Sport climbing destination in Arizona for February
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Hi, |
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Will you have 4WD, or just a basic rental car? This will make a difference as to where you can go (Homestead, in particular) |
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Hi Jon, |
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Jacks Canyon... |
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Cochise Stronghold. It's a drive from Phoenix, but it is well worth it. Some areas of single pitch cragging and more multi-pitch climbs than you can throw a biner at (there's lot of trad but also some sport gems). I did Peacemaker last year and it was one of the best multi-pitches I've done! |
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If you're looking for shear volume of sport routes close together, Mt Lemmon is probably your best bet. There's close to 1000 sport routes all accessed from the Catalina highway, most in the 10 and up grade. Good views, good weather, but in February you'd want to stay in the lower elevations (hairpin, Molino basin, windy point will be ok on a sunny day). |
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Isolation Canyon is pretty sweet, close to Phoenix and has a guidebook available through the user "manuel rangel" here on the site who did a lot (the bulk?) of the development there. Tons of sport routes in a cool locale. Multi-pitch sport is available, and grades are distributed pretty well across the spectrum. |
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Mt. Lemmon would definitely be a good option for that time of year and grade range. There a ton of great 10's and 11's at areas like Windy Point, MIlagrosa, Sun Spots, etc. Finding partners shouldn't be too tough, either. |
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Thanks for all the reponses~ will take a look at all the locations. |
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The Refuge. |
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For Mt. Lemmon, is there "climbers' campground" that I should go to if I wanted to find partners there~? |
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Peter Song wrote:For Mt. Lemmon, is there "climbers' campground" that I should go to if I wanted to find partners there~?Nope. Jacks Canyon is much closer to that, but AZ climbing areas don't really work that way. You'd be better served hooking up partners in advance. You could try squeezing in with parties, of course, I just personally never saw too much evidence of a Yosemite-like partner swap going down near the crags. I camped up on Lemmon once, it was pay camping, so you'd best look for free camping too. If you pay for camping in AZ, you lost, there is so much cool, free camping there, that is the only time I ever paid for it in three years living there. |
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Shoot me a message when you firm up dates... if you want to come to Jacks I am generally up for the 20 min drive there from my house as long as it fits my work schedule. |
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There is a lot of free camping on Lemmon, but it is mostly higher than than Windy Point (~7,000') and will be chilly. If you don't mind cold nights, there are several really great spots. |
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Thanks for all the info~ |
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sometimes the journey is as good (or better) than the destination :) |
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Thanks for the suggestion kirra~ |
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Shoot me a message when you get into town. I'm always up for climbing on The Lemmon |
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Peter, |
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JacksonBain: Yep, will do in Feb~ |
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Hey Peter, |