to rampant eating disorders in the sport’s top echelons.

Johnson says heavy competition has created a lack of cohesion among the few females who climb at the elite level, too. Because climbers have a short window — their youth, basically — to win competitions and land sponsors, they have to work extremely hard during that time and are loath to give any secrets away. Men, on the other hand, have the luxury of numerous peers in their class, so there are plenty outside their competitive sphere with whom they can collaborate on challenging projects.

Generally, today, climbing is seen as equal-opportunity, but one nasty vestige of sexism remains: males’ tendency to downgrade climbs after females do them. Both Johnson and Forte have experienced the bitter let-down of completing an extremely challenging climb one day and, the next day, reading comments posted on forums such as

MountainProject.com suggesting the climbs’ ratings should be lowered.

“People get ultra-competitive over it, which I don’t understand,” Forte says.

“It’s not like I was going to do that (climb) and then come home and get a six-figure deal from Cover Girl. It took me six weeks, and it came down to one move that I had practiced over and over. So, when I was finally able to do it, it felt really good. It’s devastating to have that taken away, just because you’re a woman.”

Bouts of testosterone may be nothing new to rock climbing, but traditionalists say they’re also easy to circumvent. The sport has diversified so much that, unless you’re a professional, it’s just as easy to have a spiritual experience in nature as it is to have a heated duel in front of an electrified crowd. Record numbers of people may be introduced to climbing through bouldering and at gyms, but those who stick with it are likely to at least try sport and trad climbing, too. Professionals integrate a little of everything into their training.

But those professionals — with their sponsorships and competitions and professional pressures — never forget the essence of the rock-climbing experience.

At 8 a.m. on a Tuesday, Johnson pulls on her stretchy clothes, zips up her puffy North Face jacket and steers her Toyota

It’s only recently we’ve seen all this competitiveness, and it’s because climbing is growing. It’s heading in the direction of having money involved, and everyone is going that direction, and maybe losing sight of why climbing is awesome. You go outside, hang out with your friends, do something fun and athletic that’s mentally challenging, work on a problem that’s rewarding, and then you go grab a burger and a beer. You get to be outside in the most gorgeous places on Earth – Zion, Yosemite, Colorado, here.

I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want this lifestyle.

– Alex Johnson, competitive rock climber

toward the 159. Afternoons, she’s at the gym, and weekends often feature a quick trip to California or Utah. But weekday mornings are reserved for the solitary work of practicing difficult moves on familiar faces. Parked at the end of Calico Basin Road, she pulls a crash pad, folded backpack-style, out of the trunk and heads into the foothills of Kraft Mountain. With the pad placed carefully on the ground below, she claps chalk between her palms and steps onto the rock. By 1 p.m., having done a full circuit of boulders with the rising sun, she’ll be meeting friends for lunch at Sambalatte.

“When I tell people where I live,” she says, “I get a lot of wrinkled noses, ‘Vegas? Really?’ And I tell them it’s not what they think. … Since I became a professional climber, I haven’t stayed anywhere more than a year. You just travel and live in a van. It’s nice to have a home base in a place that’s so much less expensive than Boulder or Tahoe. And the climbing here is endless. Amazing and endless.”

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What Is There to Do Outdoors? (shoot hoops!)

(paddle! stargaze!)

(fishing! volleyball!)

It’s a great big world out there, and these people make the most of it Photographs by

AARO N M AY ES & S h a n t i C o l a n g e l o - C u r r a n

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◆ Kayaking Mike Smalls’ paddle digs softly into the water, propelling him quietly along as ducks forage and fish take f light here and there. This is his first time in a kayak, but you wouldn’t know it. It’s almost as though the serene surroundings bring out a natural confidence.

Smalls joins the group brought here to Lake Mead by Boulder Citybased Desert Adventures (kayaklasvegas.com) to enjoy the water on a perfect February day, proof that kayaking in Southern Nevada is popular all year long — and that popularity is growing. Last year, Black Canyon became a National Water Trail, the first such Department of Interior designation.

Paddle sports continue to evolve, and Desert Adventures owner Izzy Collett notes the emergence of all sorts of water sports, including stand-up paddling, kayak fishing, and riverboarding.

