Heading to Mesa, Az

My wife and i are heading to Mesa on the 6th of April. I was just curious about where the best place to do some long trad routes would be within an hour? If not long routes then a place with a good number of concentrated trad climbs in the 5.7 to midgrade 5.11 range. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

Austin

Superstitions are close and have some fabulous and moderate trad. routes. You won't find much around more than 4-5 pitches. You won't desire much more than 5.10 there anyway as it is generally older and looser rock. Most climbs are about 3 pitches. Beautiful scenery. Check out Weavers Needle, the Hand, or the Flatiron for a great adventure. Cochise is 4 hours away or so, with some fabulous routes....worth the drive! Sedona as well is not so far and great this time of year!

For what you are looking for, the best place would definitely be Bark's Canyon Wall.

mountainproject.com/v/arizo…

This 5.10 climb is really fun. Pitch 2, the crux, is one of the best climbs on the wall.

The Long Lead is also another really good one.

If you interested, check out some of the trad/mixed that is on the top of Bark's Canyon Wall too. Much of it is featured in the Falcon Arizona guide. I recommend the some of the routes on the fortress, the labyrinth wall, and really just anything that appears to be good climbing up there. A lot of it isn't published, but if it looks good, chances are, the rock is good quality.

Pinnacle Peak and Tom's Thumb also have a pretty good concentration of single-pitch trad routes.

Have fun!

If you are looking for some classic Desert-Granite-Mind-Blowing-Trad. Head to Tom's Thumb or Gardner's Wall in The McDowell's. The approach is decent (45mins-1hr), but the routes are worth it. If you don't really want a long approach and need to get you're climbing fix as soon as possible...Pinnacle Peak is you're next best option. The shorter routes, but classics, are around the base of the mountain in a couple little crags, i.e. Y-Crack Boulder or Cactus Flower. The longer-ish routes are on the summit faces. The approach for PP is a golf-cart path and only takes about 15 mins to get form parking to the rock. Just make sure you're out of the park by sunset.

Climb On.
-Mac

"If the answer was 13 RURPS and a Bat Hook, what was the question?"

You might want to take a look at Isolation Canyon (about 1.5 hrs from Mesa. You can find a fairly comprehensive list of routes right here on Mountain Project under "destinations". I would recommend it over the Supes as it is better rock (in my opinion) and the weather is already getting quite hot here in Phoenix. Sedona is also nice right now and only 2.5 hrs from Mesa.

Thanks for the responses. I forgot how warm it gets so early in the season down in Arizona. Looks like we will be searching for shade or heading North. I would love to go to isolation but it doesn't look like their are any directions. Also, any comments on Granite mountain this time of year? routes? weather? Thanks again for the suggestions.

I'm up in Prescott right now and I'm sorry to say to you that GM is closed from Feb 1st- July 1st for Peregrine Falcon Nesting. It has been extremely nice up here as well. If trying to stay somewhat close to Phoenix/Mesa Prescott would be a good option as well. High Rappel Dell has a number of 2 pitch Trad routes, not sure if they would be worth the drive for though.

I second the Sedona option, for sure. So many excellent climbs over there. From the scenery and the style of climbing you can't go wrong with any route.

Iso Canyon is an awesome place, being there once was not enough for me. I'm going to have to respect the founder's and leave it as a show-and-tell location only...sorry, hopefully you can find someone to take you out there one day.

I just realized I am so stoked I live in AZ with SO many different climbing options..
I'm sure you will find somewhere to climb without a problem, just browse MP's locations for AZ and pick what looks the best.

My original suggestions are still highly recommended, just chase the shade as you have mentioned. I've personally climbed out there when it was 104 out, try to stay out of the sun and drink some water every once in a while. Its all good.

Climb on!
-Mac

"If the answer was 13 RURPS and a Bat Hook, what was the question?"

MacM wrote: I'm going to have to respect the founder's and leave it as a show-and-tell location only...sorry, hopefully you can find someone to take you out there one day.

I'm sorry to shock the Arizona climbing scene, but Isolation canyon is not as "isolated" as people think. Personally, not speaking about Iso's original developer, I think climbers trying to keep certain areas "hush, hush" is sometimes ridiculous.

Let's face it, getting to Iso is easy. Just do a quick google search for "Isolation Canyon directions," and you'll easily find this:

toddshikingguide.com/Hikes/…

Isolation's original developer was Jeremy Smith. He named it and asked me and the others that put routes along with me to keep it hush hush. He has been gone and not seen for a long time.

My personal opinion is that it is easy to find. Rockclimbing.com has the routes in order and good beta, since I put most of it there. This site has lousy route ordering and makes it confusing. The Isolation main page has a ton of info on how to get there.

I am working on a guide and it will hopefully be done soon. If anyone wants any beta, contact me or anyone else that has routes there. It is a great spot in summer (except for july/aug: humid and buggy). The main wall is shady @ noon.

Can't wait to see the guide, Manny! We're definitely looking forward to it!