B737-300 flight crew inbound on the sunst arrival into las was instructed to descend to 11;000 feet ...

Narrative:

I have reported this approach in the name of safety before. At that time; the previous flight resulted in a cabin injury due to severe turbulence crossing the red rocks ridge prior to ipumy on the sunst arrival in las vegas. On this day after fuzzy; we were instructed to descend to 11;000 feet as usual. I told the controller we were unable to do so due to high winds and turbulence and would maintain 14;000 feet until across the ridge. At 14;000 feet the winds were 70 knots; and I specifically said to the controller that he should not cross traffic across the ridge due to high wind speed. I explained this and my reluctance to do so three times. We were then issued holding instructions and delay vectors over the airport (okay; fine.) what gets me is the total lack of understanding of potential safety issues while descending over this ridge. High winds mean high turbulence and I am not going to be a 'weather ship.' so; again I am issuing a report stating that is not smart to bring aircraft into probable severe turbulence at 11;000 feet or below during periods of high wind velocity across the ridge. The 14;000 feet altitude was light to moderate; but generally ok. Also; from the south on the kepec arrival; traffic should be brought from clarr direct to ipumy and no extra altitude is needed.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-300 flight crew inbound on the SUNST arrival into LAS was instructed to descend to 11;000 feet after FUZZY. The reporter declined the clearance due to anticipated turbulence because of wind conditions.

Narrative: I have reported this approach in the name of safety before. At that time; the previous flight resulted in a cabin injury due to severe turbulence crossing the red rocks ridge prior to IPUMY on the SUNST Arrival in Las Vegas. On this day after FUZZY; we were instructed to descend to 11;000 feet as usual. I told the Controller we were unable to do so due to high winds and turbulence and would maintain 14;000 feet until across the ridge. At 14;000 feet the winds were 70 knots; and I specifically said to the Controller that he should not cross traffic across the ridge due to high wind speed. I explained this and my reluctance to do so three times. We were then issued holding instructions and delay vectors over the airport (okay; fine.) What gets me is the total lack of understanding of potential safety issues while descending over this ridge. High winds mean high turbulence and I am not going to be a 'weather ship.' So; again I am issuing a report stating that is not smart to bring aircraft into probable severe turbulence at 11;000 feet or below during periods of high wind velocity across the ridge. The 14;000 feet altitude was light to moderate; but generally OK. Also; from the South on the KEPEC Arrival; traffic should be brought from CLARR direct to IPUMY and no extra altitude is needed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1081062
Time
Date	201304
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	L30.TRACON
State Reference	NV
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Dawn
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-300
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Route In Use	STAR SUNST
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 222 Flight Crew Type 16000
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

B737-300 flight crew inbound on the sunst arrival into las was instructed to descend to 11;000 feet after fuzzy. The reporter declined the clearance due to anticipated turbulence because of wind conditions.