“When I first moved here in 1996, there were no paddle shops around, and no retail stores anywhere that carried kayaking gear,” Collett says. “Now the Vegas Valley has several big-name sporting goods stores that carry entry-level paddling gear, and multiple outfitters and rental shops near the water that carry specialty kayaks, paddles and gear. Our local paddling Meetup group has more than 1,000 members.” Proof that in the desert, fun on the water is an all-season sport. A.M.

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◆ flag football

◆ bird watching Jim Boone keeps a sharp eye out for birds at The Clark County Wetlands Park; it’s a hobby he shares with his wife Liz. “Birding is something you can do anywhere in the world, and spend as much or as little time doing it as you want,” says Liz. Jim adds, “You can do it in a downtown environment, or a natural environment.” He should know. Jim runs an authoritative and extensive website on birding and hiking called, fittingly, birdandhike.com. S.C.

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BSB, in blue jerseys, squares off against War Machine at All American Park. If you thought f lag football was just a quaint relic of high school P.E. classes, think again. It has become a popular pastime for adults, too. For eight years, Las Vegas Sports League President T.J. Love has been organizing games for men, women and kids. They get all the gridiron thrills — without the concussions and injuries traditional football is becoming known for. “I love what I do,” says Love. “Who wouldn’t love coming to the football field as their job? It’s just much better than sitting inside behind a desk.” S.C.

◆ tai chi

◆ basketball It’s an unusually warm January evening on the Sunset Park basketball courts. As last light fades, Abraham, Jelani, Leopoldo and Michael play a warm-up game of two-on-two. Wilt, LeBron, Jordan and Dr. J they are not. But, oh, are they dedicated. You’ll find them here pounding it out every Saturday amid the rumble and roar of planes flying in and out of McCarran. They’ve been coming to Sunset for years for casual pick-up games. Sure, there’s the occasional hothead or court beef, but the competition is generally as friendly as it is plentiful.

Tai chi practitioner and health educator Tamalyn Taylor leads a class at The Gardens Park and Community Center in Summerlin. Taylor has been practicing tai chi for 12 years now, but her enthusiasm for it is as strong as when she began the practice. “I found that the slow and rhythmic pace of the movements helped me to increase my muscular control, coordination, and balance,” she says. “Being mindful of the present moment brought more self-awareness and led me to giving up negative thought patterns that were interfering with my peace of mind. I found that as I progressed further into my tai chi practice, I was able to tone down my reactions to stressful events in my life. Best of all, I now have a practice that is gentle yet challenging enough that I can continue it for the rest of my life.” S.C.

“There are always a lot of new guys who come in, so you get to play with and meet different people every week,” says Michael Savage. “Then you get the same people (who) become your little rivals out here.

It’s fun when you get to beat them.”

When you ask them if this is a hobby, a pastime, a passion, the group answers in unison: “Ball is life.” A.M.

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◆ Cycling Alain Quesnel, right, rides with friends at Red Rock National Conservation Area. He fell in love with cycling in 2005, and would come to Southern Nevada every winter to ride, finally moving here in 2012.

“I love all the outdoor possibilities that Vegas has to offer. Whether nearby like Red Rock, or a couple of hours away like Death Valley, Valley of Fire or Zion.” Now he’s even sharing the love, organizing regional bike tours in his spare time. S.C.

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◆ larping Spear at the ready, Murphy, aka Bobby Parker, battles his foe Acrid the Scarecrow, aka Dustin Macari.

During the week they’re normal guys, but come Saturdays at Desert Breeze Park, they’re fierce warriors.

They’re members of the local group Barad’Dun that plays Dagorhir, a full-contact medieval-themed combat sport — think men and a few women beating each other with foam swords, shields, arrows and spears. Barad’Dun is just one of many LARP (live-action role-playing) groups that congregate locally, bringing a little old-school chivalry — and wild battles — to the valley.

On this day, 20 players — some in full medieval outfits, others in shorts and T-shirts — fight for glory. Amid a pitched battle, one player holds her ground and pays the price. “Dead!” she yells, putting an arm above her head indicating she’s out this round. “Nice chest stab, bro,” she says to the victor. “I felt my soul shake.” A.M.

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◆ star gazing Rob Lambert, president of Las Vegas Astronomical Society, greets people to his station with a “Step right up!” shtick as he points out the Great Orion Nebula. A young girl looks on as Lambert explains that the nebula, seen on a small screen showing a live view from his telescope, is part of the Orion constellation. The nebula, he continues, holds a cluster of stars that were born out of hydrogen gas, and is 1,500 light years away from us. He knows he’s lost her, and pulls out his green laser pointer to show her where they are looking in the sky.

