The major objective of going to Cochise was to climb of course. While there, we did many routes. Many I can recite the names of (thank goodness for pen and paper), many I cannot since we never figured out what we were on! In some cases, what was on the wall and what the guide book and notes said were completely divergent. On some walls, the grid-bolting surprised me given Cochise is considered and "old school" climbing area. When we couldn't make heads or tales out of what route was what, we just hopped on something and took off.
SHEEPSHEADWe did several climbs on Sheephead. It is located on the West side of Cochise and provided a beautiful back-drop to our camping. As already mentioned, we did Peacemaker on the first day. Depending on the source consulted, the route is listed as 6 or 7 pitches. In one source, all pitches are 10a. In another source, the pitches vary in grade though none are greater than 10a.
Another day on Sheepshead where we climbed "Climb too tough to die". Obviously this is playing on the nickname of nearby Tombstone Arizona (known as the city too tough to die). In my notes, I see grades for this long multipitch as 10b, 9, 9, 9, 8, 8, 8.
On the day we left, we headed back to Sheepshead to hop a quick, easy and fun 5.8 called Ewephoria. It was a route that started up a nice, slick, polished water groove. Niiiicccee. It was not as easy as I thought a 5.8 would be. This grade would make a new 5.8 leader poo his pants for sure!
ROCKFELLOWS
On the West side of Cochise, one can see what I think is the most striking formation there - the Rockfellows. Getting there involves either a looong hike with the standard nasty vegetation constantly trying to impale, or a shorter but very steep hike. I did the long hike each trip. Dave did the steep hike one day, but did the long hike the others. On the Rockfellows, we did many nice pitches. In fact, two pitches here were some of the best of the trip IMO. This includes the classic Forest Lawn (5.9). At the top of Forest Lawn, we veered right and did Pair a Grins (10c). These two pitches were very fun and very non-Cochise like in my opinion.
Dave's second trip to the Rockfellows was without me. He headed the steep way up with our new friend Mike (from Boulder) and they climbed the uber-classic Abracadaver (11a). Both returned with huge grins (and slightly less epidermis here and there). The photos you see on this page are from this climb.
Given that the Rockfellows constitute the best climbing in Cochise imo, we headed back there one more time. Once there, we did a route next to the uber-classic route called End Game. This route - called Welcome to the Machine - starts to the right of End Game, then crosses it, and terminates to the left of it (not counting all the section that is exactly the same). I can't remember the name of this climb. It was okay. Dave says he'd give it two stars when End Game (he'd done it on a previous trip) was a three star route for sure.
OTHER WALLS
On the other days, we went to a multitude of other walls/domes. One day while in the Rockfellows, we climbed the classic What's My Line? This is pretty much a solo on fun chicken heads. The approach was by far the crux to this climb!
Another day, we headed to Trad and Glad Rocks. It was broiling hot this day so we didn't climb for long. We did manage to get up four routes (two on each wall). Who knows what the names are. I do have in our notes that they were 10b, 10c, 8 and a 9.
Yet another jaunt took us to the East side of Cochise where we hiked up to Teenage Wasteland on the Wasteland Dome. This is a good example of a place where figuring out the climb we wanted was nearly impossible since there are literally routes everywhere. We are still unsure what the heck we did. We think we did a few pitches (though not in a row!) of the intended route. But we also did some things (including a very difficult roof) that remain a mystery.
Another venture took us to the Muttonhead formation. For some reason I continue to call this the Mullethead which I find really funny. :) This dome is located next to Sheepshead. Here we climbed a nice route called Mystery of the Desert (8, 9, 7, 9, 9). It was nice though there was definitely one section I could have lived without doing. I left a good portion of my ankle bone on the wall there. When done with this climb, we ran up the first pitch of Tour Buses Welcome (10a). This pitch I consider one of the best we did (along with Forest Lawn and Pair a Grins). Very fun
Zappa Dome provided a ton of fun for me the day Dave and Mike climbed Abracadaver. This dome is on the East side and consists of many single pitch, steep (some with roofs!!) sport climbing. We did seven pitches (your guess as to what they were is as good as ours!). It was a great time climbing with Diane and Vicky there.
Dave had been ogling Mt. Chaktar during our stay. At least from a distance, it looked to be very nice. So up we hiked past Sheepshead and past Muttonhead to this monolith. Once there, we saw it looked better from a distance! Lots of thrashing to do three mystery pitches of something that was clearly new. We joked we must have been making the second ascent. With every move, a little piece of that gritty route fell to the ground! In one instance, I took a nice size chunk of a dike off the wall and deposited it on the ground. I think we'd both agree that this mystery route was the most marginal route of the trip. After this day, we referred to Mt. Chaktar as Mt. Chosstar.
I feel like I am forgetting some routes. For instance, I can't believe we didn't do some other things on Sheepshead. When they come to me, I'll update. Clearly Cochise offers quite a bit of climbing, and really quite a bit of variety contrary to my sometimes feelings that it's ALL slab! :)
1 comment:
Love the photos you took while climbing in the Cochise Stronghold. I am writing the guidebook to the area and was hoping you would allow me to use the photo or any others you have that would be an addition to the book. Please let me know if you would be interested, Check us out www.cochiseclimbing.com
Thank you, Tanya
Post a Comment