Perspectives on Mount Lemmon climbing

Rising over the horizon east of Tucson, Arizona are the Santa Catalina Mountains, of which Mount Lemmon is the tallest. We had heard about climbing at Mount Lemmon (we later discovered that all the climbing in the Catalinas is collectively referred to as “Mount Lemmon”), and wanted to check it out. As our time in southern AZ was limited we decided that the best way to approach Mount Lemmon this time around was to do so as a scouting mission. We wanted to see and explore and learn as MUCH as possible about the area over a two day period, in order to decide if it would be worth it for us to go back. So here is our short-term evaluation of the climbing and the area – it has helped us and hopefully it will shed some light for a few others as well!

Overview

The Catalina Highway winds its way up to the top of Mount Lemmon over the course of 45-60 minutes, with plenty of climbing from mile 0 to the summit. The scenery is beyond stunning, with ecosystems shifting from the proud Saguaro Cacti of the Sonoran desert, through thick conifer forests, and into alpine areas. Beautiful orange and yellow rock is found in canyon after canyon, and many of the walls are decorated with green and black lichens. In our opinion, Mount Lemmon was worth the visit simply for the view.

View over the canyon from Windy Ridge

The Catalina Highway

Mount Lemmon is part of a National Forest, meaning you pay a fee to be there, but fortunately it is almost negligible. Five dollars a day or twenty dollars for a year pass, and during the off-season there are segments of the highway that don’t require any fee at all. There is also camping on the mountain (no amenities except pit toilets) and while some sites cost a small fee, other sites are free!  In the winter, at least Molino Basin Campground and Gordon Hirabayashi (Prison Camp) are open.

At the base of the mountain there are plenty of grocery stores to choose from. Directly on Catalina Highway is a Safeway, and next door you can find a small coffee shop called Le Buzz - a well-known climber hotspot with great food and coffee. Still on the east side of town but about 15-20 minutes from the bottom of the highway are a Trader Joes and a Sprouts, which offer some healthier/organic grocery options. Alternatively, if you’re already on the mountain and don’t wish to drive down, there is a small town called Summerhaven at the very top, where you can find a great restaurant called the Cookie Cabin that serves up delicious pizza and cookies. Unfortunately we can’t speak to where a good place to fill water might be, but we've contacted the visitor centre with hopes of hearing back.

From what we can tell, Mount Lemmon is suitable as a year round climbing destination, however dry spells of Spring and Fall may be best. In the summer, average temperatures in the high 20s (degrees Celsius) could restrict climbing to shady and/or high elevation crags. In our case, we were unable to reach the highly praised climbing at The Fortress due to snow, and on the lower mountain streams were high enough such that the landing zones around boulders were under water. Mid-mountain however, the January temperatures between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius made for great conditions. We would have still been more than busy over a couple weeks if we had the time. 

View from the top of Mount Lemmon

Road to The Fortress closed due to snow

Morning light hits the stream in which the Molino Basin Boulders sit

 
Route Climbing

Day one at Mount Lemmon was overcast and somewhat stormy with a few sprinklings of light rain. We spent this day visiting two of the crags at Windy Point West. The first crag was called North Fin, and boasts classics ranging in difficultly from 5.7 (trad) to 5.13c (sport). The crag is easily accessed, located in a beautiful corridor beyond which the canyon is visible. We climbed a couple mid tens here which were quite fun, and eyed up some other routes. When we return Graham is hoping to get on Tree Monsters (5.12d  3 stars) and Genevieve (5.13c 3 stars).

Kim raps off in the corridor at North Fin crag

In the afternoon we headed to Beaver Wall, a crag only five minutes away. This wall is tall and beautiful – a brilliant orange colour with large black streaks, and slightly overhanging with crimps and impressive linear features. Unlike North Fin crag, the Beaver Wall has much higher exposure with the openness of the canyon behind you. This wall has one of the hardest routes at Mount Lemmon, Hebe (5.14-  4 stars). Graham redpointed Right Tissue (5.12c), a technical but endurancy and sustained “warm-up” on the wall.

Graham climbs Right Tissue (5.12c) at Beaver Wall

The weather on our second day was spectacular, with clear blue skies, much lower humidity, and temperatures approaching 20 degrees. We climbed this afternoon at The Helmet crag in the Windy Ridge area. The Helmet includes a vertical wall and a small cave with four unique lines and a couple of fun extensions. Graham snagged the onsight of The Crossing (5.12b  3 stars) and Dwarf Toss (5.12c  3 stars). We would have given the rock a great rating if it weren’t for the glue-reinforced holds – but regardless of this the movement on steep terrain was very fun.

Looking out from the cave at The Helmet

Graham onsights The Crossing (5.12b) in The Helmet cave

There are several other classic routes that Graham is excited to get on when we return, including Heel-A Monster (5.13- 4 stars) at the Orifice, Poplar Mechanics (5.12+ 3 stars) at Beaver Wall and Free Loader (5.13- 4 stars) at the Helmet, to name a few.