She’s back.

The light-drenched Neon Museum might not seem to an ideal place for stargazing, but the 1,300-plus people who came out to the Jan. 24 “Stars & Stardust” event didn’t mind a little terrestrial f licker and glow. The plentiful powerful telescopes helped them enjoy a glimpse of celestial bodies that are otherwise drowned out in a town where dark skies are a rarity. AM.

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◆ trail running The Southwest Ridge area near Blue Diamond Road and Hualapai Way is wildly popular with trail runners for its panoramic views and challenging terrain. Here, Kara Nassoiy hits the trail with some friends. “I ran cross-country in high school but never ran track,” she says. “I wasn’t really interested in doing laps on a track when I could be running through fields, mountains and sometimes cow pastures with the cross-country team.”

That translated into a lifelong love of running in the natural environment. “There’s just something so amazing about being alone in the mountains with no sound other than your breathing, your footsteps hitting the earth below your feet, and the sound of the wind. It is absolutely inspiring.” S.C.

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◆ volleyball Sand f lies from the feet of 702 Volleyball athletes as coach Jennifer Richards shouts encouragement to her team of high school girls. They bump, set, spike and dig in the pits at Sunset Park, a local hub for all things sand. The beach volleyball scene at the park “has exploded over the past couple of years,” Richards says. And while it’s a little harder these days to find an open court, the sandy scene still has a laid-back beach vibe. “It’s just really turned into a great relaxing scene with chairs and coolers and just a bunch of people and great socialization and great activity and great atmosphere.” A.M.

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◆ fly fishing Water ripples with a soft breeze upon the Tule Springs reservoir as Randy Upton casts his line near a stand of cattails. For Upton, president of the Las Vegas Fly Fishing Club, f ly fishing is a sport, yes, but it’s also a form of meditation, requiring stillness, focus and patience. “You become a little more disconnected from the world around you,” he says. “It’s in that state where you are no longer worried about anything else around except for that one little thing in front of you.” A.M.

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◆ parkour Parkour enthusiast Perris Aquino practices moves on the UNLV campus. Aquino has been practicing parkour — and its f lashier, exuberant cousin, freerunning — for almost 10 years. The sport has grown in popularity in recent years, with specialized gyms, parks and even classes dedicated to the craze, but Aquino prefers to leap off the beaten path. “Me, personally, I never took any formal classes. It was kind of me just training by myself.

And that’s kind of the route I took progressing in it.” S.C.

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your Arts+Entertainment calendar for march

10

17

21

Momix

Spying on Antiquity

Bishr Hijazi and the Arab Ensemble

Reynolds Hall, the Smith Center This troupe’s show Alchemia looks like a cross between ballet and Cirque du Soleil, with props, outlandish costumes, dramatic lighting effects, visual dreaminess and glowing items onstage.

As you gather from the title, Alchemia is themed after the four main elements: earth, air, fire and water. 7:30p, $19-$69, thesmithcenter.com

16 Justin Favela & Sean Slattery Clark County Government Center Rotunda Picture the glorious incongruity: the stately bureaucratic precincts of the county government center given riotous life by several piñatas in the shape of Chicano lowriders. Because that’s how Favela and Slattery plan to roll. Through May 8, opening reception 6p March 20

Barrick Museum, UNLV

19 Jamaica Kincaid & Caryl Phillips

If you attend just one lecture about the applications of declassified U.S. intelligencesatellite imagery to Near Eastern archaeology this year, make it this one. It’s presented by Jason Ur, a professor at Harvard and director of the Center for Geographic Analysis. 7:30p, free, unlv.edu

Winchester Cultural Center A quartet of musicians, playing the oud, electric guitar, violin and percussion, and fronted by an Egyptian-style dancer, perform classical Arabian numbers. 7p, $10 advance, $12 door, 702455-7340

Student Union, UNLV In the panel talk “Crossing the Black Atlantic,” the award-winning writers — both born in the Caribbean — will discuss how they explore themes of race, identity and the heritage of the slave trade in their work.

