Best Winter Climbing Location?
|
My friends and I are looking for a spot to climb in the US during the Xmas/New Year's time period and would prefer not to freeze our butts off. Where are the best places in the US to climb in comfort while camping during the winter months? We are mostly interested in copious amounts of sport routes but if you have a great trad, aid or big wall spot in mind go ahead and chime in for the greater good. We already thought of Joshua Tree, Moab, Red Rocks etc. If anyone has specific experience here in the winter months, what could we expect? Thanks for your help! |
|
J Tree. Hands down. |
|
Moab is not usually too warm december/january. the temps are usually in the 40s during the day. go further south if you want to find warmer weather. |
|
If you're looking for sport climbing I'd browse through some of the areas in New Mexico for a winter destination. |
|
St George Utah. Lots of sport, good range of sun exposure on multiple crags, near Red Rocks for visits there. |
|
Mt. Lemmon in Tucson AZ. 1500+ routes along 30 mile highway to the top of the mountain. Year round climbing by varying elevation between 3000' and 9000'. Free camping. Nice people. Granite and Gneiss. Plus all accommodations found in a city are 5 min from base and 1 hour from top. |
|
NickMartel wrote:Mt. Lemmon in Tucson AZ. 1500+ routes along 30 mile highway to the top of the mountain. Year round climbing by varying elevation between 3000' and 9000'. Free camping. Nice people. Granite and Gneiss. Plus all accommodations found in a city are 5 min from base and 1 hour from top. If you are looking for a host/guide/beta PM me.I find this statement to be false. It has to be. Theres no such place. Please don't advertise it. It sounds like heaven - not everyone is invited to heaven. With that said, I'm trying to find time on my winter calendar for a week long visit, I'm gonna be looking you up Nick when I make some time. |
|
Red Rocks! Went there in January and had a few days of warm weather climbing before returning to the sleet and hail in Seattle, sooo worth it! |
|
Petrero Chico is probably the best winter sport climbing, but it is in Mexico. |
|
I Just spent this last winter camping/climbing along the Southern US. We didn't dip into Mexico cuz my girls dad didn't want us driving down there (sad). Potrero Chico Mexico is where you are most likely to find the good weather sport climbing. We had a tough time staying in the US because it was a cold winter. many of the places already listed were too cold or had snow on the ground for extended periods. Your best bet is the southwest but you'll have to keep your plans open and be ready to go where the sun is. A couple more spots that we had luck: Cochise stronghold... Actually lotsof high quality well protected sport and some of the best camping of our trip. Also warmer than MT lemmon. |
|
If you're in Colorado check out Shelf Road. There's thousands of routes and some of the crags stay in the sun most of the day. Cactus Cliff gets sun all day and Menses gets great morning sun. I left 15degrees and 14inches of fresh snow on the ground (in Crested Butte) last February to find 50 to 60degrees and bluebird skies at Shelf. It will still get cold at night if you're camping. Depending on the month I'd expect nighttime lows well below freezing... It is high Colorado desert after all. That's my preferred winter sport climbing area around Colorado. For you skiers out there, I know it seems weird to leave such a gorgeous powder day just to pull the limestone pockets at shelf... Don't judge me. I had plenty of deep days this last winter and sometimes you just need to climb ya know? |
|
+1 for Mt. Lemmon and Cochise. J-tree doesn't have much sport and while temps are OK during the day, as soon as the sun goes down you will FREEZE. |
|
As a long time JT climber, I'll echo the notion that it can get cold for extended periods during the winter. You'll be able to find some sun and get some climbing in no doubt, but the greater part of your trip will likely be spent trying to stay warm. |
|
Mt. Lemmon and Cochise. |
|
You should always go where the climbing and the weather meet in the middle. There aren't really any great sport areas that are available that time of year unless you go to Mexico, but there is excellent trad climbing and bouldering and several options for both. Going to S. Arizona or SoCal and only sport climbing would be a mistake. |
|
The Organs (near las cruces, NM) could keep you busy for a winter and there's pretty much everything you can imagine, plus Cochise only being a half day drive away means you can run away when it gets too cold for a few days. Most of the climbing is run-out slab on 1/4" bolts from the 70's. You'll need a rack, a pair of Depends, and some good footwork. The approaches are heinous. All that adds up to stellar granite that is rarely visited by people, plenty of routes to be found. You'd want to be very confident in the 5.10 slab range to have much fun. |
|
Cochise Stronghold is my favorite winter climbing area. I've been going there the past 4 years, and have NOTHING bad to say about the area. Trad, multipitch, sport, low crowd, great hiking, warm weather, and ghost towns; it has it all. Saw my 1st cougar in AZ there, the eastern side, by Owl Rock. Though, it is quite a drive for me, 6+ hours, it is well worth it. |
|
Marcus, |
|
+1 for Joshua Tree. My buddy and I were there this weekend climbing with our shirts off. I don't know of another place, on the west coast at least, where you can do that right now. Also, it is super cheap and super easy as far as logistics. |
|
Regarding Mt. Lemmon, if you want good winter sport routes, check the following low lying, sunny areas. These areas are all prolific in the amount and adequate to very good in the quality of sport routes offered, while providing sunny warmth when it's freezing virtually everywhere else... |
|
New Years in J tree 2014/15 was 25-35 degrees in the sun but can be warm also. The very next month yosemite was almost 70 degrees in the valley. Weather depending of course. Red rocks or Mt Lemmon sound like good alternatives if not California. Owens river gorge is sport Mecca also and has a lifetime worth of bouldering and hotsprings easily accessible. Pretty cool little town also. |