Bouldering

The bouldering is fairly limited and leaves something to be desired. To be fair though, our judgment is limited to what we observed, as we didn’t actually DO any bouldering while there. There are two main areas to boulder...

At the lower highway, a few difficult problems at Hairpin Boulders are scattered in the wash.

 

Checking out the holds on Block Obama (V10)

Glue-reinforced holds on Block Obama (V10)

A little higher up the highway, the Molino Basin Boulders rise out of a creek bed. The setting is very beautiful and in the wintertime, we discovered the boulders literally sit in the water of the stream, making winter bouldering a no go. The rock is super smooth and river polished – akin to the glacier polish segments of “Incredible Journey” at Forgotten Wall in Squamish – with beautiful crystals and patterning throughout.

Checking out some problems on the Boxcar Boulder in Molino Basin

Smooth, smooth river polished holds

 

 

***

 

Because we didn't stay up at Mount Lemmon, we did not have a chance to experience the climbing culture in the area. We didn't see a single other person climbing either, although this is likely because we were there mid-week in the middle of January, it had recently rained, and the number of crags in the area is expansive. There are two indoor gyms in Tucson, which we’ve heard are very popular and a great way to meet local climbers. We’re planning to spend 2-3 weeks at Mount Lemmon next winter and are stoked to get to know the community.

The area guidebook, “Squeezing The Lemmon II” came out in 2000, and is available at gear stores in town. Due to our brief stay we did not purchase the guidebook, but rather found the info we needed on the Mountain Project App. We were quite impressed with the app, however some routes (trad lines especially) were difficult to find. We plan to invest in the book when we return next year!

Destination #2: Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree. Desert oasis. Dry heat. Freezing temperatures. Crumbling granite mounds. Rattlesnakes. Land of never-ending rock and funky-gnarled J Trees…straight out of Dr. Seuss.

This place was beautiful to explore, climb, hike, rest, or simply exist in. There is nothing quite like desert sunsets and sun rises, moon rises and stars, snow storms versus midday heat, and land that seems to extend forever.

The climbing in Joshua Tree was….unique. Think Squamish (kind of) that meets blistering sun, blasting sand storms, and old weathered rock that seems to crumble away under your fingertips. We were at first both negative and cynical about the rock quality, and while a subtle love-hate relationship still persists, the desert eventually won us over. We learned that an almost defensive protectiveness of the rock quality was often the prevailing sentiment of J Tree lovers. For example, the guidebook is littered with statements like the following: 

"Cleaning established problems should be done with extreme discretion, as climbing sometimes loose rock may be part of the problem's character"

or,

"Unfortunately, holds continues to crumble and the problem may well not be climbable"  (from a THREE out of four star problem...)

One thing we learned quickly was that a trip to Joshua Tree is not a trip where you try to push your grades. Even seeking out the “best quality” problems in the guidebook is not necessarily the best strategy – rather we found that walking the areas to find the problems that LOOK the coolest regardless of how hard or how “starred” they were, was the best way to find things we were psyched on.

Over our three and a half weeks here, we've concluded that the overall style of Joshua Tree is super techy on sloping or very sharp holds. For the most part Kim couldn’t climb while we were here due to her finger injury – but on the bright side the friction-y slab and slopers did allow her to do some bouldering without stressing the pulley too much...

 

When we first arrived in the town of Joshua Tree we stopped at one of the local gear stores, Nomad Ventures, to ask about camping. We had heard that camping in the park was $10-$15 a night and difficult to come across, so we were wondering if there were any cheaper options. The staff at the store were great and directed us to “The Pit”, a low-key free camping spot outside the park (ask at Nomad’s and they’ll show you the way!). Shortly after arriving we were greeted enthusiastically by a French couple with Arizona licence plates…lo and behold they were from Quebec! Lennie and Sam were down exploring the area over their winter break, and we had a great time climbing with them over the next several days. When they left they even lent us their guidebook to use for the remainder of our stay! Thanks guys :D

 

On our first day out we went to an area called “The Outback”, which is near Hidden Valley Campground and has a high concentration of high quality problems. After getting thrashed on the warm-ups we checked out a very technical problem called Relic (V9) which involved a few burly moves to a technical traverse with very small hands and feet. This problem looked to suit my style so I figured I’d give it a shot to start collecting some projects for this leg of the trip. To my surprise I was able to send fourth try. Woo! Off to a great start! The rest of the day we spent wandering the area and checking out other cool-looking problems like Thin Lizzy (V8) and Tidal Wave (10).

 

Christmas came next and we were lucky to be able to spend it with my parents who are also traveling down south on a bird-watching trip. Over three luxurious days with them we stayed in a lovely hotel (daily showers!!), and spent the days hiking, birding, and eating Thai food. They even watched us boulder one day – the first time they’ve ever seen us climb outdoors.