Sponsored by the Black Mountain Institute. 7p, free, blackmountaininstitute.org

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THE GUIDE ART

PREFAB

THROUGH MARCH 6 Italian artist Giorgio Guidi’s new sculpture is a design similar to Roman basilicas.

The structure’s interior will be decorated with graffiti provided by volunteers from local institutions. The goal of the sculpture is to make the viewer rethink accepted assumptions and open a discussion about the future of the community by forcing communication between young and old.

Free. Clark County Government Center Rotunda Gallery, clarkcountynv.gov

SANTA CONFESSIONAL

Cancer:

The Emperor of All Maladies • Monday, March 30 at 9 p.m. • Tuesday, March 31 at 9 p.m.

• Wednesday, April 1 at 9 p.m.

THROUGH MARCH 8 Artist David Colman invites guests to enter a two-person confessional booth to have a talk with him, dressed as Santa, through a perforated privacy screen. Unlike a typical confessional, this one is open air, putting the confessional process on display and likening it to the department-store Santa installations of youth. Guests without the time or inclination to confess can participate by eavesdropping on the confessions of others. Free. The Cosmopolitan, cosmopolitanlasvegas.com

DK SOLE

The Texas Tenors:

You Should Dream Wednesday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.

180 Days:

Hartsville Tuesday, March 17 at 8 p.m.

The Jewish Journey:

America

Tuesday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.

James Baker:

The Man Who Made Washington Work Tuesday, March 24 at 8:30 p.m.

Visit VegasPBS.org today to see the complete schedule.

3050 E. Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89121 • 702-799-1010

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THROUGH MARCH 13 Sole creates small sculptures from discarded items she finds along the streets.

More than one hundred of her assemblage sculptures will be displayed along the walls in clusters or “islands,” linked by threads.

The artist hopes to mirror the interplay of human connections in the community and to prompt viewers to pay attention to these broken street-scraps as they might pay attention to a crowd of faces. Free.

Winchester Cultural Center Gallery, clarkcountynv.gov

LINE IN THE SAND: THE PEOPLE, POWER AND PROGRESS OF THE CULINARY UNION

THROUGH APRIL 1 This dynamic exhibit explores the tenacious and determined history between the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226 and the City of Las Vegas. Free. First floor gallery at UNLV’s Lied Library, library.unlv.edu

CHOCOLATE: THE EXHIBITION

THROUGH MAY 3 Interactive exhibits reveal the plant, products and mystique of chocolate

throughout the ages in science, history and popular culture. Enter a tropical rainforest to learn how cacao is grown and how it is processed to fulfill today’s global demand.

Examine chocolate’s role throughout history and how mass production of chocolate bars fueled the Industrial Revolution. Free with general admission. Springs Preserve

ROCK STARS: STONE SCULPTURE

THROUGH MAY 5, MON-THU 7A-5P This exhibit includes various genres of stone sculpture created by artists who have studied stone-carving techniques at Gainsburg Studio, taught by owner and artist Sharon Gainsburg. Free. Las Vegas City Hall Grand Gallery, 495 S. Main St., first floor, 702-229-1012

IN HONOR OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE 2015 EXHIBIT

THROUGH MAY 14, MON-THU 7A-5:30P Artwork in various media celebrates African American Month and beyond. Free.

Las Vegas City Hall Chamber Gallery, 702-229-1012

COLLABORATION/ EXCHANGE

MARCH 11-APRIL 12 Artist Lucky DeBellevue will use non-traditional materials to make an experimental wedge-shaped sculpture and an evolving wall print, encouraging guests to expand their perception of sculpture and creative thought around everyday objects. Guests can join DeBellevue in constructing one of his signature Chenille stem sculptures by weaving stems into pattern overlay that will be added to the sculptural form. Free. The Cosmopolitan, cosmopolitanlasvegas.com

SPRINGS PRESERVE PHOTO CONTEST EXHIBITION

MARCH 12-JUNE 21, 10A-6P This year’s theme was “Celebrations and Traditions” when the challenge went out to professional, amateur and youth photographers throughout the valley. Come see the results of the sixth-annual juried photo contest. Free with regular admission. Big Springs Gallery at Springs Preserve

CAR SHOW

MARCH 16-MAY 8. ARTIST RECEPTION MARCH 20, 6P

Artists Justin Favela and Sean Slattery will collaborate to create an indoor car show featuring three new, life-size recreations, including one built piñata-style. Free. Clark County Government Center Rotunda Gallery, clarkcountynv.gov

ALLISON STREATER

MARCH 24-MAY 15. RECEPTION MARCH 27, 5:30P Streater’s mixed media collage series features females from fashion catalogs wearing material possessions the artist desires, but cannot afford. The models’ vision is blocked, representing how we all may be blinded by the countless things in life that restrict us from reaching our full potential.

