Saturday, May 24, 2014

4_7 to 11_2014 Tuscon Climbing Part I - more photos

After spending the weekend in Phoenix biking and climbing with my friend Greg, I headed towards Tucson for the next phase of the adventure.  My plan was to meet up with my Tucson partner Jeff in the morning when he got off work, so I casually headed towards Tucson and decided to spend the night at the Gilbert Ray campground west of Phoenix.  The campground was pretty nice and had some good birds to chase, so it was a good stop for a night.


Mmmmm. Dinner.



In the morning I drove into Tucson and met Jeff at his house.  Jeff kindly offered me his guest room for a few days, so I unloaded most of my gear, we sorted out some climbing gear and headed for Cochise Stronghold, a great climbing area about 60 miles SE of Tucson.



We drove into the West Stronghold and decided we would do some 2 pitch newer routes on the SW face of Sheepshead.  The west side of Cochise has a really nice feel to it, with great free camping and nice views.  It was already kind of hot by the time we started hiking and it was obvious the area had seen little moisture this year – things were incredibly dry.



We hiked way up the gully on the side of Sheepshead and did 3 two pitch 5.10 climbs that were good quality and new to both of us.  It was pretty hot in the sun however, so after the first two routes I was moving a little slooowwww.  On the second pitch of the third route, Jeff took off on the lead and about 20 feet above the belay surprised a Peregrine Falcon that was nesting in a hueco like feature in the rock that we couldn’t see from below.  The Falcon flew out of the recess just as Jeff started pulling up on the edge of the feature – quite a surprise for Jeff!  Jeff looked into the recess quickly and saw 3 eggs, so he immediately backed off the pitch and we quickly rapped to the ground to minimize any stress on the bird.  The Falcon quickly returned to the nest while we left a note at the bottom of the climb to warn people not to climb the route.



After that, we packed up, hiked out and drove back to Tucson for some dinner at a local Italian restaurant – yum.


The next day Jeff and I drove up to about the 5500’ level on Mt. Lemmon and did about 8 pitches of climbing on the Chessman formation.  These were all new routes for me and some were new for Jeff.  Pretty cool stuff, no other climbers and good views made for a fun day out!  I cooked up some pasta for dinner when we got back to Jeff’s, another fun day in Tucson. :)
Jeff climbing...
Looking out on Mt. Lemmon
A cool 10.c/d crack and face climb on the Chessman.

My third day in Tucson I decided to go birding up on Mt. Lemmon for the day.  Mt. Lemmon is an amazing feature, rising from 2500’ at the base in Tucson to 9100’ at the summit. 


Along the way you pass through about 4 different climate zones which makes for great scenery and a variety of birds.  I saw a reasonable number of birds, but much fewer than I hoped for.  I personally think the severely dry conditions in southern Arizona this year are keeping the bird counts low…  It was a fun day however, I saw a good number of species including the very cool Red-faced Warbler.  I also checked out camp sites at the Molino basin campground where Callie and I would stay for a few days later in the month.



The next day Jeff and I headed up Mt. Lemmon again, this time our climbing destination was Windy Point, just under 7000’.  There were some high clouds, so the temperature was pretty nice.  We headed over to the fins area and did a cool corner/roof climb, then a steep and strenuous arĂȘte, then a couple of fun face routes.  By now I am starting to get some really tired climbing muscles from not enough rest days, but there was more fun to be had J  After we returned to Tucson, I packed up my car and headed to Cochise Stronghold to meet my friend Mike for 2 more days of climbing there.

This is a cool old school 11a arete climb.
Jeff finishing up the final section of the arete climb...looking down over Tucson.
A fun long 5.10 face route.  

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