A few days after Christmas our Aussie friends, Ali and Jordan, arrived in J Tree and we met up with them again! The four of us struggled through a few days of bouldering as we continued to wrestle the rock and the increasingly cold temperatures that eventually led to snow on New Years Eve. While the fluffy white stuff did hinder our ability to climb, nothing stands in the way of Joshua Tree’s desert beauty.

Fortunately, the temperatures warmed up and we were back in the blissful desert sun before too long. I eventually started to click with the style and began to send problems that I had my eye on earlier in the trip. After a couple days of projecting I was able to top out Tidal Wave (V10). I was kind of surprised to send this as I usually hate everything to do with arêtes, and the crux moves felt impossible on the first day I tried it. Needless to say, my psych was high when I rolled over the top!

I was happy to tick one other 10 while in J Tree, a climb with NO arêtes, which was super fun and a bit more my style. The Love Machine (V10) is a link up where you climb the very steep slots of Ryan Roof Problem (V5), bust a very big move into a very tensiony move, and then join the top of Gospel According To Niles (V5) to the left. It took a few attempts to figure out the link up moves but I was super stoked to be able to send it second go from the start.  

After Kim, Ali, Jordan and I had been together for about a week, we met Ted and John from “the yoga retreat”. We spent our final week in J Tree as a group of six hanging out at as many different boulders as we could get our hands on (literally). These guys were rad and we had an awesome time! Turned out John shoots photos for a living and had been the photographer at the aforementioned yoga retreat (check out his webpage here). He showed Kim several tricks-of-the-trade, and even let her use some of his fancy equipment. It was pretty crazy to see the difference that using a flash gives in the results…

Graham goes for the big move on Thin Lizzy (V8) - NO FLASH

Graham goes for the big move on Thin Lizzy (V8) - FLASH

Ali squeezes her way up the arete of Scatterbrain (V6) - NO FLASH

Ali squeezes her way up the arete of Scatterbrain (V6) - FLASH

Joshua Tree is mainly known for its route climbing, not its bouldering. With this in mind, we did dabble in a bit of route climbing amidst our bouldering days. It was very fun and would have been nice to do more – something for future trips!

Cryptic (5.8). Photo credit: Ali Roush

We were sad to leave Joshua Tree, but super happy that we did go in the end. We weren’t sure how we’d like it due to mixed reviews we’d heard before arriving. All in all, it is a beautiful place to spend a lot of time, and while the bouldering wouldn’t necessarily make our “top destination list”, we had a really great time. J Tree has made the cut of places that we are stoked to go back to!

Arizona bound now. Off on our next great adventure!

Bouldering in Bishop - VIDEO

We finally finished putting together a video of some of our Bishop bouldering highlights. This was the first stop on our North American rock climbing tour...

~ Kim and Graham

Desert Bird Oasis

Time flies. Happy New Year! We have now been in Joshua Tree for two weeks. We hung out and climbed with some lovely people (Lennie and Sam) from Montreal, spent a wonderful Christmas with Graham’s parents, and just before New Years became reunited with our Aussie friends from Bishop, Jordan and Ali. 

J Tree family Christmas

I have been completely thrilled with Joshua Tree from a desert ecology perspective. While I believe this would have been the case regardless, I am fairly certain it is aided along by my inability to climb. I have spent a lot of days doing cold-weather-puffy-marshmallow-desert-yoga and finger putty exercises…

Meanwhile, Graham has been getting into the J Tree groove, and climbing some very awesome-looking problems.

False Hueco Traverse (V2)

The Love Machine (V10)

Attempting "the move" on Nicole Overhang (V10)

But what I really want to talk about in this post are the new desert bird species we have seen. These are mostly common winter birds down here, but to me each new species has spiked an I-can-hardly-handle-it level of excitement. Even as I get to know and recognize the birds the thrill doesn't dissipated. Graham has captured most of the bird photos we have (and even admits that he likes it!) Kudos to him, as these guys RARELY sit still. 

Acorn Woodpecker

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Black-throated Sparrow

Cactus Wren

Greater Roadrunner

Say's Phoebe

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Oak Titmouse

Verdin

The other thing I am quite excited about are the cacti. So many kinds! And they are all out to get us, each in their unique, spiny beauty. Here are a few of the common suspects we tend to come across.

Beaver Tail Cactus

Barrel Cactus

Jumping Cholla

Hedgehog Cactus

Finally, in the visitor centre the other day I saw the “Field Guide to Desert Holes”… my intrigue was piqued at the idea that one could write an entire field guide on holes in the desert floor, so I flipped through it a bit. MY am I ever tempted…. We shall see if I can resist. In the meantime, here are a couple creatures who use those desert holes. 

A rattlesnake! In January! Photo credit: Ali Roush

All for now. More updates on more climbing-related things coming soon :)