Free. Winchester Cultural Center Gallery, clarkcountynv.gov

DANCE

SHEN YUN 2015

MARCH 2-4, 7:30P Take a journey through 5,000 years of Chinese culture via the universal languages of music and dance. $54-$204. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center

SIMPLY BALLROOM

MARCH 8, 7P Enjoy breathtaking lifts, beautiful costumes and a variety of ballroom dances including the exciting Latin Samba of Brazil, the majestic Slow Waltz of Austria, the rhythmical Cha-Cha from Cuba, the elegant American Foxtrot and the intense Spanish Paso Doble from the award-winning Southern Utah University Ballroom Dance Company. Free. Main Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

Your smart wants to party.

BALLET FOLKORICO DANCE SHOWCASE

MARCH 13, 7P Journey through Mexican history as Clark County School District student dance groups perform popular folkloric dances from various regions and time periods.

Expect a celebration rich in culture, music and tradition that will leave you with an appreciation for the arts. Free. Main Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

MUSIC

HAPA

MARCH 6-7, 7P The group is known as the “Sound of Maui” with its hypnotic, liquid guitar runs woven around clear, tenor Hawaiian vocals and immaculate harmonies driven by

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THE GUIDE poetic lyrics exulting the rapture of the Hawaiian landscape. $35-$45. Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center

TROUBLE IN TAHITI

MARCH 6-15, FRI-SAT 7P; SUN 2P Sin City Opera presents Leonard Bernstein’s one-act opera that tells the candid story of the troubled marriage of a 1950s suburban couple. $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Winchester Cultural Center, clarkcountynv.gov

MASTERWORKS IV: CABRERA CONDUCTS MENDELSSOHN AND SCHUMANN

MARCH 7, 7:30P Music Director Donato Cabrera leads the orchestra in its first-ever performance of Mendelssohn’s joyous Fourth Symphony, known as the “Italian” symphony, inspired by the composer’s travels to Italy. $26-$94.

Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center

2CELLOS

MARCH 7, 8P Breaking down boundaries between classi-

cal and popular music, Croatians Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser are equally impressive performing Bach and Vivaldi or rocking out to AC/DC. $25-$75. UNLV Performing Arts Center, unlv.edu/pac

under-the-radar instrument, been declared a musical “hero” by Rolling Stone, wowed audiences on TV and even performed for the Queen of England. $39-$59. Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center

BARBARA COOK

ORQUESTA SINFÓNICA DEL ESTADO DE MÉXICO

MARCH 13-14, 7P; MARCH 15, 2P Cook will demonstrate her vocal prowess, bringing back music from her runs in The Music Man, Oklahoma! and Carousel. The first female pop singer ever to perform a solo concert at the Metropolitan Opera, this soprano will blow you away. $37-$59.

Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center

FRANKIE MORENO: UNDER THE INFLUENCE

MARCH 17, 24 AND 31, 8P Mixing Rat Pack glam with classic hits, vintage funk-infused sounds and some original works, Moreno is a staple on the Strip. $20-$25. Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center

JAKE SHIMABUKURO

MARCH 20-21, 7P In his young career, ukulele wizard Shimabukuro has already redefined a heretofore

W ION E N AT C LO

MARCH 20, 8P The State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico brings a program including Turina’s Danzas fantasticas, Mexican composer Manuel Ponce’s guitar concerto and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor. $25-$75. UNLV Performing Arts Center, unlv.edu/pac

THE CRYSTAL TRIO

MARCH 22, 2P Igor Sklyarov, Sergey Brodsky and Vladimir Popras, all from Russia, play only with crystal glass. The vibration makes a pure, delicate, singing sound unlike any other instruments. Included will be Adagio C-dur for Glass Armonika by Mozart, written specifically for glass instruments. $10 in advance, $12 concert day. Winchester Cultural Center, clarkcountynv.gov

THE STARS OF COUNTRY

MARCH 28, 7P Peter Pavone and the Hole in the Wall Band present a blockbuster tribute to Johnny Cash, Reba McEntire, George Strait and Dolly Parton. This high-energy showcase featuring the best of legendary stars by top tribute artists is sure to fill you with that happy country spirit. $18. Starbright Theater at Sun City Summerlin, suncity-summerlin.com/starbrighttheatre.htm

POPS IV: SYMPHONIC SPECTACULAR

MARCH 28, 7:30P Classical showpieces famously quoted in pop-culture are instantly recognizable as Music Director Donato Cabrera delves into this fiery, fast-paced repertoire that promises to deliver a memorable night at the symphony. $26-$94. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center

MARCH 14, 2015

9:30 A.M. AT STAR NURSERY Fun with spring planting! Join us as horticulturist expert Norm Schilling shares his tips on seasonal gardening, yard care and how to prune like a pro.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT US ONLINE AT DESERTCOMPANION.COM/EVENTS STAR NURSERY SOUTHWEST LOCATION 9480 W. Tropicana Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89147

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LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA & MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS WITH YUJA WANG

MARCH 30, 7:30P Making a special appearance, one of the world’s leading orchestras brings together the greatest players from across the globe. $29-$149. Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center

THEATER

WELCOME, BOILS AND GHOULS!

THROUGH MARCH 7, THU-SAT 7:30P; SUN 2P A tongue-in-cheek homage to the old Tales from the Crypt comic books, the performance consists of six short plays hosted

by M.T. Graves, a ridiculous blend of the Cryptkeeper and Paul Lynde. $20. Onyx Theatre, onyxtheatre.com

E M A G ON!

YO U N G IO N A L S PROFESS IG H T & T R IV IA N K IN G R O NETW

STAGE KISS

THROUGH MARCH 15, FRI-SAT 8P; SUN 2P What really happens when two actors kiss onstage? The newest work from award-winning playwright Sarah Ruhl explores the chemistry, the construction and the sometimes ridiculous consequences of a staged kiss. $16-$20. Cockroach Theatre, cockroachtheatre.com

FAMILY & FESTIVALS

BARK IN THE PARK

MARCH 7, 10A-2P A celebration for dog lovers and their canine friends, this event features entertainment, contests, vendors and pet adoptions.

Free. Cornerstone Park, 1600 Wigwam Parkway, cityofhenderson.com

SPRING FLING BOOKFAIR

MARCH 14, 10:30A-4P Whether you’re an avid reader or an aspiring writer, this is your opportunity to get to know local writers and their work.

Meet more than 50 Las Vegas authors of thrillers, romance, short stories, fiction, poetry, self-help, nonfiction and more.

Connect with our literary community or participate in one of the many workshops for writers. Free. Main Theater at Clark County Library, lvccld.org

TUESDAY

MCMULLAN’S IRISH PUB

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Join Nevada Public Radio and United Way’s Fundraisers

RUN AWAY WITH CIRQUE DU SOLEIL MARCH 28, 7A Join dozens of artists from Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas shows and more than 1,000 community members for a 5K run or 1-mile fun walk. Enjoy photo ops with costumed characters, face painting, a children’s play area and more! All proceeds support the Cirque du Soleil and Springs Preserve Foundations. $27-$40, Springs Preserve

Young Philanthropists Society for a fun night of trivia, drinks, food and great company!

Space is limited, please RSVP by March 16. Visit desertcompanion.com for more details.

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END NOTE

urban hiking doodleQuest!

By scott dickensheets

Awe-inspiring formations like Slotzilla fill you with hope for a better world …

On second thought, it’s probably not a good idea to drink from the giant novelty fire hydrant on Fremont and Ninth.

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march 2015

DesertCompanion.com

Nature: very nice, but also full of bugs. And kinda far away. And shot through with quiet, contemplative moments when you can truly get a bead on your position in the universe and ponder what's important in life. Totally not my style. Instead, why not hike closer to home? Here are a few sights from recent rambles around Fremont Street.

Behold, the gravity-defying stride of the flatbilled Touristus inebriatus, the only creature that can simultaneously snap a selfie, drink a mile-long margarita and gargle, “Vegas, baby!”

Your urban hike will be full of socially instructive juxtapositions …

The urban hiker must be a hardy and survival-oriented, ready to forage in the wild for what he needs.